A Persian treat

It's worth paying a visit to Behesht just to revel in the decor. In a world in which the stylistas sometimes seem to be getting the upper hand, it's a treat to visit a restaurant that has a distinctly different personality. From the outside you'll spot Behesht as there is a large neon sign - it doesn't say 'Behesht' but that is doubtless a translation of the bright patch of looping script.

This restaurant serves Persian cuisine and there is a joyful bravura about the interior design. It has three dining rooms and they all seem busy. As you enter, the first room is dominated by a huge, roaring-hot bread oven. To the right, there is another room where some gadget ensures that there is a waterfall streaming down the front window. Go up the narrow corridor to the rear dining room and a terra cotta, wall-mounted ditch runs alongside you. In it, goldfish patrol up and down as various spigots and fountains splash water into the fishy zone.

Everywhere there is the sound of running water - so this is no place to eat comfortably for anyone easily suggestible. The back dining room is square and the floor, the wood-panelled walls and even the ceilings are covered with carpets. The furniture is massive --in that a single chair is large enough, and heavy enough, to make it difficult to lift.

Behesht has a lively atmosphere and waiters hurry about with a succession of jugs of drinking yoghurt and pots of tea. The food is simple and that is its strength. Large flatbreads are turned out very rapidly by the giant oven, and you start with bread and dips. The first thing on the menu is paneer sabzi. This is a bunch of fresh green herbs that is served with a small square of cheese and some walnuts. The idea is that you parcel up the herbs in bread with either the feta-like cheese or the nuts to add a contrasting texture.

You'll get mint, tarragon, the green bits from spring onions, some radishes and various other bits of obscure greenery. The combination of the warm bread and the fresh herbs is stunning.

From the array of dips, mast-o-mouseer is a strained yogurt given punch by some shallots and garlic, baba ganoush is aubergine cooked with an implausible amount of oil and there's houmous. If you enjoy strident flavours, torshi is for you. These are trad pickles, very much a dish for the salt lover and probably more suited to a desert climate where salt cravings are more pronounced.

After the dips the menu is mainly lamb, lamb or lamb. But it is very well cooked and it does come in several guises. The chello kebab koubideh is a minced lamb kebab - well-seasoned and cooked to the point where it is still tender but not greasy. Like all the mains, it comes with a large tomato that has been nestled into the coals until one side is burnt black and a giant helping of rice. The chello kebab barg is lamb fillet cut thin - again perfectly cooked and amazingly tender.

As well as another dozen lamb combos, you'll also find a couple of chicken dishes and some rather good stews - khoresht bademjan teams aubergine, lamb and dried lime. Delicious. Service is friendly and in this alcohol-free zone, it is worth having a pot of black tea. This comes with its own ritual and an ornate painted teapot atop a small burner with tiny, delicate glasses - a grand after-meal digestif.

Behesht is a cheerful place that serves sound food at bargain prices and the decor with its waterfalls is a fabulous bonus.

Behesht Persian Cuisine
Harrow Road, London, NW10 5NL