How to order for a table of six without over ordering

The most common thing we see is a table of six ordering nine main courses, then looking at the table when it arrives with a certain amount of regret. Persian food comes in large plates and is meant to travel round the table, so the arithmetic is different from what people expect.

The short version

For six people we would order:

• Three starters to share, not six. Mast o khiar, kashk e bademjan and a plate of herbs with feta and walnuts covers every kind of appetite.
• Four main courses, not six. Two kebabs and two stews is the usual balance.
• Two extra portions of rice. This is the one people forget. Rice is what makes the stews work.
• One dessert to share and a pot of tea. Then order more if you want it.

Why fewer mains than people

A kebab plate here is two skewers and a mound of rice, and a stew comes in a bowl meant for the middle of the table. If everybody orders their own, half of it goes home in a box. Four dishes across six people gives everybody a taste of everything, which is the whole point of eating this way.

The balance that works

Aim for one of each of these and you cannot go far wrong:

1. Something grilled. Koobideh is the safe one everybody likes. Barg if you want the good cut of lamb.
2. Something slow. Ghormeh sabzi, dark and herby and slightly sour. This is the dish to judge a Persian kitchen by.
3. Something with a sweeter edge. Fesenjan, walnut and pomegranate, which surprises people every time.
4. Something for the table. A whole grilled fish, or the vegetable stew, so there is a plate that is not meat.

If somebody does not eat meat

Say so when you book rather than on the night. Several of our stews are made vegetarian from the start rather than adapted, and they are better for it.

Two small things

First, order the tahdig separately. It is not automatic and it is the thing people are most disappointed to have missed.

Second, leave the dessert until after the mains have been cleared. Nobody has ever regretted deciding later, and half the time the table wants tea and fruit rather than pudding.

Order less than you think. You can always ask for another plate. Nobody has ever been upset about a second round of kebab.