Introducing: Takht-e Tavoos, a new Persian restaurant from the owners of Pomegranate
Name: Takht-e Tavoos
Neighbourhood: Dufferin Grove
Contact info: 1120 College St. W., 647-352-7322
Owners: Husband and wife Alireza Fakhrashrafi and Danielle Schrage, owners of Pomegranate and Sheherzade at College and Bathurst
Chef: Alireza Fakhrashrafi
The food: Persian cuisine from various regions of Iran, including specialties like kalleh pacheh ($14), a soup made from sheep’s head and hooves, and haleem ($9), porridge made from wheat berries with shredded lamb.
At breakfast, there’s a range of egg-based dishes like guisavah ($9), served with Persian flat bread and a cup of Persian tea or fresh coffee, and for lunch, there are various meze appetizers and dizi sangi, a stone pot stew ($14).
The drinks: Persian tea ($2) brewed in a samovar as well as Turkish coffee ($3) boiled in a traditional ibrik pot with sugar and cardamom.
The place: For their third restaurant, Fakhrashrafi and Schrage imported lanterns, mirrored tiles and clay pots from Iran and commissioned a hand-painted cedar-tree border. The front window and ceiling trim feature quotations from modern Iranian poet Sohrab Sepehri, and in the back, there’s a private “teencheh” (nook) mimicking those found in markets.
By the numbers: • 30, the number of seats at Tavoos • 9 and 5, the number of years, respectively, that Pomegranate and Sheherzade have been open on College • 9, the number of meze, small appetizer dips and salads eaten with flatbread • 2, the number of “takht” seating areas, which fit five people around a rug
