My First Restaurant Review: Restaurante Tehran, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Gosh, I have been meaning to start reviewing restaurants since the start of the year…where has the time gone? I guess we all get busy living life and raising kids and keeping house and posting about food and recipes, though, right? Or is that just me? Really? Just me? Putting everything else on the back burner? LOL Well, whatever, I am getting started on that project now. Better late than never. 
Tehran is one of our favorite places to dine in Las Palmas. The food is excellent, and the service is impeccable. Their website is here: http://www.restaurantetehran.com/index.html
I’ve been meaning to write this review for quite some time, now…Tehran. Owned and operated by sister and brother team Ety and Oran Ghafary, this restaurant is a gem.
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Let me begin with the food…the FOOD! Everything we have ever ordered at Tehran has been excellent. I’m not just saying that, either. Every single plate has been a veritable dining delight. We often begin with an array of appetizers, falafel, Iranian sausage, pirashqui (meat and vegetable pies), shirazi (cucumber, tomato and mint salad) or tabbouleh (parsley, tomato and mint salad), hummus and papad (crispy and spicy lentil flour discs) and stuffed grape leaves, but we’ve also had the joy of trying the babaganush, kufte and yogurt mint “soup.”
The falafel is delightfully crispy on the outside and tender inside.
The sausages are tender and mouthwatering, made of lamb with various herbs and bathed in a delicious herb sauce.
Pirashqui is amazing…tender, flakey, homemade pastry (Tehran has their own pastry chef), filled with herbed spinach, or ground meat with vegetables, folded into adorable little parcels and baked to perfection. The Shirazi is usually my go-to salad, with diced cucumber, tomato, onion and mint in a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette, though the tabbouleh is a close second.
The hummus at Tehran is unbelievably smooth and creamy, and incredibly flavorful, the perfect balance of chick peas and sesame, garlic and lemon.
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The stuffed grape leaves are one of my favorites…tender ground meat with rice and herbs, delicately wrapped in a grape leaf, and bathed in a delicious tamarind sauce.
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And those are just the appetizers, folks. Let’s get to the main course!
We usually order the “Cholo Kebab Sultani,” which I think means “Sultan’s Kebab.” It is aptly named. This amazing plate, comes with one ground lamb kebab, seasoned with herbs and lemon, and another tenderloin kebab, lightly seasoned and grilled to perfection. In the center of the plate is a hearty portion of basmati rice, cooked to fluffy perfection. Now comes the best part—the rice is then combined with a roasted tomato and an egg yolk by your server, mixed right at your table, and then topped with a generous sprinkle of sumac.
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There are several types of kebab on the menu.
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I’ve tried a couple of the chicken ones as well, and was thoroughly impressed with both the chicken with saffron and lemon,
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and the tandoori chicken kebab. Kebabs are not the only main course offered, however. Their rice dishes are incredible…my favorite is called “Adas Polo,” which is a type of pilaf combining basmati, lamb, dates, and other ingredients to be a veritable feast for the senses. Vegetarian selections are also offered, but being a meat kind of girl, I haven’t yet tried them.
Now the dessert! Their house specialties and absolute perfect finish to any meal, are their baklava:
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and their Iranian ice-cream, which is made with saffron, pistachios and rose water.
Oooooh! And don’t let me forget the after dessert, dessert! Tehran makes their own currant liqueur, which is simply delicious, and simply dangerous. It’s so good going down, that you may not realize the alcohol content! lol
Now most of us go to restaurants because of the food. I do too, but I am very particular about service. While dining out, I expect the server to be attentive without being overly invasive…I can honestly say that I have NEVER been disappointed with the service at Tehran…quite the contrary…the hosts and servers are respectful, attentive, friendly and go out of their way to anticipate your every need and/or whim. I feel like the folks at Tehran are practically family…they make us feel right at home…we even have our own special table. (we sit at this same table every time we go…this pic? Was taken over 2 years ago, when Sammy was still a tiny little tyke. (not even a year old) He’s 3 1/2 now. lol)
So if you are ever in Las Palmas and are looking for a fantastic dining experience for a very reasonable price, look no further than Tehran.
I hope that the restaurateur gives you many free meals for such a lovely review. Your photos are beautiful and I was amazed at how many of these dishes I have made….I always thought that my cooking style was leaning towards Italian…
Hey…great to see another pic of you and with your family, Nikki!
The food looks exquisite and the dolmades are “Greek” approved!
i’m insanely jealous of your access to this restaurant! this type of food rocks my world. where can i even begin? the falafel looks perfect (i hate when it gets fried within an inch of its life), the hummus looks soooo creamy and smooth, and i’ll take any or all (preferably all) of those kebobs. finally, quite frankly, i might be willing to sacrifice my left ear for some of that baklava. nice review!
All of the food looks so delicious. Seeing this makes me want to go for some Schawarma. Not the same, I know…but it’s probably the closest I could get to Tehran here.
I’m usually not very interested in restaurant reviews, because it’s not something I can realistically try myself. But, this one is inspiring!
After your review and pics I’ll like to fly and eat at this restaurant.
When we come out to visit you, we are so going there! Every day. Fabulous review!
I’m really glad you like the food, but my pet peeve is this sort of cultural hijacking (like the Israelis claiming falafel as their national dish when it’s historically established as clearly Egyptian). The cuisine you’re being served at this restaurant is 95% Levant and Ottoman …ie Lebanon, Turkey.
Authentic Persian cuisine is characterized by having some Indian and Lower Asia influences and mixing fruits (like pomegranates & prunes) in with savory dishes.
Culinarily speaking, the capitals of Near East cuisine today are Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as they have been for centuries.
Ok, to ’soften’ this post a little
… Another interesting culinary fact, if it includes Soy Sauce, it’s *not* Thai food. Nice simple way to distinguish the cuisines of SE Asia.
If only I lived overseas. This restaurant has everything I love about good eating. You got me with the falafels and dolmades:D
Hey Nikki! I have to get a cheap fly to Las Islas inmediately and get a table at this wonderful restaurant! All dishes look mouthwatering
. I love that kind of service too, and I do think it’s important!!!
Thank you, Nina!
Thank you, too, Peter!
Thank you, Grace! Yes, their food is delicious…and the kebabs? It really is hard to choose, isn’t it?
Psychgrad, I hear what you’re saying about the restaurant reviews…most I just gloss over, because I know I’ll probably never get the chance to go…I was actually thinking of adding recipe links for some of the dishes that I have posted here, even though they’re not the same as the restaurant’s dishes, at least people could get a feel for what the ingredients are, and how the things are made. What do you think?
Hélène, if you should happen to fly in, let me know! I’ll invite you to dinner.
Elle, OK! It’s a deal!
Chris, hmm. I’m not sure what you mean…Ety and Oran are Iranian. And there are dishes that combine dried fruit and nuts on their menu. Falafel is made all over the Middle East…I don’t think that anyone can really claim it as exclusively theirs.
Valli, living overseas has it’s advantages…I ain’t gonna lie. lol Living Stateside has it’s advantages, too, though.
Núria, let me know if you get that flight!
You live in HEAVEN! Not only it’s a beautiful place but..the food! Ahhh the food! I want to eat everything!
this is Persian food – yes? I am a fanatic for Persian cooking….everything looks beautiful & ready to savor!
Hi Zen! Yes, we really are fortunate to live where we do…the only drawback is that we don’t have Vietnamese food.
Yes, Taste Memory Girl, Persian it is.
Thanks so much! 
¡Qué buena idea!
Gracias por comentar los restaurantes que visitas en Gran Canaria, ya sabes que aquà en Tenerife se dice que en la isla vecina no hay sitios buenos donde comer… asà que enterremos esa leyenda maldita!!!!!
Por lo pronto la comida de ese rte. iranà tiene muy buena pinta.
Nos ha encantado ver a tu baby sentado a la mesa apenas asomando la cabecita
Saludos.
Hola Maladroitt!
Ay, dicen eso? jeje Esa leyenda está muy equivocada…lo que pasa es que hay que saber donde ir. 
Mi Samuelito era tan chiquitito en esa foto…ahora es un terremoto grande. jiji Un besin 
Hola vecina!
We paid a visit to Gran Canaria last week (Fred Olsen has a half price offer at the moment!) and of course, after the glowing review you gave these guys, it was top of my priority list of Things to do. Imagine my disappointment arriving there to find it CLOSED….it was last Tuesday and there was nothing on the opening hours info to suggest they closed on Tuesdays. So the four of us ended up in some very poor second best… the Osa Polar which I DON´T recommend! Really sorry to have missed the experience of The Tehran. Un abrazo Colleen
Hi Colleen! I’m so sorry that you caught them on a Tuesday of all days!
I’m surprised they didn’t mention it on their site…I knew that they were closed on Tuesdays, but I don’t know why I knew that, because we always go on a weekend. And OMG Oso Polar? Bleeeaaaaaacckkkk! Too bad you didn’t have my number…I would have recommended “La Monte Líbano” which is a Lebanese place right on Las Canteras Beach…similar options, and also great food, and the service is pretty good, too. Shoot! The next time you are round these parts, I’d be happy to recommend some of our favorite places for you. 
Hi, Nikki finally I find some time to spend on net. So first of all I have to apologize to that guy who came to Tehran on Tuesday and we were closed. Because when some of our workers are on vacation we’ll close one day in the week to rest.
But the good news is that I’m working on our website and in a near future you’ll see a whole new website of Tehran with lots of pictures and information.
Thanks for all you fans and I’ll see you in Tehran.
Happy New Year
Have you been to Thai Malacca,Thai food restaurant in Las Palmas?
No, but I’ve been dying to go—have you been?
“Phad Thai” is the signature dish.I would recommend you to try
hi again, such a long time Nikki please check out our facebook i put nice pics of food and lots of pics of restaurant. just fallow the like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Las-Palmas-Spain/RESTAURANTE-TEHRAN/168858560854