A Persian Food Tour of Paris: From Café to Michelin Star in One Day

Paris is not the first city you think of for Persian food. Rome has Ariana, London has Shiraz and Khorasan, Stockholm has Persian Rose. But Paris has something the others do not: Isfahan Garden, the only Michelin-starred Persian restaurant in Europe.

And when you pair a morning at the delightful Persepolis Café with an evening tasting menu at Isfahan Garden, you get one of the most complete expressions of Persian food culture available anywhere outside of Tehran.

Morning: Persepolis Café, 12th Arrondissement

Arrive around 9am on a Saturday when the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine is just waking up. Nasrin Moradi's café is everything you want in a Parisian morning: strong Persian chai with cardamom, a plate of nan-e berenji (delicate rice flour cookies) and the day's newspaper. The terrace is perfect in summer, and the interior — with its indigo tilework and dried herb bundles — is beautiful in any season.

Afternoon: The 1st Arrondissement

After exploring the Marais, make your way to the 1st arrondissement and walk past the Louvre as the afternoon light turns golden. Book a table at Isfahan Garden for 7:30pm — reservations open 6 weeks in advance and fill within hours.

Evening: Isfahan Garden

Chef Cyrus Rahimi's 9-course tasting menu is a masterwork. The evening begins with an amuse-bouche of tiny Caspian-inspired roe on a sliver of sangak, and ends with the Bastani Trilogy — three Persian ice creams served under a dome of spun sugar that the server cracks dramatically at the table. In between, there is a course of fesenjan that will change how you think about duck forever.