Places to eat in Afghanistan

Afghans are very fond of meat. in different ways but popular is a siji of lamb which can be found everywhere, it is little bit like BBQ but they made it in Tandoor. and also they drink too much Kehwa (tea)

The restaurant inside Zar Negar Hotel (with different owner) costs Af50 for pulao (rice with meat). There're some local restaurants and hawkers (selling chicken soup and mantoo, a Chinese dumpling) near Zar Negar Hotel. The food everywhere in the local restaurants are almost the same. If you don't mind to spend a few more money, Popo'Lano Italian Restaurant makes a good choice, Af60/soup, Af200/lasagna, Af220/steak, Af40/capaccino, bill are in but not too many foreigners staying inside. Highly recommended is the Mustafah Hotel near Chicken Street, there's no sign outside but it's very famous. It's next to "Shoaib Photo Studio" and a pharmancy. Very popular for NGOs. $25-35/single, $40/double, $60/double with attached bath, all rooms have hot shower. Very good communal area for watching satellite TV, playing snookers, and chatting with other NGO guys. Highly recommended for low budget travellers is the Zar Negar Hotel. The price for local and foreigners are listed below (foreigners' price in bracket), the owner said he needs to pay "foreigner tax" for the police (for protection) and that's why foreigners should pay more! Af150 (Af300)/double, Af210 (Af510)/triple, sometimes they will let you to stay in a one-bed room for Af150. All rooms are without toilet and shower, use bucket water only, frequent black out. At night time if there's electricity, you can watch porno (satellite TV) at the reception! The owner said he's going to install TVs in some rooms soon! There's a restaurant inside the hotel compound and they have hot drinking water (usually free, but sometimes they ask for baksheesh). The staff can be very lazy at meal time and will just tell you to "boro, boro" (go! go!), talk to their boss instead, his name is Baryalai. Near Zar Negar Hotel is Jamil Hotel, they charge $5 per bed but the things are all the same as Zar Negar.

Due to the lack of big spenders, Afghanistan is not really a place to go "fine dining". Well, maybe among all the NGO's in Kabul but outside there is nothing. Just go for the local kebab place, spend i US dollar and get very full.

Big disadvantage: As elswhere in Central Asia, vegetarians are going to have a hard time. Mutton is the main diet and especially in the spring, vegetables are VERY hard to get at.

Favorite Dish: Mutton kebab! Not much of a choice.

Unfortunately, due to our status, we ate only from U.S. facilities. I have no doubt that there was some good food out there to be had, though. We passed a new Iranian restaurant that looked excellent. But, we didn't eat there...

I'm sure the food was quite similar to other Middle Eastern foods I've had. Certainly, it looked like there would be a lot of mutton on the menu. Sheep were everywhere.

This open air Afghan Tea house had a nice atnosphere as we sat eating a lamb & fat shiskabob with rice. thoughout the whole meal we were graced with the mezmorized gazes of 10 to 15 Afghans, young and old as we ate. Where ever you go in this place you are a spectical to behold

Favorite Dish: Price 50,000 Afghanies ($0.50)

Well, if you prefer food with high kalorie and fat, I believe you will be amazed by Afghan food. The most common and tradional food is "Kabab" in Persian, which roughly means roast meat in English. The beef and motton roasted with potato and pepper, with black pepper, salt and sometimes tomato sauce as the additives taste extemely delicious for the beginner. Another interesting food is called Mantoon, whcih looks much like Chinese dumpling but tastes with cream and makes you satisfied if you are hungry. But you will gradually become fed up with all the Afghan food because they lack varieties. The food in Afghanistan can be traced back with the nomadic life style of the Afghans in its early history, whcih are rich in caroie but less in varieties. Furthurmore, if you prefer pork, Afghanistan is the last place you should visit because of its Islamic religion. The best Afghan food can be found Golden Lotus, Marco Polo and Khber restauraunt . And the most important news is that the first REAL Chinese restaurant wiil be availble in November, 2002.

Favorite Dish: I am from southwestern part of China, in which the food are called the best in China. So you can imagine how difficult for me to get used to the food in Afghanistan. Actually, I find very few Chinese prefer Afghan food because of the above-mentioned reasons. So I can only say my favorite, which means that I taste it once a week or even once a month, is Kabab.

Herat restaurant in Kabul tastes fine and clean. Although you don't have lot's of choices, Kabul inter Continental's restaurant can also be considered as good.

Favorite Dish: Meat, rice and potato is like main menu in country.

This restaurant makes a good and inexpensive pizza. They also have take away and delivery. Opened in 2002 and very popular among internationals.

Favorite Dish: Pizza