The cooking at this terrific Afghani storefront is slow, steady, and traditional. Order your meal, and the cook behind the counter starts rolling out dough to make fresh bread. While the bread crisps in the tandoor, you get a complimentary green salad with yogurt-tinged dressing.
The flavors are bright, starting with the vinegary herb dip that comes with the warm rounds of nan and continuing through the marvelous plates of aushak and mantu—translucent dumplings folded around fillings like leek or ground beef and vibrant with fresh mint. Eggplant is smothered in tomatoey yogurt sauce, and brown rice arrives scented with cardamom. Choose from halal kebabs of tender bone-in chicken, beef, or the rosy lamb, which in one preparation comes covered with tomatoes and roasted red peppers, and topped with a poached egg.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
