- Alright check it out guys.
(speaking in foreign language)
It's Trevor James.
Today's video is a very special occasion.
We are flying to Iran
and this is a start of
a awesome new series.
We're flying to Iran for a
ton of delicious street food.
And this video is going
to be a full on adventure
on Mahan Air and arrival in
Tehran for some delicious food.
Let's check it out.
(dramatic orchestral music)
This is part one of nine
of our ultimate Iran
food adventure series.
We're bringing you to taste some
of the best food in the world.
In six iconic Persian food destinations.
And today we're starting
out by flying into Tehran,
and going straight for
some extreme Persian food.
So make sure to click
that notification button.
Watch all the way until the end,
and continue watching all the videos
in our Iran food playlist.
Huge thanks to @mr.taster on Instagram
and to Ali our tour guide
from http://www.cometopersia.com.
We are in the Shenzhen Airport.
And we are so lucky today because
Mahan Air has sponsored
our flight to Tehran,
direct from Shenzhen.
And in this video we're
gonna be bringing you
for the adventure on the flight.
And when we arrive in
Tehran we're gonna go look
for some awesome street food.
Let's go check it out guys.
It's gonna be a eight hour flight
overnight from Shenzhen.
You excited to go to Iran?
It should be good eh?
It should be really fun!
(speaks in foreign language)
- Have a good trip.
- Thank you.
Here you go (murmurs).
Thank you.
(subdued orchestral music)
Thank you.
And here we are guys.
We're gonna board Mahan Air.
I think this is an Airbus A340.
It's about 12:30 a.m. right now.
We're gonna be on this for nine hours.
Land in Tehran at 5:00 a.m.
Meet up with our buddy Mister Taster and
go find some some delicious Persian food.
My first taste of real Persian food.
Let's go check it out.
And here we are.
Hello.
- Welcome to our special first class.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
- Welcome aboard.
- [Trevor] Thank you very much.
We're very excited.
- Yes, this way please.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
- [Flight Attendant] It's our pleasure.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
Oh, wow.
Wow!
We're just gonna relax,
have a delicious meal.
Overnight flight, get some sleep.
And arrive in Tehran.
Beautiful.
It's nice and hot, right?
It's soothing, isn't it?
Really nice.
And we are just about to take off.
And taking orders.
And what I'm really
looking forward to trying,
look at this,
we've got roast chicken
thigh with saffron rice.
Saffron is famous in Iran,
and that is gonna be my main course.
For sure.
And a, maybe a saffron tea.
- Of course, yes.
- [Trevor] Thank you very much.
And after a quick takeoff,
we were greeted by the captain himself.
For a once in a lifetime surprise.
Hi.
- How are you?
- [Trevor] Good, how are you?
- Very good to see you.
- [Trevor] Good to see
you. Nice to meet you.
- Thank you very much.
Is everything okay?
- [Trevor] Really nice. Thank you.
- Anytime you wanna to
come to the cockpit,
you are quite welcome.
We will, uh
- [Trevor] Oh really?
- (murmurs) with the security,
and then you will come to the cockpit.
- [Trevor] That will be really nice.
- Yeah. Of course.
- [Trevor] Okay.
- Anytime you...
- [Trevor] Thank you very much.
Oh, and here comes the appetizers.
Thank you.
- [Flight Attendant] There you are.
- [Trevor] Beautiful.
And the pilot, just came up and invited us
into the cockpit after this meal.
So we're gonna enjoy this
and then go into the cockpit.
Thank you very much.
Oh here's the main course.
Thank you.
Beautiful.
Wow!
It smells like saffron.
On our way to Tehran.
Look at this!
That is super fluffy.
Super fluffy rice.
And we've got chicken thighs
covered in a saffron sauce.
It smells buttery.
Wow!
This is the first taste of Iranian food.
Mmm.
Oh it's lightly seasoned, oh.
With saffron, look at that.
And it's creamy. Wow!
First taste of Persian food.
Well we just got invited into the cockpit.
Let's go take a look.
Here we go.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
- How are you?
- Thank you. Thank you.
Hi. How are you?
Wow this is amazing (laughing).
This is a different perspective.
- Yeah of course.
- Amazing--there's a lot going on here.
- Well always something is happening.
- Yes.
(Laughing)
- You see that is the outside temperature.
You see that? (mumbles)
That is the outside temperature.
- [Trevor] Oh okay.
- [Captain] If that
temperature changes one or two
degrees celsius in a short distance
then we are going to have some turbulence.
- Okay.
Wow this is amazing to see.
- Well thank you very much.
It's like a Christmas tree?
- [Trevor] Yeah it is.
It really is an amazing experience
to come into the cockpit and see.
And we're so excited to see
Tehran and taste the food.
- I hope so.
- It's gonna be a great trip.
- I really hope so.
- [Trevor] Thank you very much. Thank you.
Traditional Iranian tea?
- [Flight Attendant] Yes.
- Okay, beautiful. Tea in the cockpit.
- [Flight Attendant] It is herbal.
- Herbal?
- [Flight Attendant] Yes.
- Herbal tea.
- Mmm, oh.
- [Flight Attendant] Good?
- Yeah really good.
Maybe like a little minty.
- Yes. That is mint.
- Mint.
And you just drop it in?
- Yes.
- Oh beautiful.
- It depends if you if
you like it very sweet
you can hold it there for a long time.
If you don't like it very sweet,
you just mix it a little bit.
- Just mix a little bit.
- Yeah, and then if you don't
like it very sweet that's enough.
- That's enough. Okay.
- So taste!
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- Mmm.
- Okay?
- That's perfect!
Nice to be in the cockpit?
- Yes, my first time.
- Thank you very much.
- You take care of yourself.
- That's really nice to see.
- Good to see you.
- Good to see you. Thank you for that.
Amazing!
We're just gonna get a little sleep
and land in Tehran.
Lot's of good stuff.
And after a quick sleep
we landed in Tehran.
Thank you very much.
- Thank you. Bye.
- [Trevor] See you.
- See you soon
- [Trevor] See you next time. Thank you.
- Enjoy your time.
- It was a great pleasure
to have you onboard.
- [Trevor] Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- Have a great time in Tehran.
- [Trevor] Thank you so much.
- Hope to see you again.
- [Trevor] Thank you. Thank you so much.
- [Male Flight Attendant]
Have a nice time.
- [Trevor] Thank you. Thank you.
(dramatic percussive music)
And here we are. We're in Tehran.
Beautiful, it's gonna be awesome.
Here we are.
Welcome to Iran.
Mister Taster hi.
- Welcome to Iran.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
- Welcome to Iran.
- [Trevor] Thank you. Nice to meet you.
Wow look at these flowers. Beautiful.
Thank you. Wow, beautiful.
- Going for sheep's head right now.
- [Trevor] Really?
- Yeah, yeah, Are you ready?
- [Trevor] Yeah. Right away.
- Yes, let's go.
- [Trevor] Okay.
We're going for sheep's head (laughing).
Should be good.
- Really hungry.
- [Trevor] Yeah (laughing).
Beautiful.
Wow.
Beautiful car.
And we're going for sheep's head?
- Yeah let's go.
- [Trevor] Okay. (laughter)
Six in the morning.
Wow
So good to be here.
And before we knew it we were
cruising through Persian highways.
Driving past beautiful old mosques.
And starting our day the
truly local way in Tehran,
with whole sheep's head for breakfast.
And we're just driving on our way
to the first taste of food in Iran.
The sheep's head.
Just driving through
the local neighborhoods.
(laughter)
And super excited.
And here we are.
Hamid and I are going (laughter)
for the 6:00 a.m. sheep's head.
- Sheep's head.
- First taste in Iran
- Yeah, let's go this way.
Sheep's head!
- So good to be in Tehran,
hanging out with Hamid, Mr. Taster.
(laughter)
- And it's right here.
- No, you can by bread here.
- Oh bread.
- [Hamid] Yeah. Would you like to see?
- [Trevor] Wow. Yeah.
- [Hamid] Let's go inside.
- [Trevor] Wow.
(in foreign language)
- [Trevor] Wow.
(in foreign language)
This is beautiful.
It smells delicious.
- [Hamid] He is saying "are you good?"
- Good!
- How are you?
- Yeah. Oh and it goes
on this big paddle here.
- [Hamid] Yeah it's going inside.
- Oh wow. And it goes deep.
(laughing)
Wow, that's beautiful.
Oh and I put it inside?
- [Hamid] Yes, you just put it inside.
Just go straight.
- Go straight.
- [Hamid] Go straight, yeah.
- Okay.
And we're just gonna put that in.
This is amazing.
So you just? First time.
(laughter)
Failure!
Oh no!
- [Hamid] You can see the
other bread over there--
- [Trevor] Okay.
- [Hamid] They call it Sangak.
- [Trevor] Sangak.
- It's different. You
can to, straight to the--
- And that's better with the sheep's head?
- Yeah, with sheep's head
somebody like with Barbari.
Somebody like me likes Sangak more than--
- Okay
- Okay let's go then.
- Thank you.
- (speaks in foreign language)
- Okay, and we're gonna
see some more bread.
What's this bread called Hamid?
- [Hamid] (speaks in foreign language)
We call it Sangak.
- Sangak?
- Yeah.
- Wow look at that oven.
- [Hamid] You can see the stones there.
- [Trevor] Stones.
- [Hamid] Sangak in Farsi means
the bread that they
make it with the stone.
- [Trevor] That's beautiful--stunning.
So the stones are all really hot.
- [Hamid] Really hot. So they put the--
- [Trevor] And they bake the
bread right over top of it
- [Hamid] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Oh and there it goes.
Wow.
Right in the oven.
So this is a plain white flour.
- [Hamid] Yeah.
- [Trevor] And it's shaped
in these giant long paddles.
Cool.
That is so cool.
6:00 a.m. and we're gonna--
it's going right in.
That is a giant oven.
It's huge.
- [Hamid] It is, yeah.
- [Trevor] It's like a bedroom.
(laughing)
It's massive.
This is so cool.
- [Hamid] We call that sleep (murmurs)
- [Trevor] And there it is.
- Yeah, it's ready.
- It's sesame.
- Yeah the sesame.
- Look at how beautiful that is.
It's hot.
That smells amazing.
- Yeah and it tastes amazing as well.
- And you can scoop up
the lamb brain with it?
- Yeah
- Yeah. Okay.
- Are you ready?
- Let's go try it out.
Okay.
- (speaks in foreign language)
- So we got our bread
and we're gonna scoop it.
Scoop the lamb brain up with this.
- [Hamid] Let's go.
- Let's go (laughing).
Oh wow.
This is amazing.
(speaks in foreign language)
Look at all that
- (speaks in foreign language)
- Thank you.
Look at all the lamb eh?
So the lambs are boiling in
this stock of rosewater--
- [Hamid] Yeah you can see the whole--
- [Trevor] Cardamon
So this is where they boil it?
- [Hamid] Yeah.
They normally put it at night.
Because they are young so
it takes only one hour.
- [Trevor] One hour to boil?
- [Hamid] Yeah.
- Oh.
- [Hamid] Look at that.
That's the eye.
- [Trevor] That's the eye?
- [Hamid] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Oh and that's--
- [Hamid] Ear
- [Trevor] Oh you just
put it right on the--
- [Hamid] It's amazing. Try it.
- Oh
- (speaking in foreign language)
- (speaking in foreign language)
- [Trevor] And what's this
spice your putting on?
- It's saffron.
The Land of saffron
- Oh...
saffron.
- One, two, three (laughing)
- Mmm.
- Amazing.
- Oh it's so creamy.
- That's the eye.
- (speaks in foreign language)
- Do you want one more?
- Sure. It's so creamy.
- It is.
- [Hamid] One more?
- [Trevor] And here it is.
Thank you.
- (laughing) It's amazing.
- Oh it's so juicy. It's so creamy.
- [Hamid] This is the ear.
We call it (speaks in foreign language)
- [Trevor] That is the most tender meat--
- [Hamid] It is yeah.
- [Trevor] I've ever it eaten.
- [Hamid] Yeah it's nice.
- [Trevor] Just simmering
in this sheep's head water.
- [Hamid] (laughing)
- [Trevor] It's definitely
heavy and fatty.
- [Hamid] And they normally have a bowl
that they put water in it, and
you can have it with brain.
- [Trevor] Sheep's foot.
- [Hamid] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Chef] (speaks in foreign language)
- [Hamid] They were
playing football yesterday.
- [Trevor] (laughing)
- [Hamid] That's what he say.
He was playing football
yesterday (laughing).
- [Trevor] This is amazing to see.
All of these sheep's head
and that sheep's oil smells delicious.
- [Hamid] Yeah. It's only for breakfast.
- [Trevor] It's only for breakfast?
- [Hamid] Yeah. But some of the shops
started to sell it for
lunch and dinner as well.
- [Trevor] Oh really?
- [Hamid] It's too heavy. You know?
You can't have it for dinner.
You can't sleep.
- [Trevor] It's too heavy.
Otherwise you're gonna see the
sheeps coming to your dream.
(laughing)
This is the whole brain.
- [Trevor] Oh, that's the brain.
- [Hamid] Yeah. It's going to be hot.
- [Trevor] And that's gonna
go with our tongue platter.
- [Hamid] Look at that.
- [Trevor] That's amazing.
- [Hamid] That's so good.
- [Trevor] This is worth flying
into Iran for (laughing).
Oh--and here it is.
- [Hamid] (laughing)
- [Trevor] And he's just
covering it in that oil.
Wow, that's a stunning sheep's head.
And there it is.
Look at that.
We've got the brain, the cheek, the tongue
covered in that sheep oil.
And you can see we're just rocking 'em,
one after another.
Thank you.
And that's the mixture.
That's the pure mixture.
So we got the brain, the tongue--
- [Hamid] We got the brain, tongue--
- [Trevor] The cheek--
- [Hamid] Leg--
- [Trevor] The leg--
- [Hamid] Cheeks--
- [Trevor] And all the oil.
- [Hamid] Yeah (laughing).
- [Trevor] The good heartwarming oil.
Beautiful.
This is amazing.
And that's it there.
And that gets scooped out
into the bowls, right?
- [Hamid] Yes, yeah.
- [Trevor] Luxury.
- [Hamid] Luxury (laughing).
- Thank you. Look at that.
That is thick.
This is full on.
So we've got the luxury platter.
- [Hamid] Yeah. This is luxury.
- [Trevor] The luxury sheep's platter.
- [Hamid] The whole sheep's head.
Yeah, we've got the brain here.
Um, that's the leg. Sheep's leg--
- [Trevor] The tongue.
- [Hamid] And this is the
eye. The most delicious part.
And this is ears.
- [Trevor] And it's covered in that oil.
And it's also boiled in
that rosewater, right?
- [Hamid] Yeah, exactly.
- [Trevor] And a little saffron?
- [Hamid] A little saffron as well.
- [Trevor] The land of saffron.
- Yeah, a little rosewater,
a little cinnamon
and a little bit saffron as well
- Wow.
And then we've also got the
luxury brain (laughing).
- [Hamid] Yeah the luxury brain.
Leg and eye, and everything.
Let's just start with the brain.
- [Trevor] Of course.
- [Hamid] Okay.
Oh my gosh (giggling). You put it here--
- And you go for it.
- Yeah.
- Oh that is beautiful.
- That is good.
- Look at that.
(laughing together)
- [Trevor] Luxury.
- [Hamid] (laughing) Luxury.
- Mmm.
- It's so nice, isn't it?
I told you.
- It's pure cream.
- Yeah.
- It's butter.
- Yeah.
- And I love the selection.
All of this juicy head meat.
But also the pickled
garlic, the pickled chili.
We got the brain mix.
And you can pour this lemon water--
- Yes.
- Onto the brain mixture?
- Yes.
- [Trevor] Oh that is cool.
- [Hamid] Yeah try it.
- Luxury goodness.
- (laughing) Luxury goodness.
Luxury sheep's head.
- Oh, there is nothing better.
This is amazing.
- Look at that.
- Oh--
- Oh my gosh
- [Trevor] That's a luxury platter.
- [Hamid] (laughing)
This is for misses (laughing).
- [Trevor] And this is the fish?
- Yeah (laughing)
- [Trevor] Oh and wow pomegranate.
- [Hamid] Yeah, pomegranate.
Um, we normally using it to wash it.
(laughing)
- To balance it.
- (speaking in foreign language)
- Amazing.
- Thank you.
(group speaking in foreign language)
- Beautiful.
Oh so full.
- I'm full.
It's like I've got a baby (laughing).
- Shall we take a rest now?
- Yeah.
- And then in the evening.
- Yeah let's go to sleep.
- Go for some more.
- After sheep's head
just go home and sleep.
- Okay
Ah.
That's good.
And after a deep sleep
Mister Taster picked us up
and we made our way out for
a full on Persian dinner.
This was incredible.
Iran is amazing. And
right now what's the plan?
- Uh we're going to Raftari restaurant.
It's one of the oldest chelo
kebab, eh restaurant in Iran.
- Chelo kebab?
- Chelo kebab. Yeah.
So we're gonna have a Barq
kebab, we're gonna have Koobideh,
we're gonna have chicken kebab.
This is amazing. I'm
sure you will love it.
- Hi Mr. Raftari--
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Please welcome to Iran.
- Thank you. We're very happy to be here.
- (speaking in foreign language)
- Please.
- Okay. Thank you.
Now Mr. Raftari is bringing
us into the kitchen
to see how the kebabs are made.
- [Hamid] (laughing)
- [Trevor] Thank you.
(group speaking together
in foreign language)
Here we are.
Oh wow this is it.
We walked into a full on Persian
kitchen with massive pots
of pure Persian rice cooked
with Persian saffron.
A huge grill station
cooking up tons of kebabs
and a station where Mr. Raftari himself
showed us how to make
the famous barq kebab.
- [Mr. Raftari] We're making lamb kebabs.
- [Trevor] This will be
my first kebab in Iran.
The first one--
- [Mr. Raftari] I hope you
love it and you like it.
So we cut it like this,
we cut it like this.
You have to feel it right here.
- [Trevor] And you just put it through.
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
- [Trevor] Right precisely through.
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Mr. Raftari] Okay.
You have just to feel it.
- [Trevor] Just feel it.
You want it to go right
through the middle, right?
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
- [Trevor] Oh that's beautiful.
It looks very tender.
Juicy.
Oh this is saffron onion water.
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
- [Trevor] And you soak it, marinate--
- [Mr. Raftari] Yeah, just put it in.
Put it in there. Exactly.
- [Trevor] And then right on the flame.
And these are the Koobideh?
- Yeah.
This is pure lamb now.
- Pure lamb.
- Yeah. Just lamb, onions and some salt.
Some restaurants using beef.
Some restaurants mix it.
Like seventy lamb, thirty beef.
- [Trevor] Traditional Persian recipe.
- [Hamid] It is, yeah.
- [Trevor] Most famous kebab.
- [Hamid] The most famous. People love it.
And to be honest Iranians
have lots of memories of this kebab.
Because normally if the
family is gonna have,
gonna be together, they buy Koobideh
and they see it and they eat it together.
- [Trevor] They eat it all together.
- [Hamid] Because it's
a bit cheap as well.
- [Trevor] Oh, okay.
- [Hamid] So it's a very economy one.
- [Trevor] (laughing)
Wow it's a dream come true
coming to Iran to eat it.
- [Trevor Voiceover] And before we knew it
the food was all on our table.
With the juiciest Koobideh lamb kebabs,
wrapped up with bread,
sweet basil and roast tomato.
Barq kebabs a huge saffron
rice plate and more.
But the real magic was
when Mr. Raftari showed us
how to make a home style,
shaken butter rice kebab plate.
- So we've got the saffron rice.
- Exactly.
- Roast tomato.
- Exactly.
- [Trevor] And Koobideh underneath.
- [Mr. Raftari] Yeah, exactly.
(upbeat music playing)
- [Trevor] And there's
the kebab underneath.
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
Sumac.
- [Trevor] Sumac.
- [Mr. Raftari] As much as you wish.
(group laughing together)
- [Trevor] It looks like
the more, the better.
- The egg.
- Oh the egg yolk (laughing).
Wow, the egg yolk.
- You put on the top. We shake it.
Shake it like this.
- What a specialty.
(cheering together)
- Now try it.
- That looks amazing.
The egg yolk is mixed in.
- Yeah.
- And the tomato--
- And it comes up.
- And the kebabs came up.
- [Guest] You eat it by hand.
- [Trevor] Okay, I'll eat it by hand.
- Exactly.
- So you take a little Koobideh?
- Exactly.
- Okay.
- Shall I show it to you?
Yeah, exactly.
- And then take a little,
and then put it right in.
- [Mr. Raftari] Exactly.
- Okay
Mmm.
Oh, it's so...
- You can eat this with onion.
I just show, break it like this.
- [Trevor] Saffron rice.
- [Mr. Raftari] The rice,
kebab, force it like this
- Push it together.
(laughing)
That's big.
- Let's eat like this.
It's something else.
- It's the next level.
I don't think I've ever tasted a juicer,
more flavorful kebab.
Combined with that rice,
the buttery tomato,
egg yolk infused rice.
That is it right there.
Thank you very much for having us.
- Thank you sir.
- That was an incredible experience.
- Thank you so much.
- Wow. Amazing.
Thank you Hamid
- Thank you.
It was great, wasn't it?
- What a great first day in Iran.
You guys can check out Hamid's instagram
Mister Taster in the description below.
- @mr.taster
- @mr.taster yeah.
- You are not fat enough.
You've got another 13 days. Or 14 days?
- 14.
- 14 days.
- And we're gonna be
having lots of good food.
Thanks a lot for watching guys.
- Thank you.
- Thank you. Awesome.
