Where to dine out in Tehran:

Thursday, August 28
Different people surely have different tastes. So there is not a single rule for telling you where to go. Yet I may be able to show where we hang out as students!
Fancy restaurants are the least expected place to hang out with friends. They are expensive & you can’t laugh loudly or do whatever you want to do there. I know some places where you can go as couple but not when you are with a bunch of wild free young boys & girls. Hotel lobbies are like that (though I, myself, have had some cool friend- gatherings in Sheraton). I’ve tried JAM-E-JAM too. But to tell ya the truth, it was like you have to be the princess there. SORENTO is even worse! I know some etiquette rules yet practicing them don’t appeal to me!
On the other hand, old shabby GHAHVEKHOONE (cafés) are not what you may find desirable to go out to. They are located in older parts of Tehran & well I get the sense that the environment is kind of MANLY. A girl is not supposed to be seen there (I am an exception once again, being at least in one with my uncle). Another kind of these places is KALEPAZIS. They serve a special kind of food; kind of soup by lamb meat which is served mostly as an energetic breakfast. I don’t know is it because most girls don’t like the food or something else that I’ve never seen one inside one of these cafes.
So where do we hang out? There are lots of cafés around the town where they serve light meals & stuffs like coffee, tea, &…. & there are the fast foods. & some of SOFREKHANE HAYE SONTAI (traditional restaurants) is fine.
I’ve tried some cafes over here. Some are ok, some perfect & some are plain rubbish! Some the famous ones I don’t like. They are unfriendly & crowded like GHROOB, SADAF, TOOTFARANGI, ARIAN, &…. I used to hang out there but now…
DIDANIHA is my hang out right now. But it’s getting crowded & I’m looking for some other place. You know the have risen the price without reason. I used to say the price is reasonably high there but now it’s not fair! Yet I’ve got to declare that I had very good cappuccinos there that make me go back for more. Chicken Fingers are really delicious & other things are quite ok! I go there with 3 or 4 different bunch of friend so they really know me!
We used to hang out in SHEYTH it’s a very quite, rather small place. No one would drop by accidentally there so it used to be our secret hang out. We, the girls, would go there at 12 have the most delicious pizzas & fine coffees & talk for 3 or 4 ours about useless, small things. It had been very deserted I used to think why they don’t close it! My, I long for our private talks there. We used to read poems by HAFEZ (who is one of the best Iranian poets) & interpret the poems. We call this FAL GEREFTAN. Guess we shall go there again when Miss Poetess (who is away to seaside) get back!