Few weeks ago, we met a lovely couple in a wedding and we ended up (of course) taking about food. They mentioned the Afghan Kebab House as being a good spot to eat some kebab. I love kebab because of the incredible aroma that the spices will give to the meat while cooking.
So we decided to go. We enter in the restaurant; it is dark inside and there is one only guy sitting at a table, waiting for his food. The decor is made of murals and carpets. I noticed immediately that there is no music in the background; the only noise we hear is the one from the construction outside.
When they give us the menu, I understand from the cover that we are at the Afghan Kebab House Number 1! Yes, there are several in New York City. At the time of writing this post, I count eight of them.
The combo kebab contains three sorts of kebab:
- Beef Tikka Kebab: chunks of lamb marinated in fresh grated spices and herbs. It was my least favorite. At first, I though the meat will be like eating my shoe, but in fact it was the knife that they gave me that could not even have cut my bread! I barely tasted the spices and herbs. Fortunately, they have some spicy sauce and white sauce on the side to help...
- Lamb Kafta Kebab: ground lamb marinated in spices. This was very good: juicy and very tasty!
- Chicken Kebab: chunks of chicken marinated in spices. This was also very good, although missing a bit of seasoning. The chicken was perfectly cooked and moist. Again, the spicy sauce and the white sauce saved it!
The dish was served with a salad (I could not care less), basmati brown rice (just ok) and some delicious and crispy Afghan bread.
We also tried the eggplant dish.
Same as the Kebab, it was served with basmati brown rice, a salad and a piece of Afghan bread.
The eggplant dish reminded me a bit a ratatouille (a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish), although it had chick peas in it. It was just an ok dish for me: I was disappointed about he fact that I could barely taste the eggplant and it was a bit soup-ee. Also, I thought the dish was overpriced ($11.95) for what it was.
Afghan Kebab House was just fine for me. It is not the kind of place I would recommend or dream about...
Enjoy (the post)!
Enjoy (the post)!
