De Afghanan Kabob House Review

De Afghanan Kabob House provided us well marinated kebabs and a very good meal all around. The three-table hole-in-the-wall joint, primarily used for take-out, felt authentic. Some menus and signs were written only in Farsi. The walls were covered with posters from Afghanistan, and, according to Di Yin, northern China. Di Yin writes, "the decoration in the spot of honor in the restaurant (in the back facing all incoming customers) is the National Geographic's photo of the afghani girl with the startling green eyes. Although no one has yet to write any stories about the girl in the portrait, the New York Times recently dubbed her visage one of the most recognizable in the world - folks working at National Geographic call her their poster girl. They also had many photos with and of tapestry on the wall which I thought was neat; a bit like taking a picture of a painting and putting it on the wall."

Some women that came through while we were there wore the traditional head scarves. Di Yin writes, "In general, English was not spoken in the restaurant. The man taking our order paid attention to what I was saying, but chose to look at Mark for all final decisions on debates - an interesting choice of dynamics there."

We ordered from the seven item menu above the counter (using phonetically spelled names for items), only noticing later that they had a more descriptive English menu.

We split the combination plate ($11), a large plate though clearly meant for one. It included:

• toothsome, juicy, marinated chicken and beef;
• buttery and addictive rice;
• a good, vaguely Mexican stew of soft, tiny potatoes and garbanzo beans, all in a green sauce that had a similar sweetness and tang that one gets from a tomatillo salsa;
• a refreshing and lively salad of red onions and green herbs;
• fairly tasteless, thick bread. I could easily imagine travelers on long journeys chewing this bread in small bites as they walked or rode horses, mainly as a bland source of energy and something to alleviate the boredom.

De Afghanan Kabob House is located in the Afghani section of Fremont. We saw many stores with names and advertisements in Farsi.

Original Announcement

One evening I picked Di Yin up from the Union City BART around dinnertime. I thought'd it be a good opportunity to visit one of the well regarded Afghani restaurants in the vicinity.

Comments from Other Attendees

Try everything on the menu, especially bolani and the other kebabs. -mark

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