Tehran Berlin

Tehran Berlin’s food offering has oscillated between various degrees of French, Modern European and Persian influences over the years, but in a recent turn of events, chef-founder Yuma Hashemi has decided to do away with the former to go back to his roots. Now the restaurant focuses exclusively on a Persian summer feasting menu, inspired by his favourite family recipes. 

The intimate dining room seats a maximum of 20 guests and has been designed in the style of an opulent Persian living room. Verdant green walls and wooden floors provide a snug foundation, but an ingrained sense of warmth comes alive in the details. Yuma has furnished the space with items reminiscent of his family home, including patterned Persian rugs and tablecloths, a beautiful gold drinks cabinet and black and white photos of himself as a young child.  

Just as if we’ve been invited into someone’s home, we’re not presented with a menu, and small plates start to arrive from the open kitchen on gold-rimmed crockery. Textures are soft and designed to be eaten with olive oil-slick flatbreads, while flavours range from smoky to sour to refreshing. Aubergine and tahini, scrambled egg and tomato and a herby walnut duo are all particular standouts. The main event is a glorious golden tahdig served with succulent chicken and barberries, plus two stews (beef and lamb) slow-cooked for 10 hours until tender and rich. Dessert signals a return to fine dining: an intensely fruity quenelle of pink barberry ice cream with a crunchy peanut crumble and rhubarb. Two and a half hours passes in the blink of an eye and we feel slightly deflated when it's over.

This all comes at the not-so-modest price of £85 per person, with the option to add a blind wine pairing crafted by Yuma himself for another £80. It’s a lot, but the skill and time taken to create each dish more or less justifies it. For just a few hours, we felt part of something that was more than just a fantastic meal, and you can’t put a price on that. 

Tehran Berlin - formerlly The Drunken Butler - is an intimate Persian restaurant in Clerkenwell by executive chef and co-founder Yuma Hashemi, that serves an exclusive multi-course feasting menu.

Yuma was born in Iran and grew up in Berlin, although the inspiration for his restaurant and its food is widely influenced by his time travelling the globe. In fact, Tehran Berlin originally started out as a modern European restaurant, serving a tasting menu inspired by the cuisine and flavours of Europe, Asia and beyond. Now, the restaurant solely serves a Persian feasting menu inspired by the food Yuma enjoyed with his family growing up.  

What hasn’t changed, though, is its signature intimate dining style. The space is designed to replicate the look and feel of a living room, to create a warm and relaxed ambience so that guests feel as though they are entering a house. Large square and circular tables covered in opulent tablecloths fill the space, along with further homely touches: a gold drinks cabinet filled with premium spirits, book-lined wooden shelves, a huge purple rug and black and white photographs on the walls of Yuma as a child.  

The multi-course menu starts with traditional snacks, such as bread with cheese and herbs, along with a variety of dips. The main event is a traditional Iranian rice dish, tahdig, with a crunchy golden topping and tinted yellow with saffron. This is served alongside a couple of meat stews and roast chicken, before finishing with a couple of sweet treats. While the menu’s core plates remain the same, various dishes are adapted to suit the seasons.  

Yuma has also curated the wine list, with guests able to select a wine pairing with the meal or choose by the bottle. Discover a list of premium negronis, too, for a short and punchy aperitif.  

The restaurant seats a maximum of 20 guests per sitting, with diners able to book an individual table, or a seat at the chef’s counter which overlooks the open kitchen.