Herby - a wonderful Persian restaurant on the Danforth [Toronto]

While taking neighbourhood walks during the pandemic, we noticed that this Persian restaurant had sprouted up where once the Detroit Eatery lived. It then languished on our list of to-try places until this week.

The name derives from a town in Iran, apparently famous for its roses, near which the owner grew up. The interior is dominated by a painting on one wall, with the other wall decorated with ceramics and photos.

All the dishes we tried were excellent and compared favourably with other versions we have had at Persian restaurants around Toronto. We ordered a sampler platter for two that gave us 2 half-size appetizers, 2 stews with rice, 2 kebabs, one dessert, and a pot of Persian tea (which we subbed for the drink below):


Shovaran: rose water, teff grain, and organic brown sugar - lightly sweet, very fragrant of roses, and the teff added some unexpected texture.


Mast o Khiar: pressed yogourt dip with cucumber and rose petals - rich flavour and fresh from the cucumber. We added some sesame flatbread.


Kashk e Bademjan: eggplant with pine nuts and fried onion - smoky, warm, delicious a little soupy.

  • Chicken breast skewer - moist, lots of turmeric
  • Beef skewer - minced, rich and black peppery
  • Skewers came with raw onion and grilled tomato.

  • Ghormeh Sabzi (bottom right) with beef and black eyed peas instead of red kidney beans (apparently the regional version) - very herby, fall-apart meat.
  • Fesenjan with chicken (top left) - sweet, tangy, a little nutty.
  • The stews came with steamed basmati rice.


Date and nut balls, one pair rolled in coconut, one pair rolled in sesame - a nice, simple finish.

We definitely want to go back as there are several lamb dishes that look good and a celery stew we’d like to try.

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