Gilak

What a fantastic find thanks to the Timeout card, which gives you 20% off here. Gilak offers authentic persian food from North Iran. Fantastic service at extremely affordable prices (even more so with the discount!) The aubergines as starters were supreme with flat bread. I highly recommend the mined lamb/​chicken fillet kebab which was succulent and tender. Next up was the grilled sea bass which was cooked to perfection with not a hint of bones caught in teeth! Magnificent! To top it all off was the unique saffron/​pistachio/​rosewater ice cream with warm chocolate fudge cake. This place is highly recommended!

I went in here at lunchtime a few months back. Had a curious dish of meat with a very thick layer of dark brown sauce on it. It looked pretty much like Mexican mole but didn’t taste like it. In fact it was pretty subtle and didn’t taste of anything much apart from a large lump of meat. This was disappointing as it looked more interesting judging by the ingredients mentioned on the menu. If they were all in there, they’d been ground down to a point where nothing was distinctive. Maybe I’ll go again and try to make a better choice this time. I suspect it’s a far better choice in the evening. It’s not a good place for a quick, inexpensive, interesting lunch even though they’re open during the day. Perhaps a lunchtime menu of some sort would be a good idea?

Came here last night as part of my mission to try out every one of Archway’s restaurants — after all, Archway seems to be the new culinary area of London!
Anyway, I had wanted to try out Gilak for a long time, as I had been reading the newspaper snippets hanging in the window. I addition, I had tried to come here on a Friday night — but it was all packed. That sounded very promising…
Last night, a Monday night, I and another couple were the only guests at Gilak. Given that it was so slow, I had kind of hoped that I would get some extra-​attention from the waiter and I could learn a little bit about the typical Persian cuisine — yet that didn’t happen unfortunately. I studied the menu and eventually settled for Mirza Ghasemi, which turned out to be a stew/​paste consisting of smoked aubergines, tomatoes, eggs and garlic. It was served with rice, smoked fish and pickled garlic on the side.
The flavour was very different from most other popular cuisines and so it took a little getting used to it, but overall it was not bad. However, I would have wished that I had been here with a larger group so that we could sample different dishes — the Mirza Ghasemi to me felt more like a side dish than a mains.
Having said this, I am not totally convinced of Gilak yet, but given that it is in my neighbourhood, I will come back with a larger group of people to sample more of their dishes…

In a nutshell, it’s four stars for me because I love food like this. Four stars for the tangy and umami-​rich flavours of the Khoresht Sir Ghalieh (slow-​cooked chicken on the bone with garlic chives, egg and orange juice). Four stars for the paper-​thin flat-​bread at once crispy and soft to pull, and four stars for the smoky, garlicky Kale Kabab (NOT a kebab, but a dip of smoked aubergine, garlic, walnut and pomegranate).
Got your mouth watering yet? If it has, you’re like me and really get off on tangy flavours. But even for me the homemade mixed vegetable pickles sucked my face in from the mouth out. My dining companion managed to finish them off however, so clearly they weren’t that vinegary that a pickle-​phile couldn’t come at them! Next time I’ll be ordering a side of pickled garlic, to compare!
This is food from northern Iran, and I’ll be frank and say I know very little about Persian/​Iranian food, full-​stop, let alone anything about the regional differences. However, I do know that aubergine, pomegranate, nuts (walnut and pistachios especially), garlic, dried limes, dried fruits (including cherries and barberries), herbs and souring agents such as sour orange juice and pomegranate juice, feature heavily in the cuisine. The meats of choice are lamb or mutton and poultry, and dairy is used, predominantly as whey or yogurt. With these flavours in mind I’d encourage anyone dining at Gilak to step outside of their comfort zone, and try at least one of the «stews» rather than simply sticking to the chargrilled meats and fish, because these slow-​cooked dishes are where the complex sour and fruity flavours of the cuisine can really be appreciated.
I’ll be back. And I’ll bear in mind that there’s a home delivery service. A few serves of flat-​bread with a couple of rich stews or polow (like pilau or biriyani) and I can think of no better cold-​weather food!

Traditional food of North Iran, Gilan. I was always looking for Iranian traditinal dish some thing more than just usual Kebab variety. Finally this place provides a wide range of authentic Gilak traditional dish. Expect to be adventurous with your taste buds, avoid if you are fussy eater. Have not tried all the dishes therefore can not give more than 4 stars but would definitely recommend and go there again.