Darband, Auburn

A lot of what I love to eat is inspired by food tv, more specifically, Anthony Bourdain’s tv shows. I see a cuisine being eaten and I have to go find it in Sydney. Persian is one of those cuisines. I’ve had upscale Persian but it doesn’t quite compare to family-style. Darband is a relatively small restaurant in Auburn filled with, you guessed it, families. Since opening in 2005, it’s a local favorite which surprisingly, hasn’t gotten much attention over the years besides a Broadsheet write up and a Simon Thomsen article proclaiming its rice as “lightest, fluffiest [he’d] ever eaten”. A distinction I half agree with, and will explain a little later.

Doogh ($7), homemade yogurt drink

Our waitress hands us two laminated menus to choose off of and leaves us to decide what we’ll be getting. She comes back to take our order and does a brilliant job of remembering it without needing to write it down. We order a bottle of doogh and glasses, each with a spoonful of dried mint at the bottom, are brought to the table. After some time, we figure out that we’re meant to grab the bottle from the fridge ourselves. The closest thing to doogh that you may be familiar with is Indian lassi. It’s salty and a bit of an eye-opener for the first few sips.

Mast-o-khiyar ($3) – yogurt with cucumber and mint; Kashk-e-bademjan ($4) – eggplant pan-fried with mint and onion with whey dressing; Shirazi salad ($3) – cucumber, tomato and onion with lime, black pepper and mint dressing

All these small bowls come out in quick succession. Dried mint is dusted on top of each. A bag of flatbread wedges and a plate of mint and raw onion are brought out. The tables around us are going in on the raw onion but I opt to go straight for the yogurt. It’s a refreshing start to the meal. The kashk is a table favorite; warm, kind of gloopy grilled eggplant with a dab of cream on top. Great on a slice of flatbread.

Koobideh ($11) – lamb mince marinated in onion

There are three types of kebab on offer (minced lamb, marinated chicken, and lamb backstrap) plus some combinations of those three. We decide on simple minced lamb and it is with this plate that I saw a delicious use for that two kilo bag of onions sitting in my pantry. The lamb is packed with onion flavor and accompanied by a plate of fluffy Persian rice and a grilled tomato on the side. Now, back to the rice point I was making in the beginning. It’s true that this rice is light and fluffy, but I still maintain that the rice my mom can make is just as light and fluffy. If, for some reason, my mom left me in Australia to fend for myself, I’d be treating Darband as my replacement mother for rice.

Zereshk polo ($12) – chicken with berberis rice

First comes a bowl of bright red chicken. Then a plate of golden saffron rice mixed with barberries. When you write about food, you hesitate to use words like unctuous, but here that may be the only word to use. The chicken is soft, its fat is melting and if you mix the rice with the slightly sour sauce, it’s perfect. Good thing there’s some barberries in the rice. It’s got a strong, sour flavor that’ll definitely awaken your palate and cut through the fat.

Gheimeh ($10) – lamb cooked with split peas, tomatoes and dried limes

Gheimeh is lamb stew that is usually topped with fries. I’m already liking it. Semi-soft split peas give it body and occasionally you’ll get a bit of bite from shards of dried lime. My favorite part about it is the tender, flavorful lamb in contrast to crispy French Fries chips. It comes out with, you guessed it, another plate of rice. By now, there are three mountainous plates of rice on the table and it quickly becomes obvious that we’re not going to finish it all. I believe I described it, at the time, a Mount Everest of rice.

Iranians usually close out their meal with some tea but we were so stuffed that there wasn’t any room left in our stomachs. Next time I’ll try to save some room for the traditional Persian ice cream and a glass of tea. It’s amazingly cheap; I could walk in with fifteen dollars and get a glass of yogurt drink and a big portion of kebab rice. I could probably even take away a portion of that for another meal tomorrow.

Darband
9/45 Rawson St
Auburn NSW 2144
Website