Review: Iranian brunch with a touch of ceremony at Takht-e Tavoos in Dufferin Grove
Takht-e Tavoos ★★ 1120 College St. W., 647-352-7322
Tavoos, a new Iranian brunch restaurant from the owners of The Pomegranate, brings a touch of ceremony to the otherwise no-frills College and Dufferin strip: the room is loaded with murals and pottery and chandeliers, servers pour Turkish coffee from copper pots, and one group of diners sits picnic style around a Persian rug.
The place has been full since it opened in March, drawing a mix of neighbourhood 20-somethings and Persian expats with terrific Middle Eastern food. The kitchen offers marvelously counterintuitive mash-ups: mushrooms and walnuts in the dense, pâté-like parvedah, or crimson beets and cool yogurt in the borani laboo. The shahrudi is a highlight: a pair of sunny-side-up eggs perch on a bed of crispy fried potatoes topped with creamy feta and olives coated in sweet walnut and pomegranate paste. Noon-chai-shireen, a classic Iranian breakfast dish, consists of warm, puffy flatbread with small helpings of halva, feta, tahini and orange blossom jam for dipping.
