Review 1

12.26.07

Afghani Kabob House
New York City, New York

Upon hearing that I was to attend this restaurant, I was a little apprehensive. A whole restaurant devoted to kabobs? How many can there possibly be? Lamb kabobs, beef kabobs, and possibly chicken kabobs. The list didn’t get much longer in my mind.
When I entered, you are met with an Irish pub-style door; a short, wooden, round door. The dining room is long and narrow, with enough room to fit only two or three tables lengthwise. The décor was fairly generic, a maroon carpet, white tablecloth, dark wooden chairs.
When you are seated, bread is brought to your table, which comes with two dipping sauces (a green, smooth one and what looked like a chili, garlic paste). The green turned out to be just pureed cilantro, which was overly assertive when dipped in bread. The chili garlic paste surprised me. I expected that upon biting into it, I would be met with spicy and sharp flavors. I was wrong; it seemed as if the staff had added about two tablespoons of sugar before serving it. It was way too sweet for my taste, needing less sweetness and more bite. After the disappointing bread dip, we ordered two appetizers; a meat pastry and a deep fried meat fritter. The difference between the two was practically indistinguishable without looking at them. I was disappointed with both. It seemed like there needed to be more to it. Both were simply meat stuffed in starch. For the first couple bites it was fine, but after that their appeal quickly went downhill. As a main course, I ordered a lamb kabob. The plate came with rice, biryani style (seasoned and with raisins), and a yogurt cucumber sauce to dip the kabobs in. Upon biting into my first chunk of lamb, I realized that this was no ordinary kabob. The lamb was tender, moist, and perfectly cooked. Dipped in the yogurt sauce, it only got better. The refreshing coolness of the cucumber was welcome with the yogurt, and together they complimented the meat perfectly. The rice that it was served with was mediocre, simply meant to take up space on the plate.
Overall, this is a no-nonsense kabob house. Nothing is over seasoned (actually most of the time they are slightly under seasoned), and nothing is over embellished. They serve what they are supposed to serve; hearty chucks or broiled meat on a stick. I guess there really can be a restaurant devoted to kabobs. And I guess it can be good too.

Afghani Kabob House- 7.5/10