Fawaz Al-Otaibi
TEHRAN, Sept 11 (KUNA) -- European and other foreign restaurants have been jostling for a position in the Iranian market, and have relatively managed to attract many Iranians who seem to be eager to try different food.
Foreign eateries seem to have made a way for themselves amid the well-established local restaurants, and traditional dishes.
Iranians go to new shopping malls, where branches of foreign restaurants are found, offering different dishes, and more important, high-level services, Farzad Dusten, owner of an Italian eating house in Tehran told KUNA.
Italian dishes top list of foreign foods preferred by the Iranian people, he said. Their taste and flavor are similar to oriental dishes.
According to Dusten, the menu of the local foods has been fixed for decades and no significant change has taken place on them.
French restaurants, with their high prices and different taste, once had the lead in Iran, but they have lost the position for the Italian ones, that also come ahead of the American eateries, he said.
The ability of Italian restaurants to "change and to adapt" has helped them avoid faults of fellow European ones, Dusten said, noting that they do not offer Iranian guests all the dishes they offer at home for social and religious reasons.
Burger, Pizza, Pasta and steak are the ones that mostly attract clients. Dusten said that the European and foreign eating houses in Iran are generally few.
These are mainly found in northern Tehran, where people have "broader culture" and many of them have visited European countries, he noted.
Due to the rise in Iranians who have travelled abroad recently, they have come to like foreign foods offered at home, Wali Rahmati, a director of another foreign restaurant in Tehran He added that foreign restaurants take the lead in the capital, with Iranians who are open to foreign cultures. But in other provinces and cities, local ones are the ones visited by customers.
An Iranian, Nader Drniqa, who lives in Tehran, said that he prefers going to foreign eateries in the city for the variety of dishes they offer. Local ones have not changed their menus "for ages," he said.
Drniqa added that many go to these restaurants to satisfy a desire to cope with progress and developments in the world around them.
Another Iranian, Mira Jameel, said she likes going to foreign eating houses, but in the meantime, believes that local ones still enjoy far wider popularity.
It is no aversion of local dishes or restaurants that push many Iranians toward foreign ones. They deeply love their local dishes which are part of their culture, she said. They just feel some change with different foods and cultures. (end) msa