Persian Palace, Richmond Hill, Ontario

Persian Palace, Richmond Hill, Ontario

The best part of living in Toronto, a metropolitan city in Ontario, Canada, is the diversity if cultures and foods one can experience.

I have made many good friends with Canadians from the four corners of the world. My husband and I were invited to a Serbian wedding in Serbia last August and we loved the experience.

Last week we were invited to a Persian restaurant where we were treated to food, music, and entertainment from a very different part of the world.

The Persian Palace is a restaurant located on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, a recently opened restaurant.We got there at e8:30 p.m  knowing that there would be music and entertainment starting at 10 p.m.

It was great meeting our friends, and catching up with each other of what we have done in the past little while.

The Persian Palace is a beautiful restaurant/ banquet hall decorated with many statues and sculptures from the country of Iran.

 After a little rest, our friends from Iran took us for a tour of the restaurant and explained to us the meaning of the many statues and shared a little bit history of their country with us.

It was interesting indeed as if we had our own personal tour guides from Iran!

 We have an English saying that " The way to reach a man's heart is through his stomach."

I think the more appropriate saying should be " The way to reach anyone's heart is through his/her stomach."

 The Persian Palace has a menu with dishes catering to different tastes. It has kebobs, stews, steaks and seafood. Since we have had kebobs many times before, we decided on something which we never tried before - Persian meat stews.

Our Hosts - Introducing us to new food & cultures!

Morteza and Mitra ordered us an appetizer plate with various dips, pickles and bean sauces, as well as salad and different kinds of kebobs.

That was our first Persian dinner and our taste buds were introduced to a variety of flavours and delicious food that evening!

Great Music & Entertainment at the Persian Palace

Around 9:30p.am, a couple of musicians came on the stage and entertained us with their beautiful Persain songs.
Though we did not understand what they were singing, we enjoyed the melodic music. One by one, restaurant patrons were up and dancing on their feet in no time.  We did a little dancing ourselves too!

Unlike regular restaurants where most tables and booths are set up for parties of four people, there were many long and large tables set up for large groups and family gatherings from ten to twenty people.

Stan and I were surprised to see kids joining their families in these late night dinners, dancing on the dance floor and having a great time with adult family members as well. What a pretty picture of a family getting together, having fun and celebrating!

A Graceful Dancer on the Dance Floor

 Of the many people dancing there that evening, one gentleman really stood out among the crowds. He was about late fifties, slender built, dancing away on his own, moving his body according to the beats of the song, raising his hands above his head  and clearly enjoying himself.

 Everyone in the restaurant was awed and mesmerized by his graceful moves. We just sat there and enjoyed his dances.  Deep down, we were wishing that  we could have the confidence, courage and grace to dance in public just like him. Bravo!

Tasty Persian Dessert!

  It was a fantastic evening! It was really interesting not just learning about another culture but actually experiencing it right here in Toronto, without traveling anywhere. This is what we love about Canada, a country where people from cultures and countries around the world come and live harmoniously together, all respecting others' differences and customs.

We are fortunate that we have made friends beyond our own cultural group and our Persian friends took the trouble and  introduced us to a whole new culture, food, music and entertainments.  Canada is a great country where its citizens can celebrate and embrace diversity of people, cultures and religions freely and share them with others.

For this, we are grateful for friends from different countries. We are grateful for being Canadians!

R.T. Richmond Hill, Ontario