Critics’ Pick of the Year: Maryam

Preston

Opened in 2021, this homey restaurant – with its rugs, arches and framed prints – is a portal to restaurateur Maryam Valizadeh’s home country, Iran. Persian families pass around floppy lavash bread and smoky eggplant dip, a waiter sets an enormous silver platter of grilled meat and rice on an ornate table mat, and a first-time diner gasps in delight as they tap their way through the golden crust of tahchin, a saffron-scented layered rice dish. That’s just the front room.

There are two more parlours out back, buzzing with people enveloped in the generosity of a place obsessed with quality and the power of bridging worlds through food.

Maryam’s ash reshteh – a perfect rendition of the essential Persian soup – is worthy of its own award. A robust mixture of lentils, short noodles, herbs and sour kashk (a ferment made from whey), it’s as lively as it is comforting.