Kateh

So, Kateh was actually recommended to me by an ex back when I studied in London. Without getting too much into my deplorable dating history, let’s just say that it was the only good thing I got out of the relationship.
Kateh is probably around a 4 – 4.5* for the food, but an easy +1 for service, which I’ve found is genuinely friendly. I’ve only been here a handful of times (ok, more like two handfuls by now) but I already feel like family every time I go back in.
And well, the food is no slouch either. From the soul-​warming asheh resteh lentil and spinach soup, delightful zoobah (admittedly the first time I’ve ever had lamb tongue), the murgh torsh (chicken with pomegranate and walnuts), or hearty ghormeh sabzi stew (veal osso buco style — Kateh has achieved near perfection with this), I’ve honestly not had a dish here I disliked. Their salads are great too, and I’m also a fan of their chargrilled octopus appetizer. I’m not as big on their non-​chicken/​non-​octopus grill dishes, but they’re not bad, either.
Don’t forget to save room for dessert (although it can be difficult!). This is the first place I had makhloot — basically faloodeh (thin vermicelli-​like noodles in sweet syrup) topped with bastani (saffron ice cream) — I’d only had them separately before. Their fresh-​baked walnut and date cookie dessert, which comes with cinnamon ice cream, is really nice too.
This place can be pretty crowded at peak times, so to avoid queues either make a reservation or go very early/​late.
It should reveal how much I love food that sometimes I think the Kateh recommendation made my ex worth it. (Still crazy talk.) Of course, I should have just found this place via Unilocal and saved myself a lot of drama.

Not bad. Ate dinner here in a group of c. eight people. The meal was perhaps a little expensive, though. The food was good and all, but not high cuisine, and the portions weren’t extravagant. The service was friendly and I found our server a rather funny guy. Pleasant ambiance. As I said, the food was fine, but I think there are better value-​for-​money options out there so I’m in no rush to return.

Small, intimate space, delicious starters (Aubergine, squid, cucumber salad w pomegranate), unique dessert (20 min cookie and homemade cinnamon ice cream), great wine list. Have yet to try the stews and mains. Reserve in advance, always booked and with good reason. We are so lucky to have this in our neighborhood.

Kateh is barely 10 tables, so the setting is very intimate. The staff are excellent and service was impeccable. The food is good. The only reason I did not give it a 5 on food, was because I have eaten better Persian food.
Its tucked away near Little Venice, so few people know about it, but given the size, it is advisable to Book a Table before visiting.
There are loads of Vegetarian options among the starters. But only one vegetarian maincourse. Murgh Parid — A stew with root vegetables and apricots — It was very tasty though.
I’d heavily recommend the Koofteh Berenji — beef meatballs among the starters and the Adas Pollo — A Persian style biryani among the mains. The Zaytoon Parvadeh was a very unusual starter with olives, that I have never tried before and was a big hit at our table.
They have a good collection of single malts and wines, but don’t expect cocktails and ciders.
Starter portions are small, compared to other Persian restaurants in London, but Mains are of a good size.
Kateh is slightly more expensive than normal, but the service and ambiance are worth it.

I made a reservation via their website, got an email confirmation and, once there, I have been told they don’t even look at those online reservations and had to cancel it

The owner is such a friendly guy always happy and very helpful! The staff are the same, always helpful and polite.
The food is lovely, joojeh chicken is amazing on the bone. Wines are great as well! It’s quite a small restaurant so it can get quite loud when it’s full. The walls are bare (ish) so the sound bounces off quite a lot. There’s a private table downstairs if you’re a big party which is very useful!
The only downside is the noise, sometimes it’s difficult to hear one another but overall a great place to eat!

I had a terrific experience in this restaurant and feel the need to write a nice little review, but I must caution any readers to check more current reviews because my visit was several months ago.
Kateh is located five minutes from the Warwick Avenue tube on a little side street. It’s sandwiched between the Warwick Castle pub and Clifton Gardens Nursery.
After a few drinks at a nearby pub, two friends and I decided to spontaneously stop in for dinner on a week night. We were warmly welcomed by a gentleman who was so gracious, I couldn’t help but think he was the owner or manager. Our server was friendly, too, and answered questions about the cuisine and preparation so we were able to choose exactly what we desired.
Although I don’t remember the exact dishes we ordered, I do remember being delightfully surprised at the flavor combinations and how each ingredient came forward and complemented the others. Chicken, nuts, spices, et al.
And pudding was equally as gastronomically interesting with a frozen saffron rice cream treat embellished with a carmelised sugar decoration.
I will be back again!

Very nice Persian restaurant on a quiet side street near Warwick station — small but clean and well appointed. I found the cuisine here to be excellent and perhaps a bit more «progressive’ than some more traditional style Persian restaurants.
The Dezfouli salad was quite good — an excellent balance of the tart pomegranate with cucumber and quite refreshing (if not a bit small).
The main dish, Kabab Torsh (lamb) was excellent — just an excellent ratio of well cooked, tender lamb with walnuts and hints of mint. Again, the chef did a superb job with the meat — as far too often I have seen lamb cooked poorly and over-​spiced. The flavors were surprisingly subtle and never bitter.
As mentioned, the restaurant is small (it would be a tight fit for a small pub), but I had the good fortune of dining there on a slow weekday night, alone, so the service was excellent. Overall, I thought it was an excellent experience, and like another reviewer, I would give it a 4.5 if I could. I look forward to returning.

Good food, but portions are small and quite pricey. The bonus for us was that it had an excellent Greek white wine in the wine menu…

Went back last night and it was still gorgeous as I remember — the portions are small but tasty., my favourite are still cold starters and grill. Any salad /​cold meze are excellent and any frill is lovely. Meat dishes tend to be better than sea food.

The food is good, but the service is extremely slow and amateurish. I also felt like the majority of the staff were only interested in their Farsi speaking customers. So I’m not to inspired to go out of my way to return. Poor service aside (and the serious stomach cramps that doubled me over 30-​minutes after meal), the food is pretty good.
The kashke bademjan — baby aubergines with mint, yogurt, onions and walnuts — was the best thing I had. Ottellenghi makes a similar dish which this is on par with. The mast va khiar damavand (spelling?) — the yogurt with mint, raisins — was great. And the persian meatballs were moist, well flavoured and delicious. The taftoon — persian naan like flatbread — was also top notch. Rocket, pomegranate and feta was ok. The spinach with phlyo was adequate.
Also annoyed: all our food arrived at once. And people who came in after us got food way before us. Plus, begging for glasses of water or plates to be cleared is just lame.
Overall, good food, decent value, but painful service if you’re not friends with the manager or Persian.

Well to start the food tasted great! I need a half star option because it wasnt quite worthy of 5.
The service was great, polite, friendly and very fast! We did eat early but it became very busy! The ome thing that let down this lovely restaurant was it is quite tight inside if they removed a table it would have just allowed that nice bit of breathing space.
But in my eyes the food… quick service, fresh, hot and a taste sensation! We shared the mixed grill for our main and it had a fantastic selection of several dishes we were considering! The chicken was a little bit over cooked but the varieties of lamb were all incredible!
To start we had their flat bread and tuna special to share, which was a nice light start.
All in all for the portion size a pretty good value meal in a nice little local restaurant. This is the sort of place that makes london, London!
Id definitely eat here again and the menu had a good selection to keep my choices fresh for many visits to come!

Place very peacefull and nice. Starters, main course and wine are delicious.
Better to book before coming and better precise you don’t want to be downstairs.
Hope to come back soon

Kateh serves most of the classic Persian dishes plus a few dishes with a European twists. Quality of the ingrediaents is exceptional and the setting is beautiful. The room downstairs is good for small group functions and the staff are very friendly.

Before I went to Kateh a few weeks ago, I had heard a lot of good things about this place. And one evening I finally managed to go there. The Persian restaurant Kateh is tucked away in a little street just off the canal in the area called Little Venice in Maida Vale, about one minute away from the tube stop Warwick Avenue.
With approximately 40 covers, Kateh is not a huge place. What it does not have in size, Kateh has in character, as it is really a nice little restaurant.
Unfortunately I cannot recall the wine list in detail, but I remember that they have two whites that sounded very good to me on the list, and I went for the one available by the glass. I ordered something like a beautiful feta cheese and walnut salad as a starter. Some time ago, I had a similar dish at a place in St. John’s Wood when I first moved into the area about two years ago. I find feta cheese, walnuts, herbs and flatbread is a great combination.
For my main, I opted for char grilled chicken breast in pomegranate juice with saffron rice. I never had the combination of chicken with sweet pomegranate before, and I really liked it. Definitely a great dish and a new discovery for me.
I was not too hungry after my main, but for completeness I browsed through the dessert menu and asked for a blueberry frozen yogurt. A very good choice with a rich and deep blueberry taste.
After my first visit at Kateh, I am sure that I will be back. This is a lovely little restaurant with great service, tasty dishes and a good wine list. There is not much more you could expect from a restaurant.

Even though I was woefully ignorant about the food, I really enjoyed my meal here. The appetizers were yummy — we split the yogurt spinach and the grilled aubergines (without the egg; there are two kinds). My grilled lamb was very good and judging from the fact that both my co-​diners emptied their plates, the others were satisfied as well. One of my dining companions ordered a very nice bottle of red wine with our meal. One of the desert specials was banoffee pie which we all shared. I think we could each have done with a slice of our own!
The night ended at the Warwick Castle next door which is where we started earlier so we came full circle.

Found this place (via Qype) after going to the Canal Café Theatre across the canal and what a find.
Simple but nice décor and really friendly staff make for a great ambiance. There’s a lovely terrace at the back for balmy evenings. And most importantly, the food; absolutely delicious! All the food We had was flavoursome and fresh but the duck stew with ground walnuts & pomegranate was the highlight.
If I lived closer I’d be a definite regular.

It was really nice to go to an Iranian restaurant and see people from different countries, as Iranian restaurants tend to frequented by mainly Iranians (I know as I am half Iranian and have been to nearly every single one in London).
Food is exemplary, the décor is gorgeous and service charming. Can be a bit noisy due to it being a small space.
We refused to try the desserts, but luckily they gave us a free sample, Falloodeh with a pistachio and saffron ice cream. Normally fallodeh can be a bit sweet, but the ice cream was the perfect antidote. Will be ordering it when I go on Wedensday.

Before my visit to Kateh, accrued from my Edgware Road experiences I lazily lumped Persian food with Middle Eastern cuisine. However this upmarket restaurant explores modern Iranian cooking and reflects the country’s geographical location and influences that I hadn’t considered before.
The dezfouli salad as a starter included a mix of fresh pomegranate, cucumber, dry mint, angelica and lemon juice reflected this mix of Indo-​Persian influences. The chicken stew main was delicious. The menu also contains different grills, fish and home made desserts. There’s an upstairs seating area, a downstairs for larger group dining and a walled outside garden area.
Somewhere between moderate and spendy in price, it’s not super cheap but you do get good quality cooking and great service. I for one can’t wait to visit again, but perhaps not with my vegetarian boyfriend. In this respect this is where Kateh significantly does differ from a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants that I have visited in the past. Although he did enjoy his stew — being limited to only one main on the menu does take the joy away from the carnivorously challenged.

Went here last night, and absolutely loved it. It’s quite new, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is near my house, so I wanted to give it a try.
From beginning to end, everything was the delicious. The Persian cuisine is very meat-​heavy, so veggies may not find much to choose from. My meatball starter with a prune-​filled centre was lovely, the lamb from my main was melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender and the dessert of cookies with cinnamon ice cream was to die for.
The place is only a 10 minute walk from Paddington, so even if you don’t live in Maida Vale, it’s worth the trip.