Persian in Preston: This is a feast you’ll want to share with friends

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It doesn’t take long to realise that Maryam is special. Maybe it’s as soon as you walk in, the central door spilling straight into the dining room, where a long red rug draws the eye to a counter display stacked with baklava. Immediately, it’s on: you can sense there’s feasting to be done.

There are just eight or so tables in this main room, the larger oval ones seating six. (Ah, the too-rare oval table, what a lovely, chatty sweep it has, friends and food within arm’s reach.) The walls are inset with arches plastered in duck-egg blue; bead-strung chandeliers and wall-mounted lanterns bring sparkle and glow.

The tables are set with ornate Persian mats, which are likely already laden with silver trays of saffron-tinged rice, fragrant grilled meats scattered with sliced onion and sesame seeds, and baskets of flatbread. All this food is ringed by diners slowly moving themselves from anticipation to satisfaction to: “Can we have containers, please? We’ll need to take the rest home?”

The restaurant continues beyond the first dining room: there are two more parlours at the rear. Unlike many places, where spillover spaces have an also-ran feel, these are just as welcoming and resonant.

The whole place is a portal to the best and most hospitable elements of Iran, the country of restaurateur Maryam Valizadeh, who opened her namesake business in 2021. In every element, you sense pride in culture and an obsession with quality.

A handsome pictorial hardcover menu covers off Persian classics, with an emphasis on rice dishes and kebabs. Serves are generous: this is a great place to come with a group so you can pluck from every section of the menu.

Kashk bademjoon is a roasted eggplant dip with kashk, a key Iranian fermented dairy product that has the tang of yoghurt and the funk of blue cheese. The dip is thick, smoky and tart: tear pieces of fresh, floppy lavash flatbread to scoop it up.

There’s also kashk in ash reshteh, probably the most iconic Persian soup, and especially popular for breaking the daily fast during Ramadan and for Nowruz, the Persian New Year festival in March. The rendition here is very, very good, a robust mixture of pulses, noodles and herbs, the epitome of a one-pot meal but as lively as it is comforting.

Maryam is halal so there’s no alcohol; ayran (mint-spiked yoghurt drink) is thick enough to stand a spoon in.

There’s a large array of kebab combinations featuring various quantities of chicken, lamb pieces and minced lamb patties. Our friendly waiter steers us towards the good-value kase kebab, which includes the three meats unthreaded from their skewers and placed in a bowl with tomato and chilli. It also comes with rice, but don’t let that stop you ordering tahchin, one of the essential pleasures of Persian food.

Tahchin is a layered, baked, saffron-scented rice and chicken dish that succeeds or disappoints on the quality of its tahdig, a golden, crisp crust that forms on the base of the pan. Tahchin is flipped to serve, so the underside becomes the top. The version here is perfect, not only neatly and consistently crusted, but formed in a heart-shaped pan that increases the level of difficulty in making it, and the ensuing delight for diners.

You’ll remember there’s baklava, but we’re very much at the “containers, please” stage of the evening: those crisp layers of pistachio, honey and filo are added to the bag of delights for tomorrow.

Valizadeh tells me she opened the restaurant to fulfil a long-held dream: finding her way in Australia wasn’t easy. “My motivation is to reconnect with the community, hear their stories, feel their energy, and share a sense of warmth, familiarity, and peace through authentic Iranian cuisine,” she says.

Her restaurant is not only convincing in its mission, it’s a celebratory statement of firm but modest intent, embodying the power of food to foster connection.

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