Stores, Malls or Markets in Iran

Here is the type of sweets which is good for distributing as presents or for your family, friends and colleagues, as it is the only sweets I found which were individually wrapped.

The white Gaz is a type of nougat embedded with pistachios, and with pleasant rosewater aftertaste. Though it's good, it tends to be really sweet - and I think it's best served together with unsweetened Tea.

What to pay: quite inexpensive

...but perhaps easier to find in restaurants along Caspian Sea???

It seems that Sturgeon Caviar is not classified as "Iranian Cuisine", and that the Industry is designed mainly for export.

As far as we asked where we could eat in Tehran, it seems that only the Japanese Restaurant "Serina" (almost next door to Homa Hotel) offers Iranian Caviar Sushi. Many Japanese who visit here are quite keen to try Iran Caviar, but we did not get a chance to eat here.

What to buy: This Asetra had extremely fine taste, very buttery, with the right amount of saltiness.

What to pay: We did however, find two varieties at Mehrabad International Airport Duty-Free shop, Beluga Caviar (about $200 for 50 g), and Asetra Caviar (as pictured here about $100 for 50g). The production date on the jar was just one day prior to our purchase(!), and keeps maximum freshness 3 months unopened, or 9 hours after opening.

Remember that even Duty Free Shops accept only cash (US dollars or Iranian Rials) no credit cards, much to the loss of the shopkeeper (and us), as our cash level was nearly zero upon leaving the country!

I love Saffron. In rice, and in Indian Desserts. My cupboard smells lovely, just by storing the unopened tins. Well, as TheWanderingCamel has already made an excellent commentary about Iran's Saffron, I'll suffice only to add the English Description found on the back of this box of Farzad Saffron:

"Not only Saffron is used in most of foods, drinks, desserts, sweets, and cakes for its fantastic and pleasant odor and color, but also it is appetite stimulant, refresher, exhilarant, and brighterner of face, dilutents of blood, sexual strengthen and regulator of nervous system. Nothing can replace Natural saffron".

So, I'm glad to know it is healthy food too!
This is Mashad-produced Saffron by Payehe Khorasan Co. and the expiry is two years post-production.

What to pay: For all the content on the tin plate in the Box only, about $10-$15 US dollars, I think. (The other bottle is another company and another price.)

I'm not sure exactly how Sohan is created, but due to reading various accounts, including one here on VT, I sought this sweet intentionally. It is very yummy indeed.

This tin says in English:
Saffron, Flour, Sugar, Wheat Sprout, Butter, Yolk, Almond, Cardamoms, Pistachio.

It is not hard candy, I think it tastes something like carmellised coconut, perhaps the flour is for biting ease. The photo here is the smallest size available, even though it's better to eat in the same quanity as a chocolate bar due to the richness!

This will last me a long time, if I'm careful how to eat. :-)

What to pay: Not so expensive, maybe around $10 or so US dollars?

There are numbers of shopping malls in Kish island, but main shopping complex are Paradise I and II, which are always busy with people strolling around and shopping.

People can easily move from Paradise I to II, there is elevator connecting these two shopping malls.

What to pay: Better with cash

You'll see this work everywhere you go in Iran -minute, intricate mosaic inlay, on boxes, trays, photo frames, coasters, anything it can be applied to. Of course the quality of the work varies and you will get what you pay for, but there is something for every budget and to fit every suitcase or backpack. You will even find the patterns printed on to tinware containers for sweets and trays for nuts and dried fruits. The best work is a delicate mix of stained woods, cream and coloured bone and gilded points, the result of hours and hours of painstakingly accurate workmanship, lacquered as smooth as silk.

As well as its magnificent citadel (sadly and catastophically damaged in the devastating 2003 earthquake), Bam is famed for its dates. Anyone in Iran will tell you they are the best you can get, and I would have to agree. Small and black with an intense flavour that is the very essence of a date and a wonderful, almost liqueur-like, texture they are quite simply suberb.

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Everywhere you go in Iran, there they are - wonderful carpets - hanging from doorways, displayed in elegant shop windows, laid out on the floor; all sizes - tiny mats, small rugs, long runners, room-sized carpets; rainbow coloured tribal rugs, faded kilims, delicate silk gardens, naive jejems - tempting you, saying "Take me home." And the carpet saleman, so charming and persuasive.

How do you choose?

What to buy: If you'll take some advice from a carpet addict -

Before you leave home -
Do a little research
Visit a local carpet shop and get an idea of what you like, the colours, the patterns.
Take a note of prices at home for the rugs you like
Think about where you will put your rug when you get home, what size will you need?

When you get there -
Take your time.
Relax, drink some tea
Look at lots of rugs, then go away, have a cup of tea, think about it, and then go and look at some more.
Set yourself a budget and stick to it.
When you see a rug you really like, discuss the price, be polite but be cool, say you'll come back.
Have another cup of tea.
Only buy from a salesman you've enjoyed dealing with.
Don't buy anything you don't really love.

Think of the whole exercise as part of your Iranian experience. If you love the rug and you've paid what you can afford, you're doing fine.

What to pay: Don't expect to get your rug for nothing.
Of course you'll bargain for it, but don't insult the salesman. If it's a carpet worth having, he'll have a bottom price that he won't go below. Whatever you pay, it will be much less than the same rug would be back home and why lose out on something you'll treasure for the sake of those last few dollars? Are you ever coming back to Iran?