Kabobs Are Stars Of This Afghan Menu
Kazim Abbasi comes from a family of restaurateurs. Relatives formerly owned a restaurant in Pakistan and currently own Afghan restaurants in Alexandria and Springfield. In May, Abbasi extended the family's reach to Gainesville, opening Afghan Famous Kabob Restaurant in a small strip mall opposite the large Virginia Gateway Shopping Center.
The strip mall sits behind a Wendy's and a small deli on Route 29, making it difficult to see the restaurant from the main highway. That should not be a deterrent.
  Afghan Famous Kabob dishes include, clockwise from top left, lamb stew; Aushak pasta with leeks; chicken, lamb and beef kabobs on nan bread; a salad; and qabili lamb with carrots and raisins. At left, owner Kazim Abbasi and chef Din-Mohammad Delaver. (Photos By Dayna Smith -- The Washington Post) |
Abbasi, who was born in Afghanistan and lives in Gainesville, said he chose the location because there was no similar food being offered in the area. His is a halal restaurant, which means that all the meat he uses is slaughtered and prepared according to Islamic rules. "If the meat doesn't have certification, I won't buy it," Abbasi said.
The small restaurant, between a hair salon and a check-cashing store, is bright and airy with large photographs of Afghanistan and Afghans interspersed with colorful pottery and a decorative, heavily embroidered child's dress. Hanging plants drape from the ceiling, and a single television is often set on an international station. There are a dozen tables for dining in -- you will be served on plastic plates and given plastic cutlery -- but the restaurant is clearly geared toward carryout.
Kabobs are the restaurant's trademark and most popular dish. But Afghan Famous Kabob's menu includes many other traditional Afghan dishes, including qabili palau -- chunks of lamb under seasoned rice topped with fried sweet carrot strips and raisins, served with meat sauce -- considered Afghanistan's national dish.
"We have all Afghan traditional cooking," Abbasi said. For those unfamiliar with Afghan food, photos of most of the menu items are posted above the counter where you order.
Appetizers are a good way to learn about Afghan cooking, which is influenced by many neighboring countries. Meat sauce is integral to several of these dishes, but unlike some Afghan restaurants that rely on ground meat, the meat sauce at Afghan Famous Kabob is more like a meat puree, achieved through hours of slow cooking.
Aushak look like tortellini and are pasta pockets filled with leeks and served with a yogurt-mint sauce and topped with the meat sauce. M antu look similar to the a ushak but are filled with onions and pureed meat, served on yogurt and topped with carrots, yellow split peas and more beef sauce.
Sambosay goshti are fried pasta triangles filled with ground beef, chick peas and herbs. B oolawnee are larger pastries stuffed with scallions and leeks and baked in a clay oven. Each is a pleasant way to start a meal here. Salad selections include a tangy version of mast-o-khiar , yogurt with slivered cucumbers and mint.
But the stars of the menu are the kabobs -- there are 10 choices -- each cooked to order over charcoal. You can see the chef juggling long skewers. Choices include boneless chicken thighs, boneless chicken breast, bone-in chicken, lamb chunks, lamb ribs and ground lamb or ground beef formed into football shapes.
The boneless chicken breast, a cut that dries out easily, is moist and flavorful, the outside bright orange from marinade. The lamb chunks are tender, without that too-strong lamb taste, And the ground beef kabobs, known as shami , are of such finely ground meat that they seem to melt in your mouth. All the kabob dishes are served with a large oval of clay-oven-baked bread, known as nan, which is nicely puffed and charred but doesn't have a lot of taste.
The menu includes several vegetarian entrees, including traditional fried pumpkin, fried eggplant and an entree version of aushak that features a vegetarian sauce.
Pick up some baqlawa, similar to Greek baklava and made with phyllo dough, honey, walnuts and pistachios, or gosh-e-feel, a crispy flour tortilla with cinnamon and powdered sugar, for dessert.
Afghan Famous Kabob Restaurant, 7404 Gainesville Village Square (off Route 29 near Linton Hall Road), Gainesville. 703-754-1600. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Appetizers, $2.50 to $2.95, main courses, $7.50 to $11.50. Accessible to people with disabilities.
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