De Afghanan Kabob House, San Francisco
De Afghanan Kabob House has taken over the old Mediterranean Spirit space on Polk street at Bush. They painted and made the atmosphere more comfortable and warm. Apparently the owner used to own a place in Fremont that he closed because his family had a restaurant down the street that he didn't want to compete with. Since a lot of his customers were from the city, he decided to move the business up here. I didn't take notes, but I am pretty sure I had the Chapli Kabob -- two beef patties with green onions in them. It's at the top of the Kabob list and is called something like their house special. Delicious and full of flavor. I liked the bread that was served with it as well. Cost was around $10. Very good - I will return.
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De Afghanan Kabob House
1303 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA
Fig Newton
Oct 16, 2007 01:09PM
Thanks for the report! I'll definitely check it out soon.
Dave MP
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I've been going to De Afghanan Kabob House in Fremont for the last couple years. I just ate there this past month so I think it's still going strong. (There's been some debate on Chowhound before whether it's open, but I swear this place is open.) It's in the shadow of an Indian cinema. The place is kind of a sty but the food is really tasty - especially the chapli kabob and the bread stuffed with potato (so big they serve it to you in a pizza box (and it still doesn't fit).
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Again, there were two different eateries called De Afghanan in Fremont. The "restaurant" closed. The three-table kabob house is apparently still open, but perhaps under different ownership.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/40159...
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I didn't realize before that there was both a restaurant and a three table kabob house. I've been going to the kabob house, and I have noticed some new people behind the counter.
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Thanks for this update. I am always on the lookout for great Chapli Kabab. The only good rendition I have had in the city has been at Darbar, also on Polk St.
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I was extremely pleased with the food at DAKH/Fleemont, so I made it
a priority to get over there after hearing about the SF branch.
The two things I wanted to order for sure was the POTATO BOLANI and the
CHAPLI KEBAB. Those were duly ordered but we also got the combo kebab
plate, a kheer-like dessert and some fo the complimentary potato-garbazo
salad.
All parties were pleased with each of the main items.
1. i thought the potato/garbanzo salad was surpisingly sour.
not at all a problem for me or anybody at the table, but i know
a few people who would find it too lemony. again, not a criticism
but a caution if you have issues with sour.
2. the potato bolani was great. it seemed like the yoghut here
was a little runnier than the stuff i had at their Fleemont location,
but after one visit each, not much of a baseline. and on that note,
maybe it's my bad memory, but i also thought the potato bolani
(and chapli) were in larger portions down south. but again maybe
we'd put in double orders last time.
3. both the chicken and the beef in the kebob combo plate
were cooked very nicely. texture was great ... could cut with a fork,
the inner flesh was nice and juicy, the outer parts with the spice rub ...
well, nicely spicy. [note: these were solid meat chunks. only the chali
was made from spiced groun meat. i've had less well cooked meat
at some much pricier restos].
4. i thought the dessert "pudding" we had ... i dont remember what it was
called, but basically the moral equivalent of kheer ... was the weakest item.
when not-too-far-away LAHORE KARAHI is on, their comparably priced kheer
is better, and you get a lot more. [the kheer is richer. it's probably made in larger
quantities which may help keep costs down, and occsionally you will get a
substandard batch.] but it was probably $2 or $2.50, so it's not like a $7 dessert
that sucks. i'd probably have been perfectly satisified if i wasnt thinking "i'd rather
have the LK kheer instead".
not a criticism but just a personal preference:
the kebab plates come with some rice and sort of a dry tomato salsa fresca.
i wish there was a was a standard option order more meat without the rice and
veg sides, i.e. "just the kebabs" rather than a "kebab plate" (the rice was tasty
enough, just a issue of calories/not wanting to waste food. naturally you could
take it home).
friendly guys ... i mentioned i was delighted they had opened an SF branch
since i liked the food at their Fleemont location ... and then we had a little
chat about the resto operation etc.
note: cash only.
note: according to yelp, they are open till 12min, 1:30 Fri/Sat.
if so, that is extra awesome. possible alternative to late night
burrito or late night thai.
afterwards went next door to the SNOB WINE BAR. i had a "white flight"
with a viognier, a zud afrika chardonnay, a santa barbara chard, and a italian
dessert wine all of which were pretty decent. the wines might have been a
little on the sweet side for some people. my associate got the red flight
which was ok, but i thought the white one was better. the reds hit my peeve
about some pours from open bottles being too warm. [i'm not a big wine
person ... but I do like my kababs! (the wine flight costs more than a kebab
meal next door)].
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Thanks all for the timely reports! We were looking for a place for a quick tasty bite before a movie at the Lumiere, and this was perfect. Chapli Kebab, spinach appetizer, and Afghan style dumplings were all quite tasty, overly filling, and a deal at $28 for two with sodas and nice complimentary hot tea.
As others have mentioned, the complimentary garbanzo bean salad is quite tart. I like sour things, so I ate mine plus some of my BF's, but I regretted it the next morning as my tongue was a bit raw from so much acid. The green spicy sauce for the kebab was also quite tart, which worked nicely with the food but I probably overdid it.
On the way to the movie, we walked by Darbar which had a line out the door and is generally good, but the food at De Afghanan was tastier and lighter on average than our experiences at Darbar.
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Stopped by here last week for an early dinner, around 5pm. My chaplee kabob order came out much too fast, a sign that it was made ahead of time and reheated. The green onions were only scattered on top and not embedded in the ground beef. Rubbery in texture with none of the crusty edges or freshly grilled scents that make chapli kebab so wonderful. I will say that the bread was better than what was served in fremont and I liked the rice too. Dogh was fine and the complimentary tea is a nice touch. I didn't like the firnee.
When I left, I noticed that the other styles of kabobs were being grilled to order. So the moral of the store is: make sure that you get a freshly made chaplee.
Chaplee kabob plate -
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2126/1...
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We paid a visit this afternoon to this place. We had the following items:
1. Potato Bolani - basically an Afghani version of the Indian Aloo Paratha
2. Chicken Kabob - visually similar to the Indian chicken boti, with great balanced flavour - succulent and well cooked - they could dispense with the food colouring though.
3. Chaplee Kabob - As Melanie noted, this was quite different than the one at Darbar. I suspect the Chaplee at Darbar is a kind of cross between another style of kabab - the Shaami (sp?) and the Chaplee. Maybe someone else can enlighten us further. The beef was very fresh and juicy. I could taste dry red chillies as well as whole coriander seeds. My favourite item !
4. Borani Badenjan - Aubergine sauteed with tomatoes and spices - this dish turned out to be excellent - again, balanced spicing, it had some unique flavours, even though I was a bit apprehensive about it, since it had a layer of oil floating on top.
I have got to say I could not find fault with any of the above. The bolani was so good that my wife asked for another order, as take-away.
Cheers !
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I ate there on Friday and really liked the food as well. We had:
1. Pumpkin bolani - same as what osho decribed, but with bits of pumpkin. This had a good spicy kick to it - served w/ tangy homemade yogurt.
2 - Borani Badenjan - Very tender eggplant, delicious tomato sauce, lots of oil and some yogurt - combined made for great bread dipping. Only complaint was that it wasn't quite reheated enough - it was a bit cold inside. We didn't mind too much though since we were hungry and it was so delicious.
3 - Chicken kabob - Ditto what osho said. Rice and salad on the side were only so-so.
I saw a plate of the Biryani going by and it looked great. I might try this next time. Foodwise, this place is doing well so far, and I like how they've re-done the place since taking over from Med. Spirit. I do miss those shwaremas though...
Dave MP
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Here's my post with a photo of Darbar's chapli, http://www.chowhound.com/topics/339268
The seasonings differ, but other than being executed badly the night I tried De Afghanan, what else made it so different to you?
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IMHO, the fundamental difference is that at Darbar, the beef is finely ground, akin to a paste. AFAIK, this is a unique feature of another variety of kabab - called the Shaami Kabab.
The Chapli at De Afghanan is more like a beef patty, made with coarsely ground beef - almost burger like, come to think of it.
Also going by your experience and Dave's, it's clear that timing and consistency are issues. For example, everything was freshly made and piping hot, but we were there at 3 PM, which is a decidedly odd time :-)
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Now that's interesting, I'm glad I asked for details. The chaplee I had at De Afghanan was rather finely ground. The flavor wasn't particularly beefy and seemed to have some starch in it . . . I kept thinking about meatloaf sandwiches. The ones i've had at various places in Fremont have been either way with what seems like hamburger straight out of the package and others that are more finely ground. Maybe this place is playing around with its recipes during the start up phase.
I love Persian koobideh, another style of kabob with very finely ground meat. When you're next in Monterey, do check out the galouti kebab at Ambrosia.
Ambrosia chowdown report -
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/422586
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