Bistango

Bistango offers international cuisine at high standards. Bistango came about when Saman Jilanchi came back to Iran after 18 years to run the family business, the Raamtin Hotel in Vali-Asr Street. He wanted to bring fine dining experience back to Tehran and so he hired a Canadian chef, Larry Greenwood, who taught his students, who later took over. The dream came true. Most of those who go to Bistango agree that its distinctiveness and service is still unrivaled in Tehran. We can only hope that others learn from this so that more customers enjoy better food and service. It is not cheap but it certainly is worth it.

Bistango has an excellent atmosphere and is great for both lunch and dinner. It is great for many occasions from business meetings to smart gatherings with friends. Maybe the essence of their success is that food and ambience are combined.

At Bistango they have an open kitchen which is very neat and clean and I love their Iranian head chef who is not only very friendly but very professional too.

I wished they had made rather more use of their space and although there were a couple of floor supervisors, I felt that they did not interact with the customer sufficiently except on arrival and departure. On their menu we read "a divine combination of food and art!" Divine is probably an exaggeration, but it certainly was good. Although the standard of service was high, it was slightly impersonal and because of that came across as a little plastic. I do hope that they really look into this so that such great experience of going out becomes even more interesting, enjoyable and unique.

Rating: 9 / 10
Telephone: 8855 44 09
Fax: 8871 85 93

Also mentioned on the BBC: Iran's Gourmet Restaurant (In Pictures)