Kabul Afghan Cuisine

Address:
106 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone:
(215) 922-3676

Reviews

Silk Road Delights, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, April 2, 2000
Kabul is one of those unlucky cities that seems to surface only to sing of their freshest calamity. The news is never good from Afghanistan's capital: Soviet invasion morphs into Taliban oppression. Heroin drives what's left of the economy. The market is brisker for rotting apples than the firm ones, which are beyond most family budgets.

Expatriate Wali Saai shakes his head when I bring up the current state of affairs: "There are not meats at all now," he says forlornly. "Mostly rice, potatoes."

His Kabul, the 50-seat restaurant near Front and Chestnut, harkens to a different page in Afghanistan's history - an ancient time when the Silk Road carried the culinary influences of Persia and the cooking techniques of Asia to bear on the plentiful lamb and eggplant and maast (a tart yogurt) native to the long-feudal landlocked nation.

The richness of that tradition is reflected in a menu that celebrates some recognizable dishes - various skewered Afghan-spiced kabobs, for instance - and a host of pleasant surprises scented delicately with cinnamon, cardamon and cumin. The hotter chiles associated with Indian cookery are conspicuously absent; orange peel, carrot, raisin, pistachio and almond flavor Kabul's rices in the Iranian or Persian style.

I gravitate each time to the appetizers, especially the bulanee kadu, tangy, fried pumpkin-stuffed turnovers and steamed scallion dumplings called aashak (ah-SHOCK). The dumplings ($2.75 for three); $9.50 for an entrée) are a triumph of technique over humble ingredients. A simple, silky dough is folded over scallions and spices, then steamed for 25 minutes until the scallions are as soft as boiled leeks and the wrappings resemble a velvety Thai dumpling. They are served draped with a gentle ground beef sauce and homemade yogurt sprinkled with mint - an absolutely irresistible Afghan ravioli.

A word on menu-reading: If lamb, chicken, cauliflower or spinach dishes end with the word chalow (or chalaw), it simply means they are served with a plate of beautiful al dente basmati rice. Those ending in palaw refer to "brown rice," though it is actually white rice colored with cinnamon and cumin, or sometimes sugar and saffron.

-By Rick Nichols, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, April 2, 2000, page 25.

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