1984

He creates le Mazeh on the rue des Entrepreneurs.

At the beginning, the circle of admirers was an intimate one but the circle quickly expanded to include those impassioned by gastronomy— faithful fans who followed with great interest the Persian cuisine of Ali Tavassoli who added his personal touch to each dish with so much dexterity.

Over the years, Tavassoli has become the preferred caterer of Farah Diba who recognized in him the essence of Iranian cuisine's gastronomic personallity — a rare cuisine which, in its traditional form, offers a wide variety of flavours, flavours from another world! Saffron, pomegranate juice, dried lime from Chiraz, green dates, herbs, plums, white melons … dreams and imagination flirt with fantasy, the poetry of creation with the basics of gastronomy.

Show-biz personalities eventually also discovered this cuisine so full of charm and levity: Philippe Gildas, Antoine de Caunes, Fanny Cotençon, Michel Field, and Michel Polac among others. An appearance on the television programme Vivement Dimanche at the end of 2004, hosted by Michel Drucker with guests Bernard Giraudean (expert on Persian cuisine), and three weeks later with Farah Diba, opened the door of discovery to millions of viewers yet unfamiliar with this cuisine.

For Jean-Pierre Coffe the programme was an eye opener: "Iranian cuisine has been one of the most spectacular discoveries that I have experienced in all the years that I have practiced this trade." His meeting Ali Tavassoli proved to be a revelation. On Coffe's Saturday programme on France Inter he remarked: "you don't eat this, you savour it" — rice was the principal actor that day — risotto, paella and Iranian rice. The dialogue was an enriching one and helped many viewers discover basmati rice, the incomparable way in which Iranians cook it — airy and delightfully perfumed. Rice cooked in the Iranian tradition.
www.jeanpierrecoffe.com

Journalists didn't get it wrong : « les riz : une belle surprise …divinement parfumés comme notamment celui aux airelles. C’est délicieux, d’une grâce rustique totalement déconcertante. Il y a comme une magie douce, surprenante, tellement bienvenue. » François Simon Le Figaroscope, 9 November.