Our Story
Shiraz Persian Restaurant Brighton
The Story Behind Shiraz
Our Story
Shiraz Persian Restaurant was not built from a business plan. It was built from a table — the kind of table where food arrives in abundance, where dishes are passed between hands, where the meal is never rushed because the point was never the food alone. The point was the gathering.
Iranian hospitality has a word for this: ta’arof — a philosophy of generosity so deeply embedded in Persian culture that it is practically involuntary. You offer more than is asked for. You feed people until they cannot eat another bite, and then you bring out something else. At Shiraz, we have always believed that this is what a restaurant should feel like.
The Food
Persian cuisine is one of the world’s oldest and most sophisticated culinary traditions — shaped over 2,500 years by the Silk Road, by ancient Persia’s position at the crossroads of civilisations, and by a culture that has always treated food as both art and act of love.
At Shiraz, we cook from within that tradition. Our charcoal grill is the heart of the kitchen — the source of our Koobideh, our Joojeh Kabab, and the grilled vegetables and tomatoes that accompany every plate. The smoke from that grill is not a technique. It is an identity.
Our stews — Ghormeh Sabzi, Fesenjan, Zereshk Polo — are made slowly, with proper ingredients. There are no shortcuts in a Persian kitchen worth its name. Dried limes that have been sun-cured in Iran. Saffron that has been properly bloomed. Pomegranate molasses reduced from real juice. Herbs that are hand-chopped, not processed.
We believe food tastes different when it is made this way. We believe our guests can tell.
Awards and Recognition
We are proud to have been recognised by:
Deliveroo Restaurant Awards – Crowned best Middle Eastern restaurant in the region
TripAdvisor Travelers Choice – Top 10% Restaurants Worldwide
TripAdvisor Travelers Choice – Top 10% Restaurants Worldwide
We are also proud of what our guests say. With over 1,134 Google reviews at 4.8 stars and more than 787 TripAdvisor reviews at 4.9 stars, Shiraz is consistently rated among the best restaurants in Brighton & Hove.