After we returned from Gloucestershire, my brother was craving Persian food, so we went to Mohsen, which is walking distance from the Earls Court tube station.
Mohsen (I had to look at the reviews on the wall to find the name of the place, since the sign outside only has Persian writing and the words “Persian Restaurant” on it) is your typical Middle-Eastern place, a nice cozy little restaurant with a bunch of tables crammed into a fairly narrow storefront, Persian decorations, and some travel posters that look like they date from the Shah’s era.
Menu-wise, the place was pretty thoroughly Persian, which was pleasant. I’m used to these sorts of places (at least in the US) slowly becoming fairly generic “Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean” places over time, but the menu here is still fairly consistently Persian. We all opted to go fairly straightforward, starting with sabzi greens and a basket of bread hot from the oven.
The bread was outstandingly good Persian Naan. Like it’s Indian counterpart, this was nicely crisped bread fresh out of the clay oven (located in the store’s window), but nicely seasoned with some herbs and sesame seed. The bread’s texture was slightly stretchy overall with a perfect sear from the tandoor, and was so flavorful I was able to overlook the fact that I generally don’t like sesame seeds.
For dinner, most of us had a basic variation on kebab, I ended up with a combination plate of chicken kabob and lamb koubideh. Both of these were very nicely seasoned and grilled perfectly, with just the right amount of sear without drying out. Served up with a nice plate of rice and some seared tomatoes, it was a pleasant dinner.
Overall, I was very pleased with Mohsen. It pleasantly reminded me of one of my other favorite Persian places (Caspian Bistro in Minneapolis), but with much better bread, while still being affordable even by my US-calibrated standards. Aside from it being outside my normal London travels, it was pleasant enough that I plan to be back.
Looks like a real nice find Kaszeta.. There's a Persian place I've been meaning to try nearby but I happen to not be too big on tart yogurt and lemon-y flavors so the cravings don't come as often. Happy Holidays!!