Alounak

What a great place. Very close to my house and I have been here multiple times. It’s a no nonsense place that serves awesome food. The rice, bread and meat all one better than the other… Will be sure keep going here. I also like the fact that it is a small place which is warm and nice. It is always busy so you might end up waiting. But it is great.

BEST meat I EVER ate. That was just SO good, so TASTY, So EXCELLENT. Can’t wait to go back to london to eat there again !

Very bland. Ordered take out, plate was depressing when I got home. Just plain rice and grilled chicken. No salad, bread or sauce for the meal just 2 things of butter. Asked for a fork, none given-I’m staying at hotel nearby. For almost ten pounds, not worth it.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this place and the servers were pleasant. I was hoping the food would be a bit more of a home run, but it was still good and I’d recommend it if you’re in the area. Not worth a trip over there, though, as there wasn’t anything special.
This was my first time eating specifically Persian food. I’m quite familiar with Middle Eastern food in general, but had never properly sat down at a Persian restaurant before. Many of the dishes throughout the Middle East have similarities, so the food wasn’t foreign to be at all.
Salad Shirazi — cucumber, tomato, onion, and herbs. These were chopped incredibly small and seemed more similar to a salsa than a salad. Not much flavor, but the salad did seem fresh.
Mast-​o-​khiyar — chopped cucumber and herbs mixed with home made yogurt. I was really hoping this would be better. I love yogurt in general, but this one wasn’t as thick and creamy as I’d hoped. It was rather thin. Also, I didn’t care too much for the flavor. I’m not sure if it was the abundance of mint or something else, but I wasn’t crazy about it.
Taftoon bread — not good. It was burnt and crispy instead of soft and fluffy. Super thin and it was essentially like a large cracker instead of bread. We couldn’t eat half of it because of the texture. Also, no real flavor.
Chelo-​kabab koobedeh — two skewers of minced lamb served with grilled tomato and rice. So this dish is split. The rice (basmati and saffron rice) was subpar. They just didn’t nail it as the texture was off and there wasn’t any flavor. The lamb, on the other hand, was the best part of the entire meal. The flavor, the texture, everything about it was just spectacular. Soft, moist, delicious. I would highly recommend getting as much lamb as possible here.
Iranian Tea — not a huge fan of mint, but wanted to try this as it’s traditional. Quite good and unique. The tea cups and sugar bowls are beautiful.
The price is reasonable and the portions aren’t too small. The hallway leading to the bathroom is really lovely.

Beautiful restaurant! Chicken and obideeh were wonderful. Great hoummus. Recommended. Good hours as well.

I would come back. The prices are reasonable for the portion sizes. The flavors were good and leaned towards more the subtle side than the «flavor explosion» side.
Service was responsive when we asked for water /​the bill, but could definitely be more engaging.

We visited this place based on Unilocal reviews. We were seated and ordered our food and then we were told that we need to move to a different table. The tables are so close that your butt is in the food of the person next to you when you are getting seated or standing up. The server came over and set the table but didn’t smile, say hello or even look at us. She was horrible. Then she asked what I’d like to drink and she recommended the yogurt drink. I tried it and it tasted like spoiled yogurt… I couldn’t drink it… it was gross! I told her that I didn’t like it and she said that’s too bad, I ordered it. Well she recommended it! Then, the food was average, nothing special… even the bread. Last time we were here we went to another Persian restaurant around the corner and it was way better. Anyway, the service was horrendous throughout until at the end, we were waiting for the bill and our server just never came back. We had to cash out with another server who finally agreed to take the yogurt drink off our bill. I don’t recommend this restaurant because there are way too many awesome restaurants in London to waste your time or money on a place with average food and horrible service.

I’ve been here three times previously. The food was always good, but this time our guest got a piece of glass in his kebab. He brought it to the attention of the staff. Nobody apologised for it. But at least they didn’t charge us for it (but only because we asked).

I’m from New York and spending a couple of weeks in London, and we’re staying in a beautiful home near this restaurant. I’m a bit of a foodie, especially with global cuisine, and this is really and truly a lovely place. For reference, I love NOPI and Ottelengi and we’re trying Level Three tomorrow. So yes, we’re on board with the amazing culinary scene of London. It is BYOB/​W so come prepared if you need a glass of wine with the delicious food. Everything is presented well, clean flavors, really excellent and authentic dishes. The kebabs are perfect — not dry, not greasy — just perfectly cooked. The bread oven is a work of art. I feel like I need one of these in my home… but I don’t. Service was lovely — I literally have not one single complaint. Only compliments and encouragement for others to try this wonderful restaurant. It’s so good that I craved it and had to get take out today… considering I’m here for 10 days total, that says a lot! So many options, and I do a repeat here. I will probably crave it one more time before I board that plane. Alas, it has become a bit of an addiction. :)

Very good food, but very noisy. Good for dinner but not for a romantic date. But oh, the food.
Go for the tender lamb with skewer. The bread is apparently delicious, but being a low carb girl I had the salad side. Best lamb dish you will have in a while, I promise. Use the butter they serve on the meat and squeeze some lemon on it. So. Good.
If you’re a fan of Middle-​Eastern food this is a must. Expect a line, but you might be lucky. The service is OK for a busy place.

Good food and lovely waiter, try the ayran, the bread, the kabab and the yellow or green rice, one of the best Iranian restaurants in london

While visiting London we came across Alounak Persian food. The wait was about 20 minutes or so but we met some very friendly locals so the time went by fast. The service and food was great. Great chicken and lamb and the bagali polo was very yummy. Would recommend for sure.

Wonderful, service was terrible!!! t, food was cheap, and very tasty
Very quick, place is convenient

Popped in last weekend for some grub and left a happy camper, forgetting the service was a bit icy. Like I think our server was literally frozen because she didn’t listen to a word we said. Example: Her: How many pieces of bread do you want? Us: How big are they? Her: So, one basket then? Us: OK?
As it turns out, one basket of bread is enough for two people with a plate of hummus.
The portion size of our mains were gigantic. We could have easily skated by with one main + hummus + one basket of bread and this would have been the perfect meal size. We ordered different mains — our favorite were the minced lamb skewers (or something of that nature). Yum!
Avoid the tables near the door as the oven gives off a lot of heat! Oh, and if you take your leftovers to go, note that they will smell like poop and if you bring those leftover on the Tube, then note that you will make the entire carriage smell like poop. I don’t know why the leftovers smell like poop but you are just going to have to take my word for it. (Note: They don’t taste like poop, though I’ve never tasted poop, so I guess I can’t be 100% on this statement.)
Will definitely return to Alounak, however, order the right amount of food so I do not have to take poop-​smelling leftovers on the Tube.

When in London, eat ethnic food! There are a plethora of choices to choose from but Alounak is a sure fire winner!
We walked in and noticed it was quite busy for a weekday– always a good sign. It is not a large place but it is definitely homey. There is a large, clay pot when you walk in in which they make the bread to order. It was nice to be able to see how it was done while we ate. And whatever amount of bread you order– double it because that’s really what you’ll eat! It is served immediately after making and is warm and soft and absolutely addicting! We just kept ordering more.
As to the food we started with the mixed appetizer platter which comes with a variety of dips to try– all of them were amazing! Even their version of a potato salad is unlike anything I’ve tried. My favorite dip was the one made with eggplant. For the entrees we all ordered number 26 and it was big enough for two! It gives you a little taste of everything. It comes with chicken, lamb skewer, and minced lamb kebab. The chicken– which I normally never order anywhere– was probably my favorite because it was so moist and flavorful. The minced lamb kebab was also great because of the flavors. The lamb skewer was my least favorite because it was overcooked and a little dry. Overall however the food was delicious and different from the Lebanese cuisine I’m so familiar with.
The service was wonderful as well. All the girls were very helpful and attentive. It was one of the meals I most enjoyed while in London– and it’s friendly on the wallet!

When I visited the restaurant on a Monday night, it was very crowded but a good and warm atmosphere after all. The furniture is plain and simple, without tablecloths but in a good shape, clean and the restaurant was kept warm by some cozy, interesting clay ovens.
As a Vegetarian, I was slightly disappointed with the menu as there was only one vegetarian main course. The food was nice and served quickly, the waitresses were friendly and attentive, everything was great, but the food is meant mostly for carnivores, which is a bit of a pity. It is worth noting this place doesn’t serve any alcohol, but you are free to bring your own and drink it there. However, beverages are relatively cheap and prices are quite moderate in general.

This was the first time I ever had Iranian cuisine. And I am in love with it.
I realize that the Persians, now known as Iranians, have had a great influence on North Indian cuisine. The bread they have is what has evolved into Roti/​Naan etc in India. The clay pot oven they use to make it is what evolved into what we call the tandoor. I don’t know much of the history but the Persians definitely came to India a long time ago and did some good and bad things. I wish to say the food was probably the best thing they gave us.
Now getting to the food one of my friends and I had, chicken special. It was marinated cubes of chicken grilled in their oven. Not sure if it is the clay pot oven or the normal grill. But the rice was special. They had plain basmati kind of white rice, with some special yellow coloured basmati type rice on top of it. As we all know saffron is an expensive spice, that obviously meant, the saffron spiced rice was just a topping.
They served us two of their local breads, it has a very different name from the Indian bread so I don’t really remember what they called it. And we ordered one of the aubergine based vegetarian starter dish which we had with the Iranian bread. It was bloody brilliant.
The marinated Chicken cubes also tasted amazing.
But the only main course vegetarian item on the menu was served with the same sort of rice combination with a slightly less impressive vegetarian gravy based dish. The gravy didn’t taste as rich but the rice was just as good as the others.
After the meal to top it all up, we ordered their traditional sweet, Zolbiah and balmieh. Indians know Zolbiah as Zalebi or Jalebi depending on which part of India you belong to.
Over all, I loved the food, the music, the tea and what not!
I would definitely recommend this place to my friends, especially those that love lamb. I would love to go there again to try out many of their other dishes too.

Best Persian food I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Salad shirazi, taftoon, kabab chenjeh and koobideh, kebab makhoos and barg, mint cardamom tea, Persian ice cream and faloodeh. Lamb was the most tender one can imagine. Left here stuffed, but in a good way. Hint: If you order sweet cardamon/​mint tea while eating, you might get strange looks. Order the yogurt drink instead if you’re seeking an authentic Persian experience.

YES to this place. It’s cheap — cheap!!! — yummy, and gives ginormous portions of succulent meats, fresh-​out-​of-​the-​oven bread and outstanding eggplant dishes. And who doesn’t love some serious eggplants.
Having said all this, this place is almost like a fast-​food type of restaurant, in the sense that it only offers kebabs and koftas — no stews, fish or other typical Persian-​middle eastern food. But what we DID have… yup, delish.

Westbourne Grove is a street that’s really winning me over.
While not famous in any sense of the word, nor known for it;s culinary supremacy, this street keeps surprising me. There’s excellent pizza here, burger shops, pubs and now, as I learned, Persian/​Iranian food. Thank you Alounak for a tasty meal.
It’s a small restaurant but holds a lot of people. This one is family friendly and there are always little kids chowing down with parents. It can be a little tight getting into your seat, as all the tables are very close together (and awkward as someone sits next to you and your butt semi-​goes into their face trying to get in), but once you’re sitting, it’s very comfortable.
It’s the little things that make this spot so great, like the clay oven they have in the corner as you walk in that makes all the bread. And woah that bread was good, hot, thin, doughy, delicious. Perfect to put some topping on top of.
For two people, we did the starter sampler of a bunch of different dips including hummus and… other things I can’t remember (I was hoping the menu would be online so I could check but no luck.) It was well presented and delicious though. Then we shared the Alounak specail, which has two types of cooked lamb and chicken on a skewer with rice and veggies. Amazing. Hot, tasty, so good. If you’re craving meat, this is it. Overall, the meal came to be about £15 per person, which was great.
The service here can be bad. Like, really bad. Like, have to ask a few times to get a drink bad. Or things like they will come and ask if you want dessert, so you say sure. You expect them to bring a menu, but nope. When they come back to order and you ask what they have, they rattle it off quickly. I think most people just get a cup of tea after the meal, since she kept asking if we want tea. Nah, it’s cool, thanks though.
Good food, good spot, I will be back.

Très bon
Excellent kebab servi avec un riz au Safran. Tout est cuit sur dans un four traditionnel, pas sur rotissière comme dans les inombrabres «Kebab» français. Un petit peu plus cher qu’en France puisque c’est à partir de 6 livres.