I work at a restaurant so I completely understand how annoying it is when a group of people come in to have dinner a few minutes before we close. But when we arrived at Bamiyan at 10 and they close at 11, I expect to have full service and not be rushed out the door.
The waitress made it very clear that they were closing, but she was incredibly sweet and genuine about it. Seriously. I had trouble being annoyed because she was just so nice and hospitable. As long as we left no later than 11.
So we took our shoes off and sat on one of the cushions at the tables by the window. It was a very nice ambiance, dimly lit, and made me feel like I was in the Middle East – until I looked out on to Third Avenue.
We ordered a slew of traditional Afghani food – most notably the delicious Shireen Palow with Chicken Kabobs (a fragrant baked rice dish with orange peels and saffron), the Kadu (pumpkin fritters), and the Boulanee (scallion dumplings). The food was all pretty good: the chicken was incredibly moist and flavorful, the kadu was sweet and rich, and the dumplings were spiked with a tomato-y meat sauce that was quite surprising.
But the dish on the list that brought us here this late in the first place is the Kadu Chalow. If you were paying attention in the previous paragraph, you might have learned that Kadu means pumpkin… I think. Or maybe squash. Because the Kadu Chalow was a dish of sauteed butternut squash with basmati rice and a white yogurt sauce.
I was a bit upset that our dish didn’t look like the picture in Time Out. I’m not sure if the magazine photographers spruced the dish up a bit (by adding the yogurt sauce on top), but this looked like a sweet potato dish at a novice cook’s first Thanksgiving.
Fortunately, it tasted better than it looked. I was worried it would be too sweet. But it wasn’t. The cinnamon and brown sugar didn’t overpower the earthy sweetness of the squash. It was delicious and when mixed with the rice, had a perfect texture.
Now put your shoes back on and get out. Please. We’re closed! But it’s been really nice having you. Seriously.
Would Bamiyan’s Kadu Chalow make my Top 100 of the year? Besides the rushed yet courteous service, we had a great experience at this traditional Afghani restaurant and the kadu chalow was definitely one of the highlights, so it’s awarded an 8 out of 10.
