New and approved: Feri Cuisine, Auckland

With a new location and a new look, this Persian restaurant deserves more attention.

What is it?

A well-regarded Persian eatery that opened in Auckland city in March last year, it’s billed as “a place filled with love, memories and the taste of home” (Iran). The menu is laden with regional classics, serving up what fans say is the best Persian food in the city. The eatery has earned a five-star rating on Google and hundreds of glowing reviews. Word-of-mouth recommendations have been positive too. I’ve been wanting to dine there for ages and finally dropped by last week.

Where is it?

In that upper chunk of Queen Street, home to some of central Auckland’s most slept-on restaurants; Feri Cuisine’s located on a block that includes Gojo Ethiopian Eatery, Le Garde-Manger and Re:Seoul. You could drive, but it’s much more fun to take the train to the handsome new Karanga-a-hape Station and stroll over from there.

What’s new about it?

The location! Feri Cuisine opened its Queen Street digs in mid August. Prior to that, the business could be found down the road in Queens Court, where customers ate their meals at the food court’s shared tables. It was considered a bit of a hidden gem, the kind that devotees and food bloggers love to rave about, which clearly gave Feri the opportunity for a glow-up. With the new address it’s graduated to a proper restaurant with table service, a street-front entrance and unmissable signage. 

Who’s behind it?

A couple called Farshad and Saeedeh. The best place to follow them is on Instagram, where they share videos of fiery grills and glistening meat. 

What are the vibes?

Push through the heavy front door and you’ll find a spacious but cosy room, painted terracotta red. Befitting the restaurant’s remit – traditional Iranian food – Feri is adorned with brass jugs, wide Persian-style seating, cutlery evocative of copper coffee pots. I also clocked a couple of genius touches: sumac shakers on the table and a wall-mounted flatscreen, which cycles through music videos for when you’re lost for words, probably due to the size of your huge meal.

Feri should appeal to the Iranian diaspora and anyone who's visited the country – I spent a month there in 2018 and it left a huge impression, especially the food. But it’s far from exclusive or intimidating. Anyone wandering down Queen Street looking for a satisfying feed will be happy here and able to parse the menu – every dish includes an explanation.

Our fellow diners were a motley bunch, ranging from a bunch of lads to a lone female diner.

It was 8pm on a Tuesday and the final leaders’ debate was on, making the four occupied tables a decent accomplishment. Ferrying dishes between them all was Matt, our waiter. He was genial and patient as we inquired about the menu, which spans appetisers, mains, platters and desserts.

What should I order?

As much as you can stomach and afford. Iran’s food benefits from a wealth of history and the region’s primo position on trading routes, making it quite distinctive. Flavours are gentle but complex, inflected with cardamom, saffron, rosewater, pomegranate and plenty of fresh herbs. Persian cooking is renowned for rich, aromatic stews just as much as barbecued meat, so you’ll want to order both – we did.

Before the main event we enjoyed some truly brilliant kask bademjan as a starter. This rich, unctuous dip is made from eggplant and benefits from that saucy vegetable’s many admirable qualities. Cooked to a melt-in-your-mouth consistency, it’s a vehicle for flavour; in this case mint, whey and various spices, plus some barberi bread. The pillowy, dimpled flatbread is integral to Persian cuisine and great for mopping up every last bit of sauce, stew and meat, so we ordered extra to accompany our mains.

The chicken koobideh (chicken mince and onion kebab) was succulent and fiery, both to welcome extremes. It’s served as two generous slabs and comes with salad and fluffy saffron rice. So does the ghormeh sabzi. That’s a classic slow-cooked Persian lamb stew, among several on the menu, which also includes gheymeh bademjan and chelo gosht.

A word of advice: do not skip dessert. The baklava and bastani (saffron and rosewater ice cream) marries the syrupy crunch of the pastry with a creamy, fragrant chill and it’s only $9.99.

Drinks are, for now, limited to the soft variety (cola, Red Bull, ginger beer and lemon lime and bitters), tea and doogh, a fizzy yoghurt beverage that’s common in Iran.

Have somewhere to be? Takeaway is available as well.

What’ll it set me back?

We paid $115 for appetisers, two mains, a side of barberi bread and two desserts.

Feri Cuisine

490 Queen Street, Auckland

Tues-Sun, 12pm-3pm then 5pm-10pm