Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan restaurant

Restaurant:  Azerbaijan Restaurant

Location:  330 Ballards Lane, North Finchley, London, N12 0EY

Date of visit:  1 June 2012

Time of visit:  8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate:  Mirza ghasemi (Steve), Kashk-e-bademan (Elle), Khoresht gheymeh bademjan (Steve) and chelo kebab sultani (Elle)

When I first moved to London I used to travel the full length of Edgware Road to get into work. Near the southern end, I'd pass a restaurant called "Azeri". When we started this restaurant project, I was satisfied that I knew where we'd go when we got to Azerbaijan on the list.

Truth be told, I thought we'd hit this restaurant about two years ago but the project has taken so much longer than I expected. And, of course, by the time we came to tackling "Azeri" on Edgware Road, it had closed.

So I was getting ready to cook my own Azeri meal, as I was certain this was the only Azeri restaurant in London. But, as luck would have it, a new restaurant - creatively titled "Azerbaijan Resturant" - recently opened in Finchley. So off we went.

I've actually spent some time in the country of Azerbaijan, so have been exposed to the cuisine. It became quickly clear to me that bread and lamb were king. Especially bread. And lamb.

Also I knew it would be difficult to differentiate between food from Azerbaijan and food from Iran. Particularly from northern Iran, and the provinces to the north of the country, which have the same name as their neighbourly country! And this restaurant was no exception - the menu was a mix of Azeri and Persian food.

We arrived just after 8.30pm on a Friday night, and were somewhat surprised to see such a lovely restaurant deserted. We were the only visitors when we arrived, and as we left we were still the only people to visit the restaurant.

The restaurant itself was impeccable inside. The decor was very fresh and clean - you could tell it was a new restaurant. The layout was faultless, and it was generally a very pleasant place to be. This was helped by the very helpful and attentive service we received from the moment we arrived.

The menu had a great selection of hot and cold starters (all mostly vegetarian), a selection of dry and saucy mains, deserts and a decent wine list. All the food items had clear explanations of what they involved.

Despite having visited Azerbaijan, I certainly didn't go into the restaurant knowing what to look for on the menu. So, to the both of us, it was difficult to picture how the starters would come from just the description. So you could say we were ordering blind, but this is part of the fun!

For starters, Elle ordered the Kashk-e-bademan - grilled aubergine, mint, whey and fried onions. I went for the Mirza ghasemi - aubergine, garlic, tomato, eggs and olive oil. When we ordered these, the waiter suggested we also ordered a nan bread to go with them. This made sense when they arrived, as the starters came as a puree on a small plate. The bread, however, was monumental in size! And only £1. It was a very fresh, light, thin nan bread, which was a little crispy, and was ideal for spreading the purees onto.

Elle's starter had a definite but subtle mint taste. That said, there wasn't really any other strong flavour that stood out. It was quite fresh in taste and appearance, with a hint of aubergine and onion.

I was really pleased with my starter. Being a fan of garlic, I was glad to note it was pretty garlicy! It also had a touch of spice, which I didn't expect. The eggs gave it a decent bit of consistency and it all went very well with the bread.

When the mains came, they were instantly impressive. Elle ordered chelo kebab sultani - a skewer of boneless baby chicken and a skewer of minced lamb. The skewers were very generous with the amount of meat on both, and the meat itself tasted wonderful, particularly the chicken. Alongside this was a small bowl of red powder and half a dozen butter sachets. It wasn't clear what she was supposed to do with this, although undoubtedly it was in place of a sauce to go with what was otherwise a rather dry main meal. We still aren't sure what the red powder was. I assumed it was chilli powder at first, but it wasn't really spicy it all. It was more zingy or tangy, almost tomatoey.

I ordered the Khoresht gheymeh bademjan - lamb in tomato, yellow split peas, dried lemon, aubergine and rice. It came as a kind of stew, with a separate plate of white and saffron rice. It had a really intriguing flavour. I was quite surprised at how much the lemon stood out. That said, it wasn't overpowering at all, it just cut through. The lamb was cooked beautifully - the chunks just melted in the mouth. And the sauce, with the split peas, went perfectly. The other large lumps in the meal, which I found out by eating one whole, were whole lemons cooked down to about the size of a tiny egg. All in all, it was very nice, and very filling.

Therefore, as always, there was no room for dessert!

Before all the food came a small plate with a complimentary salad of tomato, cucumber, lettuce, olives and salad cream. 

For drinks, Elle had Diet Coke, and I had a bottle of Bud.

Through the meal, we were serenaded by a selection of Azeri music, which was not intrusive but was definitely scene setting.

When the bill arrived, we noticed that they had failed to add the second of Elle's Diet Coke's to the total, so we pointed this out and just added money, alongside the tip. As we left, the waiter was quick to tell us to come back on a Saturday night for more food and to hear live Azeri music.

From start to finish, I cannot fault this restaurant at all. The decor, the atmosphere, the food and the service were all absolutely spot on. And if that wasn't enough, it was really decently priced, for great quality all round. So it was even more of a mystery that when we left this restaurant, it went back to being empty.

Cost of meal:  £35 (including drinks)