Restaurant Review: Shamshiry Kabob near Washington DC

An Iranian friend took me to eat her favourite kebab in the world at Shamshiry. This restaurant happens to be near Washington DC and their kebab is supposed to be even better than the kebab in Iran. Anyone from the Middle East, or familiar with Middle Eastern food, knows that good kebab is a BIG deal. I had to taste it and see. We went during lunch hour, and you could already tell how popular the place is given the size of the queue.

Before the main event, we ordered Tahdij as a starter. This is what you see in the picture above. It's literally the bottom of the rice that got stuck to the pan, with an aubergine stew served on top of it. Yes, this is a delicacy, but it's not on the menu. You'll have to ask for it by name like the locals do. The dish has an abundance of umami, but I personally would have preferred more spices in the stew. I certainly enjoyed the texture of the sticky rice and the stew and could see why it's a local favourite.

 Finally, we got to the promised kebab. We ordered Chelo Kabab Shamshiry, which is two kinds of kebab - one made with ground meat and other made out of fillet mignon. Believe it or not, I asked for half salad and half rice to go with my kebab. Imagine if I had gone for the full rice!

The steak kebab was unlike any kebab I'd ever had in my life, and far tastier too. It was so flavourful, but tender at the same time. The ground meat kebab was good, but I've had better in Turkey, so not best in the world according to my experience. The salad was not as good as I had expected (had better at Turkish restaurants), but the rice was quite nice with the kebab.

My overall judgement: definitely worth a go for the kebab if you're in the area, especially the Chelo Kebab Barg (the one with the fillet mignon). The restaurant address is 8607 Westwood Center Dr, Vienna, VA 22182 .