Alounak Bayswater

One of my favourite little restaurant. Authentic Persian food with a lovely atmosphere. You have to be patient and wait to get a table as they are very busy especially on Saturday and sometime on Friday but the food is definitely worth it. Their menu is very selective but they got a very good collection of everything. Love their tea. Staff is very efficient and caring.Would love to visit them as soon as practicable. Highly recommended if you love Persian food.

The standard has seriously dropped dramatically. I've been eating at this place for many years now & my favourite dish is the 2 skewers of minced lamb. I used to be recommending this restaurant to literally all my family & friends. Now I would definitely not recommend it, I ordered take away and ate in my car. The meal has not only increased in price with salad no longer included with the meal, but the minced lamb now lacks the flavour it used to have for many years. I thought mybe this was a one off, so I decided to buy the same meal again - The second time it was even worse. Still lacking the usual flavour, and softness, this time it was over done. Just to let you know I ate both times in the car immediately after ordering the food, so it was still completely fresh. I'm highly disappointed as this was my absolute favourite place to eat, and now it's definitely not. On a positive note, the rice is still very nice, as are the grilled tomatoes. Due to the lack of flavour that the mince previously had, I had to use the spicy sauce that came with the meal. And this I would never dream of doing with a good quality Persian meal of minced lamb kebabs.

I initially intended to go to Sadaf restaurant as I ate there many times but unfortunately it moved location. I then thought about tinsel town but it was closed So I walked a bit ahead and found Alounuk. This was my first time seeing it and trying it. Service: service was good. Attended to straight away and asked where I wanted to sit by Iranian waitress. Not long after ordered. Was offered a baby seat and extra bowl for the baby by the oriental looking waitress who was quite polite & helpful. Food didn’t take long too come either. Food: ordered 2 portions of Kobideh & rice, chicken soup starter for the baby, as well as some fresh bread. Bread was the usual nice, fresh Iranian bread. As for the Kobideh mince lamb kebab, I must say I was quite disappointed. It came with two skewers which were not too big but normal size. The taste was quite bland and it definitely lacked flavour. I read on previous reviews that it used to be way better. If management are reading this, I’d strongly recommend changing the koonedeh receipe and making it more moist in texture. Regarding the soup, it was ok. I have tasted better koobeideh from Persian palace in Ealing and Kish restaurant in Maida Vale. Not sure about their other dishes but hopefully they’ll improve koobideh The atmosphere was quite nice with COVID dividers and a nice Persian design with the restaurant