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| - We just got home from enjoying a $25 Summerlicious dinner at Banu and I can't stress enough how much I think you should get on the phone and make a reservation there. It was truly AMAZING.
First off, sometimes during Summerlicious the food at restos is just 'meh', and the service even worse. Tonight, the food was great, and the service was really incredible.
For starters, hubby had the Salad Olivieh - an Iranian style potato salad that was so flavourful and really unique with the pickles added. I had the Adasi lentils, which had such a bright flavour full of lemon and parsley - yum.
For our mains, we ordered the Murgh chicken breast and the Chenjeh chunks of beef tenderloin. Maybe because I'd never tried Iranian food before, I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was 2 skewers of perfectly moist, tender grilled meat, served with abundant flatbread, yogurt/garlic sauce, a dish of ground spices, and some mint and basil leaves. You take a little of each, make yourself a small packet with the flatbread, and pop it in your mouth - OMG - so so good. It was great to see the chefs cooking your skewer in the open kitchen as well.
For dessert, hubby ordered the SOMA Chocolate Plate and I ordered the Almond Baklava Cake. Some other diners suggested the chocolate (plus ordered more to take home!) and I'm so glad we took their recommendation - it really was an amazing blend of flavours. Plus the cake was much more than I expected - a perfect blend of honey, cake and pistacios.
Add that to the mint tea we requested, and I was in what I think might be Iranian food heaven. The mint tea was served in our own pot with traditional small glasses along with a few little dessert treats on a silver tray. Just awesome.
They have a great vibe, there's a small private area upstairs, the staff are friendly, knowledgeable and really helpful - I can't wait to go back. Starting to think about whether my birthday party might be at Banu this year!
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