Here There and Everywhere

Doha Esphahan is for Lovers!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Here There and Everywhere readers!

Today, we are still in Doha, Qatar, and I have saved a very special restaurant to share with the, the Esphahan, in the heart of the restored Souk Waqif. It was so special that a friend took me there because she knew it would delight me, and it delighted me so much I had to take AdventureMan, so I got to eat here twice in the same trip. 🙂

Doha legend has it that the Amir of Qatar walked into this restaurant (somewhere? in Esphahan?) and said “I want this restaurant in Qatar!” It’s a wonderful thing to be the Amir of a country with all the natural gas resources in the world, and, as if by magic, this fairy-tale restaurant appeared in Doha. How cool is that? Like he could have had the dining room reproduced in his own palace, he could, he can do just about anything. But he choose to enhance this wonderful restored market, the Souk Waqif, and make this restaurant one of the cornerstones, one of the delights of the market. You gotta love noblesse like that. He shares.

From entry to exit, it is a treat. The food is fabulous, the service friendly, skilled and attentive, they bake their own bread and the decor is WAAAAYYYYYYY over the top. Oh, what fun.

It starts at the entry, which is on the main walking street in the restaurant area of the restored Souk Waqif:

It might be too gaudy for you, but it thrills the little-girl-who-lives-in-my-heart, all those mirrors, all that interconnected design, the tableaux – maybe over the top, but I love it.

They also have great music, none of this Hotel California stuff.

See! It really is a Valentine's Day restaurant!

The Amir's private dining room can be entirely closed off for private dinners.

The truth is, the Esphahan is also for families, including very large families. There are large divided sections where families or groups can sit on the floor, traditional style, or there are dining rooms upstairs which can comfortably serve couples, small families, large families and extended families for your special occasion.

The food was fabulous. Most of the dishes are dishes you can order at almost any Iranian restaurant, only bumped up a notch. They were delicious. Service was so attentive that I could never take any photos of the food without being really, really obvious, and we were also surrounded by a lot of traditional families, and I am careful about pulling out my camera in those situations. (Sorry Purg, I know you like the food photos.)

Don’t take my word for it. Go. 🙂 See – and taste – for yourself.

I wonder (random musing here) if Americans had more exposure to Iranian food, if our countries would be better friends? I want to go to Iran so badly. AdventureMan, too. We wonder if we will ever get the opportunity. We are SO near – and yet so far . . .

February 14, 2009 - Posted by intlxpatr | Adventure, Doha, Eating Out, ExPat Life, Living Conditions, Qatar, Travel