The Irani Cafe, Pune Review

I love Iranian food. When I worked in IT, my 2 Iranian colleagues and I would order from an Iranian families home delivery service once a week.

During my last week at the office, I told the guys, “We’re ordering Iranian every day this week!” That was a tasty week.

The Iranian Cafe in Pune isn’t strictly Iranian though. It’s more a Parsi Cafe (the Parsis came to India from Iran). I’m a sucker for Parsi food too because it’s very similar to Iranian but with a slight Indian twist.

The area I was staying in Pune was close to the NH7 Weekender Music Festival I was attending. Within walking distance there were very few clean places to eat though. But there were not one but two Irani Cafes. So I ended up having breakfast at both.

The Food

Here’s the low down on what to try:

• Bun Maska: a huge bun with a sweet cream filling.
• Chicken Kheema Gotala: spicy chicken and egg mince served with bread. Gotala means “fake” because they add an egg to the chicken mix instead of using 100% chicken.
• Tea: just a good old sweet Indian Chai without the spice.
• Chicken Berry Palau: I didn’t get to try this, but see my review on Britannia & Co. for the best Chicken Berry Palau in India.
• Joojeh or Kubedeh Kebab: BBQ’d chicken or Mutton pieces in Persian spices and served with saffron rice. An Iranian staple.

Service is fast, the restaurants are clean with a Parsi Cafe vibe, and the food and cheap and tasty. What’s not to like?