Braza

Having driven by a couple of times, we kept saying, «We should try that restaurant», but never got around to it… until now. After cooking a Thanksgiving feast, I didn’t want to do much cooking over the weekend, so I suggested that we finally give Braza a try. I have had Persian food once before… in Shanghai of all places, and really enjoyed it then, so I was looking forward to this.
They do takeaway and delivery (free delivery within a certain radius… I think 3 miles) if you don’t feel like going out. There is a car park across the street from the restaurant and if you arrive after 6 p.m., it is just £1 to park. Mr. Snarky had suggested that we should call and make a reservation as it might be really busy on a Friday night. By the time we were talking about reservations it was after 5 p.m. so I suggested if they don’t have any tables, we order for takeaway. Problem solved.
While the restaurant was busy, including two groups of about 6 – 7, there were still a couple of tables available and we were seated really quickly. There seemed to be one waitress waiting on all the tables, including one particularly demanding table of men, one of who had rudely told her «quickly, quickly» after asking for something. Kind of felt bad for her until I realized that there were others helping, but they were sitting at a table in front of the bar.
We sat at a table in front of a Naan baking station. I thought it was pretty cool, although you cannot see most of the process, but it is nice to get warm Naan. The appetizers seemed to be mostly Naan with various dips with a couple of exceptions like the Persian Chicken Wings, Potato Wedges, and Onion Rings. Was a little disappointed to see things like Potato Wedges and Chips on the menu, but I guess it might be an attempt to fit in with the local clientele. I noticed on the sides menu that they also had a number of dips as well as vegetables and salad.
The first part of the menu are the grilled meats, while the second part of the menu seemed to have more of a stewed meat feel. There was a vegetarian dish on the second part of the menu. We were worried about ordering the grilled meat as sometimes it can get very dry, especially when served with rice. For our starters, Mr. Snarky ordered the Persian Chicken Wings and I had the Hummous with Naan. While our starters did come quite quickly, everything was hot, including the Naan :). The Persian Chicken Wings were nice, but I really enjoyed their Hummous. Even though it was just regular hummous (no roasted red peppers, etc.) it had more flavour than those store bought concoctions with loads of different ingredients, but still taste like cardboard. I’m going to need their recipe!
For the main, we ordered Braza Mixed Kebab plate for two. With each main you get the choice of Rice, Salad, or Chips. We both went with rice. Make sure you are hungry because while this is for two people, it is a sizable feast. Each of us had a heaping plate of Basmati rice and a platter of meats between us. There were two of the minced lamb kebab, a different lamb kebab, and a chicken kebab. Around the plate of meat were grilled tomatoes, fresh herbs, peperoncini (which I love and can never find a jar of while grocery shopping), and sliced gherkins.
Mr. Snarky really seemed to enjoy the minced lamb kebab (Koobideh Kebab). It had some lovely seasoning and I do think it was the best seasoned of the three meats. I enjoyed the other lamb kebab (Barg Kebab), lamb filet beaten flat. While I didn’t get much of the saffron marinade, the meat was juicy and tender. The chicken was ok, it just didn’t have much flavor, but kudos to them because it was juicy. I loved the rice, but I think the whole dish needed some kind of sauce. I guess we could have ordered a dip from the sides menu, but it didn’t come to mind as we were stuffing our faces.
While we didn’t have dessert because we were so full, I did have a look at their desserts menu sitting on the table and I would be interested to come back and try some of the desserts. They have Baklava, which I absolutely love, and Persian flavoured ice creams (Rose Water, Pistachio, or Saffron). They also have something called Faloodeh and it looks like white, thin noodles covered with Rose Water and Syrup. And of course they have some less traditional, less exotic desserts for those that are not quite so adventurous. I understand the conundrum of wanting to have an ethnic restaurant, but also wanting to cater to the local market.
Dinner here is very affordable, especially with the amount of food you receive. With two drinks (one alcoholic, one not), two starters, and the meat platter we spent just over £30 and left absolutely stuffed. There is really no excuse for not trying Braza… especially because they deliver if you don’t want to go out!