A true Aseri experience like in 1001 nights: Restaurant Sirvansah Muzey (27. March 2016)

While visiting the flame towers we were guided around by the receptionist of the Fairmont hotel upon request – and she was not only very kind but she also recommended us to try the Restaurant Sirvansah (which is also a museum). And as we originally had booked a restaurant (Zeytun) in the shopping mall due to the initial recommendations, we decided to change the reservation to something more authentic – and it was a good decision.

Although … the evening started with a dish which was not really that amazing. The “Fried ‘dushbara’ (meat dumplings)” (4 AZN) were served with tomato ketchup. And well, they tasted like dough. Tasty dough though but still dough. You could not really taste anything of the stuffing making it a soso dish.

The “fried gürza” (7 AZN) were actually better as you were able to taste the stuffing but also those were served with tomato ketchup plus you could mainly taste the dough.

Luckily, things got better after that, the “gutab with feta cheese” (1 AZN per gutab) was definitely not reaching the level of the pumpkin gutab I had tried for lunch but it was interesting. And this time the red thing to put on it was not already on the gutab but to be applied to your liking.

The “can eti lavasda (Azerbaijani meat)” (7 AZN) was like a small dough bag with pieces of meat and was actually rich but for my personal gusto a bit too dry – so either not cooking the dough and meat so long or providing some kind of sauce would have helped the dish to improve.

As the menu you get to pick your dishes from is extensive, it was not easy to chose so basically when the waiter asked for the order, I just picked the next best dish and ended up with “Choban kovurma (veal fillet with potatoes)” (8 AZN) which I was not so happy about at first as I thought “veal and potatoes – how boring!” but I must say that it was actually very delicious as the meat and potatoes are served with some kind of vegetables which are also used to produce some sort of vegetable sauce making it incredibly aromatic.

Once dinner was formally over, I decided to indulge in sweets and try some local sweets so I went for the “gogal” (2 AZN) which is a big bread with marzipan in it, the “baklava from Baku with walnuts” (2 AZN) which is definitely less sweet than the one we all know from Turkey with pistachio and the Badambura (2 AZN). What stroke me odd at first was that the size of the sweets varies massively but the price is the same for each of the dishes. However, they are actually quite tasty and not too sweet.

When it comes to the “green tea” (5 AZN) the same is true as always: Order one for the table and not for yourself (unless you are really into tea and really, really thirsty).

As we had assigned our own very private dining room, call the musical cabinet, we decided it was the perfect time to have a “shisha with apple” (30 AZN) which was a bit difficult. The first waiter we got did not speak any English so we were assigned another waiter which spoke English and a bit of German (seemed to be the day of the German-speaking waiters) and took our order: Everything worked out perfectly and the non-English speaking waiter actually did a good job. Even when we ordered coffee, tea and dessert with him, it worked out perfectly (see above).

However, after like 20 minutes after the dessert had been served I started wondering where my shisha was and asked them again. Well, that part did – apparently – not get across so it took them another solid 45 minutes to finally prepare the shisha. Luckily, there was a lot of tea left in the pot so the time would pass enjoyably while talking.

However, if the shisha would not have arrived soon, I would have left the place. But once it did, it was worth the wait as the shisha was super tender in taste, it would no scratch in your throat, even after more than one hour of smoking. Absolutely perfect!

Above all, you would not only get a unique experience including a shisha in your very own private cabinet but also the prices are absolutely decent, no matter if for the dishes, the beverages (Badamli, 0,5L, 1.50 AZN; Espresso, 3 AZN), or the shisha.

There was one thing though which kind of made the evening not end optimally. While they had checked back every 10 to 15 minutes once we had received the shisha at first, the started not doing so anymore after like 30 minutes. And when we finally wanted to pay after 1,5 hours, the waiters were nowhere to be found. Once found though, there was another problem. They did not have a functioning credit card terminal.

In the end, it was no big deal as the waiter walked us to the ATM and we handed the money over to him right there, however, if you are such a large restaurant and definitely have a hint of getting tourists, it is a bit confusing that you would not have a functioning credit card terminal.

All in all, it is absolutely worth visiting the Sirvansah – great location, especially in your private cabinet, friendly waiters, tasty food, and last but not least fair prices!

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Sirvansah Muzey

Salatin Asgarova 86

1000 Baku (AZ)

Tel.: +994 12 59 50 902

Cell: +994 50 24 20 903

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.