The success of Taste Food Tours can be marked not just in my enthusiasm at the time of the tour, but also in the fact that a year later, it inspired me to return to Fairfield again. Parking and navigating the streets like a local, I made a beeline for the Iranian dishes at Shandeez.
Stepping inside the highly decorated, texturally rich space we took a chance on two different imported Persian soft drinks from the drinks fridge, then ordered up a storm from the easy-to-understand picture ...read more
For a lesson in geography that you can eat, head into Shandeez Restaurant in Fairfield. The cuisine is Iranian, which might not initially be familiar to you, but you’ll soon taste the culinary through-line running across the whole geographic region from Lebanon on the Mediterranean Sea, all the way to the Indian Subcontinent. Eggplant is ‘the potato of Iran’ and thus a diet staple, making the Kashk E Bademjan ($5) – fried eggplant dip topped with curd - a must-order. The rice dishes here are exceptional, light and fluffy with nicely separated grains. It’s hard to choose between the yellow saffron and berry (barberry and pomegranate) topped Zereshk Polo ($12) served with chunks of chicken, and the Baghali Polo ($13) turned green with broad beans and dill.
