https://www.cntraveller.in/story/schandis-new-goa-restaurant-panjim-brings-flavours-of-tehran/
At the outskirts of Panjim, on an especially bucolic stretch of Caranzalem beach, is an unmistakable corner of Old Tehran. Wait, what? How does that even make sense? But reality is the dense, dark *ghormeh sabzi* herb-and-lamb stew on my plate, with impeccably golden *tah dig* scorched rice alongside. Just one bite, and the improbable truth of this moment comes sharply into focus. Schandis Restaurant exists. Meticulously authentic Iranian food is now available in Goa. Urban Indians are familiar with Iran*i *restaurants, which were opened across the country [Mumbai is still the nerve centre] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Zoroastrian migrants from what was then called Persia. Much before that, another critical 7th Century exodus of Zoroastrian refugees, at the time of the Islamic conquest of their homeland, resulted in the Parsi community. Undoubtedly, there are similarities between the culinary predilections of these earlier waves of diaspora. But scrupulously contemporary Iranian food has rarely - if ever - registered on the Indian palate. That is, before Schandis, which opened on January 19 this year. This unlikely happenstance resulted from connected big decisions by Hossein (42) and Hediyeh (37) Haghighatgoo. Both were born in the Iranian capital, but grew up in Frankfurt, in the large expatriate community, which formed after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Their whole extended family worked in restaurants and the bakery business. But then, in 2012, the young couple encountered the teachings of Jaggi Vasudev (aka “Sadhguru”), which inspired them “to change everything about our lives”. Four years later, with two tiny sons in tow (Shayan is now 6, Ishan 4), they moved to India. Sitting in the immensely pleasant, shaded back portico of her restaurant, with its up-close view of the ocean waves, Hediyeh told me: “It’s crowded in Coimbatore [where Vasudev’s Isha Foundation is headquartered] and I loved Goa, the sea, the wilderness. We made the conscious decision to give up European comforts, and live more naturally here. In fact, we never wanted to open a restaurant. But we live nearby, and every morning we walked up and down this beach, and kept looking at this location, and the idea kept coming back to us.” Her husband agreed, “we originally escaped from this business, because it demands such a heavy work load. But after trying different things, we realized this is what we can do at our best, the highest level of our capabilities. Since we are part of this city, we wanted to contribute something totally different to Panjim. I did a lot of research, believe me our place is unique in India." The Haghighatgoos are yoga devotees, and have become vegetarians. But that hasn’t stopped them from laboriously recreating genuine (typically meat-heavy) Iranian food, “exactly like you would get in an old neighborhood in Tehran”. They import several ingredients (barberries, saffron, Persian tea), make others (sun-dried limes, herb mixes), and also brought across the specialist chef Vahid Farzaneh, who had never before left his homeland. The menu at Schandis (pronounced SH-andis, the word signifies expertise in kebab-making) makes no concessions to Indian palates, or the “fried fish and beer” compulsions of Goa’s tourism marketplace. Instead, Persian culinary perfectionism reigns: yoghurts mixed with cucumber and mint, or finely diced shallots, or smoked eggplant; chopped fresh salads braced with lemon juice and olive oil; skewer-grilled kebabs (instead of the ubiquitous goat meat, they use lamb, painstakingly sourced from Karnataka). It’s amazing food, scarcely believable in the pleasant beachside location, directly across from where the Mandovi river meets the Arabian Sea. Until the advent of colonialism, this was all part of what historian Richard Eaton aptly terms, “the Persianate Cosmopolis”. The Adil Shah defeated by Afonso de Albuquerque was a Georgian, also firmly rooted in this same culinary culture. Thus, when the first dish I ate at Schandis was the iconic Caucasian speciality *Mirza Ghasemi* (fluffy-soft smoked aubergine, with tomatoes, scrambled egg and garlic), I immediately got an blast of historic déjà vu, with the lingering impression the identical flavours were relished on these shores in eras gone by. In her epic, James Beard Award-winning *Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan *[which was coincidentally released at the Goa Arts + Literature Festival in Panjim in 2012], the acclaimed food writer Naomi Duguid writes expansively about the region’s “culture of hospitality, of sharing food and drink with both friends and strangers, with generosity”. That’s what the Haghighatgoos do, in their lovely new restaurant which already feels like an outpouring of Iranian warmth and affection. Schandis Restaurant: Persian Cuisine Restaurant & Bar Caranzalem Beach Rd, Dona Paula, Goa. Open Daily: 9am-10.30pm. Meal for two: Rs1,800. Contact: 0888800314 [NOTE: an abridged version of this original text is up at CNTIndia.com]