Eivan Restaurant & Bar

I really do love Persian cuisine and I honestly don't think I eat enough of it.  Living in Burnaby, I'm not in the hotbed of Persian food, as we all know that the North Shore is where it's at.  So with an invite to try out Eivan Restaurant & Bar, we were excited to have an Iranian feast.  Located in the former location of Zeitoon, there have been some renovations made.  Hence, there is a more upscale look with a beautiful mural on one side of the restaurant.

Right off the bat, the first appy we tried was absolutely delicious.  Sitting in a house dressing, walnuts, EVOO and parmesan, the Eivan Olives were fantastic.  Complimenting the brininess of the olives was a sweet dressing that must've had date syrup.  The sweetness helped balance the flavours and balsamic added tanginess.  Add in the cheese and we had some nutty saltiness.

Equally good was the Mirzaghasemi or Eggplant Dip with egg and tomato.  Delicate and a bit jammy, the eggplant was so appealingly smoky with some natural sweetness and a background tanginess.  Adding more silkiness, the soft egg yolk also created some custard-like textures.  This all went very well with the barbari bread as the bread was firm and did not wilt with the wet ingredients.

When we ordered the Persian Meatballs, we were not expecting such huge ones hitting the table (feel free to insert joke here).   These were moist and stayed intact despite being cut into quarters.  There was definitely the gaminess of lamb present, which I personally enjoy.  The earthiness of the spices came through while nuts and raisins provided texture and pops of flavour.

We didn't end there with the appies as we had the Hummus too.  It was gigantic portion of creamy chickpeas and tahini.  Other than the nuttiness and sweetness, we found the acidity on point as well as the smoothness of the EVOO.  The Dolmehs were also a large portion and the best part was the complimenting ingredients of tangy and sweet barberries, nutty walnuts and fried onions.

Last starter we had was the Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings with sweet chili dip and cucumber yogurt.  These featured crispy skin that was somewhat rendered.  The meat itself was juicy and in turn, super tender.  I felt the wings themselves could've used more seasoning as they didn't taste like much by themselves.  However, the sweet chili dip did add the necessary flavour to the dish.

Onto our bigger items, we had the large Vaziri platter sporting one skewer of chicken and loghmeh.  This was a generous portion of meat accompanied by rice, charred tomato, pepper and herbs.  The chicken was tender and moist while the ground beef and lamb skewer was almost juicy and had some sweetness from the onions.  That rice was fantastic as it featured a crispy socarrat and was aromatic.

Our other large item was half of a Cornish Game Hen served with barberry & saffron rice.  It also came with a sauce that was similar, if not the same, as the Persian Meatballs.  The white meat was on the drier side, but the sauce did help in terms of moisture and flavour (sweet and savoury with umami).  Dark meat was predictably more moist.  Loved the rice as the barberry provided bursts of sweetness and tang.

We ended things off with the Saffron Ice Cream and the Tiramisu.  That ice cream was thick, rich and creamy.  Definitely aromatic and slightly floral.  Pieces of frozen butter made things even more luxurious.  As for the Tiramisu, I thought the ladyfingers could've used more soaking, but the creamy and sweet mascarpone helped alleviate things.  Overall, we had a great meal at Eivan.  Really enjoyed the flavours and the generous portions of delicious food.  Combine that with a nice atmosphere and reasonable prices, it is a place you can visit any night of the week.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Impactful flavours

- Generous portions

- Reasonable pricing

The Bad:

- Maybe the Cornish game hen could've been more moist

- Parking in the area during peak times is limited