Sunday, August 17, 2008

Other features

Persian fit for the Pinoy
By Stella A. Estremera/ Goin' places

I KNEW I was pushing it, but I wanted to get all article in before Friday since I was off somewhere again by Saturday, thus I was texting Deng even as I was still on my way to the dive shop on a banca around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

"Pwede ka pa 9:30?" I asked. She said yes, and so I was trying to think of any new place that I passed by recently, but couldn't recall any.

By the time I was on land, I knew I was no longer in the best condition to still go out, and thus welcomed Deng's cancellation. The cancellation was providential because while I couldn't remember any new place, I passed by one on my way home.

"Alam ko na! May Persian Kabab sa Quimpo," I texted Deng as my taxi zipped by. I didn't quite get a glimpse of where it exactly was since the taxi I was on was trying to beat the red light a few kantos away. All I remembered was that it was somewhere before Geojoe's if you're coming from downtown and after Geojoe's if you're coming from SM.

It turned out that Deng kept an eye on the place on her way home that night and thus found a landmark -- it's beside Chakkri's Spa (near Uncle Mark) along Quimpo Boulevard.

The place is called Khash Persian Kabab (or Kebab, whichever way you want to spell it as you can see in their menu where one page reads Kebab and the other reads Kabab).

I arrived first and looked around the main hall, noticed that it was quite warm because there wasn't any window, and asked, "Wala kayong electric fan?"

No need, that entrance lobby of sorts that has also a lot of tables is only for those who want it warm. To your left near the wall is the door to the air-conned section.

There was a table occupied by a man and a husband and wife who were trying to analyze the Central Mindanao battles and the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (haaay!), and farther in was a table with four women.

Deng arrived much later and went straight into the unventilated entrance lobby of sorts like I did, I had to call her back to where the door to the air-conned section was.

By then I have already browsed around the menu and had an idea what I want. I wanted the one with the sausages, the Persian platter for appetizers, and maybe some meat because I really wanted to try their flavored rice. There are two of them: Zeresh Polo (rice mixed with mulberry and saffron) and Sabzi Polo (rice with chopped fresh herbs).

But the jinx seemed to have hounded me; they did not have those in stock on that Friday night.

We went on to order the Persian Platter (hummus, yogurt with mint and cucumber, and eggplant dips with pita bread), the one with the sausages, and the one with the chicken both wrapped in pita bread.

The hummus was really good, so was the eggplant, although Deng liked the hummus better. We both found the yoghurt dip too sour for our taste. I also liked the sausages and the chicken. But I was still hungry and so ordered another one, the Abgosht (it's lamb with potatoes, chickpeas, red beans, and spices). It was also very good, tastes like callos minus the chorizo de bilbao cooked into a paste (don't take a colored photo of it, it's not photogenic).

Just dig in, there's nothing there that's gonna bite your tongue or burn your palate. But if you want that zing, then grab those sauce containers. The red sauce is chili; that goes best with the white sauce (think shawarma).

The two desserts in the menu were also not available, but the waitress said they have another one that's not in the menu: sholizard, which she described as made of rice.

I tasted the dessert first and couldn't quite place the taste. The first description I blurted out was that it tasted like "pomade". But, not quite. One thing I'm sure of, I've tasted something like it before, just that it wasn't food. Deng said it reminded her of "alcohol na ginamit na, yung hinaluan nang tubig". Still it wasn't quite.

While we went on trying to get the taste, Deng went on to say, "Basta para siyang clinic."

That was when it hit me.

"Alam ko na! Lasang prophylaxis!"

Ooops... But I swear, it's what you taste while the dentist scours and brushes your teeth for their annual cleaning.

It's rice with saffron, the waitress said when we pestered her on what it was we were eating.

Actually, the taste grows in you and it becomes more palatable with every taste; if not for the fact that the taste really reminded us of our dentists.

We wiped our plates clean... except for the dessert and the yogurt dip. But hey, it's Persian food that we're not really familiar with and so that only means the food was good.

The more fun part is that there are a lot of other items in the menu that has to be explored at very reasonable prices at that. But I might opt to stay away from saffron. My tastebuds are just too Pinoy for that, and I don't particularly like visits with the dentist.

The bigger treat is the visual experience. The place isn't posh. But the details are definitely not from this part of the world -- the tiles, the tooled metal runner just below the bar counter, the sheeshah, the iron vessels... you'd expect a genie to sit down and eat dinner with you. And I also like their meal couches. They're comfortably low and wide.

They're open from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight.

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