It wasn't always easy to find vegetarian food in Iran. It is a shame, because Iran has some excellent dishes for vegetarians, but unfortunately they are seldom served in simple restaurants that focus on local fast food (meaty kababs).
The first few days in Tehran, where everyone was on holidays, it was difficult to find any restaurant in the first place and I ended up eating "vegetarian" stew with some meat in it. This actually happened a few times, so be careful if you can afford to be more picky than I was.
Pistachios are great in Iran, and necessary when looking for a restaurant in an empty Tehran...
Great food in Ananda Vegetarian Restaurant in Tehran.
However, on our second day in Tehran, we were more prepared and asked the hotel to call a few places recommend by the Lonely Planet to make sure that we would find good food for lunch. And indeed, Ananda restaurant, founded by the Iranian Society of Vegetarians (yes, there is one!), was a top choice and even my carnivore friend loved the place.
However, I recommend that you don't walk from the Gholhak metro station if you are already a bit hungry, because the way is longer than what it looks like on the map... In any case, even if you arrive in a grumpy mood, you will soon be filled with joy in this little oasis of vegetarian food. In addition, Ananda is in a quite chic neighborhood that is great for a little walk for digesting the food afterwards.
Ananda Vegetarian Restaurant is a peaceful oasis.
The breakfast was always included in the hotel deals, which was good since it was not always straightforward to find a café or any other place suitable for breakfast. In each hotel, the breakfast was about the same. Flat bread, more or less dry, with feta-type cheese, carrot marmalade, amazingly fresh dates (I hope they start to export these to Europe), sweet tomatoes and cucumber, tea (and in some cases horrible instant coffee), and eggs in some form. Good stuff for vegetarians!
The best veggie dishes in Iran were based on eggplant and they were truly delicious. Kashk e bademjan was absolutely my favorite dish and something I should really try at home as well (and here's a recipe to try it out). I tried kashk e bademjan in various restaurants, but the best one was in Khan-e Dohad restaurant in Yazd where, in general, the supply of nice traditional restaurants was the best of all the places we visited.
Another eggplant dish was khoresht-e bademjan, eggplants in tomato-based sauce. In some places, there was meat in this dish (maybe that's even the standard version), so as a vegetarian, try to communicate with your waiter (good luck...). I guess the secret is that they cook the eggplant for hours so that it just melts in your mouth.
Kashk e bademjan, delicious!
Khorest e bademjan, be aware of the hidden meat chunks.
Sometimes, when my friend was having a meaty lunch, I had to be content with biryani. I'm not sure if biryani just means any kind of rice, but normally I got this dill-flavoured buttery yellow-green rice with some beans in it. With some extra butter, it was quite good even though super simple and its nutritional value is probably zero... However, together with some lovely shirini (sweets), I survived and definitely didn't lose any weight during the trip.
Biryani, simple vegetarian...
Everyone, including Lonely Planet, recommend us the Restaurant Shahrzad, "the best restaurant in Isfahan". Although meat-eaters can enjoy the interesting fesenjun (meat with sauce of pomegranate, walnuts, eggplant and cardamum) there, it is also quite popular among big (German) tourist groups and for vegetarians there is absolutely nothing interesting except for the very friendly waiters. Personally, I prefer the traditional restaurants where you eat on a daybed. Shahrzad was a bit too fancy and vegetarians will leave disappointed.
Of course, in Iran, to get the authentic experience, the best thing is to get invited to eat with the locals at home. We were granted this wonderful opportunity in Isfahan when we had dinner with Reza and his family. Ok, to be polite, I tried a bit of chicken, but luckily, there was great vegetable stew with rise as well. But as often with the most memorable dinner experiences, the company was fantastic.
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