Mahdi Restaurant
Persian restaurant · Hammersmith Broadway
215-217 King St, London W6 9JT, United Kingdom
Highlights
Freshly baked naan, huge portions, tender grilled meats
Freshly baked naan, huge portions, tender grilled meats
"Mahdi is a restaurant for hungry carnivores. The portion sizes—mounds of buttery saffron rice and kebab skewers—are for those who eat with their eyes first. But you should pay attention to the dips too. Get the stringy, smoky kashke bademjan and scoop it with warm bread, plus a plate of the masto khiar for eating alongside your cubed joojeh or koobideh skewers. The Persian spot has been a Hammersmith landmark for over two decades and once you settle into a corner table, with tapestries draped around you and the smell of butter hanging in the air, you’ll understand why this place is so popular." - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak, sinead cranna
"A stalwart Hammersmith spot, Mahdi Restaurant has been serving top Persian classics to hungry locals since 1999. But these days it’s not just locals they’re serving. You’ll often find a queue for a table and once you have a bite of the pistachio koobideh, you’ll understand why. It’s nutty, buttery, and delicious. The other grilled meats are excellent too, and everything is served on an elevated stand for some extra pizzazz. Once you have a bite of the citrussy, charred boneless chicken, you’ll realise that a 15-minute wait is worth it." - rianne shlebak
"Spacious and heavily bedecked, Mahdi in Hammersmith has big energy, big portions, and a big menu. There’s a lot to take in, including several forms of tahdig. Order rice as a side, and it comes with a potato tahdig crust. Or simply mainline a hefty portion of tahdig as a starter with stew. For something a little different, it’s worth trying tahchin — a baked saffron and yoghurt rice with chicken and aubergine folded in. There’s an extensive grill list, but for even more delicious rice, try the baqala polo, rice with broad beans and dill, with lamb shank. Save space for the kashke-bademjan, a sour yoghurt and aubergine dip and close cousin to baba ghanoush. Leftovers to take home are a near certainty." - Hester van Hensbergen
"A stalwart Persian restaurant in Hammersmith, Mahdi has been serving top Persian classics to hungry locals since 1999. But these days it’s not just locals they’re serving. You’ll often find a queue for a table here, and once you have a bite of the pistachio koobideh, you’ll understand why. It’s nutty, buttery, and delicious, and not the only thing that’s great. The grilled meats are all delicious, and everything is served on an elevated plate for some extra pizzazz. Once you have a bite of the citrussy, charred boneless chicken, you’ll realise that that 15-minute wait was worth it. photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch" - Rianne Shlebak
"Mahdi is one of the few places that serves soup jo — a tomato-based barley soup — so definitely order that to start. Its kebab grills are impressive in both taste and presentation, but it’s the zereshk polo and khoresh morgh — rice with barberries and chicken stew — that are ones to order." - Amira Arasteh
