Isfahani
Isfahan's distinctive table — the minced-lamb beryani on sangak, the sweet saffron-yogurt khoresh-e mast, and the pistachio nougat gaz.
Beryani Esfahani
Minced mutton and lamb lung pan-cooked into a small patty, served on sangak bread — an Isfahan icon.
View page →Isfahan, the Safavid capital, guards dishes found nowhere else in Iran. Beryani is its emblem — minced mutton and lamb lung pressed into a small pan, cooked crisp and served on sangak bread. Khoresh-e mast blurs the line between dinner and dessert, a sweet saffron-and-yogurt dish once set before kings. And gaz, the rosewater-and-pistachio nougat made from the manna of desert tamarisk, perfumes the city's bazaar.
Start Here
Minced mutton and lamb lung pan-crisped, served on sangak.
Why start here · Isfahan's exclusive icon.
A sweet saffron-and-yogurt dish, half-dinner half-dessert.
Why start here · Once a dish for kings.
The Pantry
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
Other regions
Siblings within Persian — each its own tradition.