Arya came from the word 'Aryan' which represents the people from which the Persians or Iranians have descended from. It's owned by Mr. Shin Karami who hails from Shiraz, Iran. 
Okay, let's go to where the 'meat and potatoes' are, the food. For starters, I love their Arya Dip Platter.It's a meze consisting of a sampler of tzatziki, motabal, mirza ghasemi and hummus.They are very good appetizers if you eat it with their breads. It's also good if you savour it on its own since it is very tasty. What caught my attention is the Mirza Ghasemi since this is something new for me. Mirza Ghasemi is a meze dish which is made of smoked eggplants, tomatoes and garlic.Very good, it's more of like a Persian version of the mousakka minus the meat and the bechamel sauce.For the meal, we ordered the Makhus.
Makhus is a platter consists of skewers of Koobideh and Shish Kabab. 
Koobideh is a Persian dish consisting of ground meat, seasoned with Persian spices then mixed with chopped onions and parsley. The meat is then molded on a skewer and then grilled. I love their version of the Koobideh. The meat is not dry but still juicy when it gets to your plate.The flavours of the persian spice and the onion/parsley mixture went well together. None of them overpowered the flavour of each other.
The Shish Kabab is also a winner. The difference of the Shish Kabab with the Koobideh is that, the Shish Kabab are made of tenderloin chunks instead of ground meat.The shish kabab of Arya looks like it is seasoned with saffron since it has a yellowish hue.This is great since the meat is not tough nor overcooked. It still retained its juiciness and chunkiness after it was grilled not unlike other shish kababs which turns out dry after grilling. One testimony of the kababs' juiciness is that, after we finished the platter, we still took out some pita bread and wiped off the kabab's drippings in the platter. yummy!!!!
The dish also came with grilled, plump tomatoes which are also great side dishes for the kebab dish.This is a 'must try' dish. I will come back to Arya for this Persian culinary treat.
For the bread, we ordered the Pita bread and the Naan. I would not elaborate more on the Pita bread since it is somehow common to middle-eastern restaurants here in the Metro.I would like to share my experience with their Persian Bread or Naan.
Arya's Naan is different than other Naan that I have tried.It is soft and chewy unlike the others which is more dry and flaky similar already to the Pita or Chapatti flat breadArya's Naan consistency is more of like a pancake without milk. I managed to have a conversation with Mr Shin Karami, the proprietor of the Arya restaurant and he taught me that Pita is more of Arabic bread than Persian. I love it so much that I even ordered another serving for me to take home and have it for breakfast.Surprisingly, they are still soft and chewy eventhough I left it in the fridge overnight before breakfast.
Their garlic sauce is also great. It's not watery. For me, it tasted different from other garlic sauces of the other restaurants that I have tried.Arya has a unique flavour to their garlic sauce. It has a hint of a little bit of sweetness. I love it!The flavour literally bursts in your maw when you try it.It's good on everything, the meat dish, chicken, lamb or even just plain bread!Arya sells it in their Greenhills branch for Php150 on ketchup-sized bottles.I'll buy a bottle of it and I might use it as a sauce for other meat dish.I think it's also good as a salad dressing.
Arya's Naan is different than other Naan that I have tried.It is soft and chewy unlike the others which is more dry and flaky similar already to the Pita or Chapatti flat breadArya's Naan consistency is more of like a pancake without milk. I managed to have a conversation with Mr Shin Karami, the proprietor of the Arya restaurant and he taught me that Pita is more of Arabic bread than Persian. I love it so much that I even ordered another serving for me to take home and have it for breakfast.Surprisingly, they are still soft and chewy eventhough I left it in the fridge overnight before breakfast. Their garlic sauce is also great. It's not watery. For me, it tasted different from other garlic sauces of the other restaurants that I have tried.Arya has a unique flavour to their garlic sauce. It has a hint of a little bit of sweetness. I love it!The flavour literally bursts in your maw when you try it.It's good on everything, the meat dish, chicken, lamb or even just plain bread!Arya sells it in their Greenhills branch for Php150 on ketchup-sized bottles.I'll buy a bottle of it and I might use it as a sauce for other meat dish.I think it's also good as a salad dressing.
Staff is very nice and accomodating.Deco is perfect, very Persian ambience.Price is not that high since they have big servings.I would try to visit their Greenhills branch since it is much bigger than the Robinson's Place branch.
Kudos to Mr. Shin Karami for a very warm entertainment and for the nice chat.
I'll go back and drop Arya a visit again sometime soon to try their other offerings...
Ciao!
*for more photos, click the ff. URL*
Contact:
Arya Persian Restaurant
(Greenhills Branch)
Unit L-9Promenade Mall,Ortigas Ave,Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila
(Robinson's Place Ermita Branch)
2nd level Midtown Wing,Robinson's Place,Pedro Gil St.,Ermita, Manila
727-5062 or 9944879
yehey!! congratulations!! ill link u up to mine ah ;)
ReplyDeletebeen here, in GH branch :)
ReplyDeleteelegant indian cuisine :)