Hana, 351 West End Lane, London NW6 1LT

Hana, 351 West End Lane, London NW6 1LT

11/05/2013

www.hanarestaurant.co.uk

She said: Craving Persian food we hopped on the scooter to West Hampstead. Hana is a small neighbourhood Iranian hiding around the corner of a green at the top of West End Lane. Décor is simple, it’s the food that is such a delight and with our practice of dining in central London so often I had forgotten what ‘normal’ restaurant prices are when you move outside Zone 1. It took great restraint not to over-order mezze dishes so I stuck with a borani spinach which I scooped up with some light, warm Persian bread and I shared his Ash e Resteh which was perfectly balanced with all the right flavours of a soup that has a lot of nostalgia value for me (my best friend’s father from primary school used to make it whenever I came round to play)…For mains I had a spinach and bean Ghormez Sabzi and shared his Aubergine Khorosheth Bademjan – both delicious stews which came with fluffy rice and a cucumber, onion and tomato salad at good portion sizes. At £30 for two including soft drinks this was a lovely local dining experience with good service, great food and the sort of relaxed atmosphere that you would expect with a neighbourhood place. Hana certainly makes me want to seek out more local places outside the centre of London.

He said: Hana is a classic example of a really good neighbourhood restaurant. The cooking is attentive, the portions generous, the service friendly, and the prices reeled right back from the stratospheric heights of Central London. The presentation and setting is at the cosy suburban midway point between the usual Persian clichés of, at one end, neon lights and plastics chairs and, at the other end life-size gilt statues of Xerxes, lion fountains, gold cutlery, etc. Hana has a refreshing down-to-earth-ness which is a welcomed contrast from the feverish worshiping at the Altar of Food going on these days (but hopefully not too much in these posts). Like the famous Freud quip (‘sometimes a cigar is just a cigar’) sometimes all you want is great food without fuss and without feeling fleeced or guilty about how much you spent on it. Hana’s the place to find it. Fight the power! Support your local businesses, even if you have to take the tube a few stops further than usual.