| Red Saffron
In Honeymoon in Purdah, Canadian author Alison Wearing wends her way across Iran, drinking in the culture – in turn, she, as a Western tourist, is herself something of an attraction. Reading this book, or going to Red Saffron, a new restaurant in the small 17th Avenue S.W. space most recently occupied by Marathon (924B - 17 Ave. S.W., phone 541-1041), is as close to Iran, or Persia, as most of us are likely to get.
Kabobs (or kebabs) and rice are the main theme in Persian food, and although this may sound unidimensional, it's not. At Red Saffron there are a myriad of meats, poultry, fish and vegetables which are marinated, skewered and grilled, and I never get tired of the scent of grilled meat, olive oil and lemon.
The room at Red Saffron is contemporary and hip, with large brown oblong boxes attached to the wall, a polished concrete floor, and metal and plastic chairs. The seats are very close together, and this lends an intimate, crowded feel to the place. It's not really a great place to go if you want a quiet romantic dinner – the ambient noise bounces off the concrete, so it's pretty loud – but I like the feel of a busy urban restaurant, with windows giving an unobstructed view of 17th Avenue.
If you're expecting to have a bunch of drinks at Red Saffron, you'll be surprised, as it doesn't have a liquor licence. Instead, there's a selection of fruit juices and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as a refreshing sour yogurt-based soda drink that's a good foil for the rich food.
The appetizers are variations on the theme of pita with dip. The Mirza G ($5) is an interesting homemade blend of roasted eggplant, eggs, garlic and tomato, and it's very flavourful. The grapevine wraps are simple roasted grape leaves with filling ($5), and their slightly irregular shape gives them away as being homemade. To me, they're preferable to Greek dolmades (rice and grape leaf rolls).
The main courses are almost entirely kabobs, although there are a few pasta dishes for the faint of heart, and each main dish comes with saffron basmati rice and a grilled tomato, which you mix in with the rice. The Sultani kabob ($16.50) included two large kabobs, one of saffron-scented steak and the other of ground beef, that were tasty and succulent. According to our server, it's traditional to serve the steak medium well, although mediumrare suited our palates more, and it was perfectly cooked.
The Cornish hen kabob ($12) was also well-prepared, although it was on the verge of being overdone as it had started to dry out slightly, but the lemon and saffron-scented skin was intoxicating. The vegetable kabob ($9.50) was a Mediterranean blend of mushrooms, zucchini, onion and tomato. The lamb kabob ($13) was very tasty, and this was done to medium well – to our palates this seemed slightly overdone, but it is the traditional preparation, so no complaining allowed.
We enjoyed our dinner at Red Saffron, which also gets the prize for best new restaurant name of the year. We'll be back.
TWO GOOD ROAST PORK SANDWICHES
Tired of Subway? Lina's (Centre St. N. and 20 Ave.) and Links Deli (Crossroads Market) are both making excellent roast pork sandwiches, where the pork is roasted on the premises and then cut to order. The only difference between the two? Lina's is porchetta with herbs, Italian style, served cold. Links' is Hungarian style, with lots of garlic, served hot. |
