Linda picked our destination for today, but I got to choose the lunch spot. We went to Banu, an Iranian restaurant which was spectacular. We started with sour cherry juice and pomegranate juice, mast o khiar (a yogurt dish with cucumber, rose petals, walnuts,and raisins) and salad e sekanjebin (grilled romaine hearts with pomegranate seeds, fried mint, sheep's milk cheese, and sekanjebin- sweetened syrup with vinegar and mint). The main couse was zereshk polo va morgh (turmeric and saffron braised chicken with barberry saffron rice). We took pictures of all the dishes except the last which we were enjoying so much that we were halfway through before we realized that we had failed to capture its beauty. The rice part is called wedding rice because its so beautiful and "jewel-like” and therefore suitable for a wedding party. So the last picture is cribbed from the internet, but ours looked very similar, though a smaller plate. The service was very good and our waiter took a lot of time to explain the dishes to us. She seemed to really enjoy sharing her culture's cuisine with us even though she must have answered the same questions many times.
