Pardeh, a new Iranian restaurant from theatre designer turned hospitality entrepreneur Sahar Gilabadi and her husband Sam Butler, is opening this autumn on Cambridge Heath’s The Oval just minutes from London Fields. It’s a beautifully designed 42-cover spot built around Iranian-inspired cooking, generous hospitality and storytelling, with an East London edge.
Leading the kitchen as Executive Chef and Creative Director is Tehran-born chef Yma Apa, marking his return to London dining. He’s best known for his Clerkenwell restaurants, Tehran Berlin and, before that, The Drunken Butler, where he built a reputation for Persian cooking that brought the feel of an Iranian home into a restaurant setting, tahdig, lamb stews and all. Pardeh won’t attempt to define Iranian cuisine in one fixed way, instead offering his own take on it, shaped by his own memories, passions and time spent cooking across Europe.
Even the name carries meaning: “Pardeh” translates to “curtain” as well as a musical fret in Farsi, nodding to ideas of rhythm, anticipation and gradual reveal that Gilabadi, drawing on her background set-designing for theatre, has brought into the space itself.
Opening | Autumn 2026
Address | Unit 1, 45 The Oval, Cambridge Heath, London E2 9DT
Website | www.pardeh.co.uk
