The Helmand - Afghan Food

The other day, before a show, my father, woman, and I (oooh, look at all these commas!) all trounced around Mt. Vernon for a place to eat. We had planned on either Thai or Mexi-Spanish but were not satisfied with the prospect of either. We decided to explore The Helmand for an inkling of what Afghan food was. I consider myself an adventurous eater and I also consider my father to be of an "older school*" but still well traveled. I like to drag my lady friend along for the ride, whatever the ride is, and she is happy to oblige (I introduced her to mushrooms, sushi, Thai, beer, wine, etc.).

The menu didn't give us a good enough idea of what was going on so we ventured inside once they opened at 5 o'clock. My father immediately tried to bridge some understanding, "Is Afghan food anything like Moroccan?". Well it apparently is similar-- I want to try some Moroccan food too-- but also quite different. It might be well noted to state the fact that I had never even thought about Afghan food being available where I had plans to eat Moroccan, given the chance, since I heard of Morocco. Regardless of this and our initial hesitations, we found both The Helmand and Afghan cuisine to be quite delicious.

Our waiter was courteous in spite of his pretension and the staff were lively and dutiful. The restaurant space is well organized but quite personable. The tables are crowded with class, glass,
and porcelain in such a way that you're rewarded with an empty table to rest your elbows provided you finish. And you will. We began the meal with orders of Kaddo Borawni and Aushak. Both were scrumptious, layering and contrasting deep flavors of sweet, savory, creamy, and sour (Kaddo) as well as providing unique aromas and pairings with more familiarizing dishes (Aushak). We had also ordered a large basket of freshly baked bread (they make it there I believe) for $7! It was good and quite essential however.

Shortly after finishing our appetizers The Helmand started to fill quite beautifully. We had come at an opportune time because when we had arrived there were only 4 other people neighboring us two tables away. This place gets good business and for good reason. Seems The Helmand is related to Afghan royalty and that just beats all. "I ate at a restaurant run by an Afghan royal family". A fact that I toasted to when told by my wonderfully well informed female companion, with beer. Becks Dark. Very nice to my surprise because I'm not a big fan of Becks Normal. It was everything I like in a beer (a solid 8/10) and complimented the dynamic flavors of the Afghani cuisine very well.

Though I hardly had time or interest in drinking when my food arrived. De-fricking-licious. You like food with flavor? Want to try something your mom probably never made for you, sissy boy? Afghan food. It's not intensely spicy (though you can ask for it like my father did, to great success) but it is everything I wanted. Turns out I wasn't alone; Molly and my father also enjoyed their dishes quite a lot. I ordered the Lamb Lawand which was executed wonderfully.

Boneless lamb sautéed with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and herb seasoning topped with a dressing of yogurt and sour crème. Served with sabzy (spinach) and challow.

Challow is medium grain basmati rice infused with cumin seeds. It was awesome. My father ordered the Koufta Challow which he enjoyed "extra spicy". I think he got the simplest dish of the three (lamb is great when cooked correctly and ground lamb is very easy to cook compared to raw fillets or roasts) but a great dish none-the-less. It also included a cilantro sauce that was well fitted.

Combination of lamb and beef meatballs seasoned with sun-dried baby grapes, paprika and turmeric in hot green pepper, green peas and fresh tomato sauce. Served with challow.

And my lady friend ordered the Seekh Kabob. I was nearly jealous when I tasted what she ordered because it was so darn good. And as you can tell, we went for lamb dishes. I think the reasoning is self explanatory as well as it turned out to be self gratifying.

Char-broiled marinated lamb tenderloin served with pallow.

After dinner we managed to fit in desert. Arguably the best part. And order of Special Ice Cream was mixed table side adjacent! The quality of ingredients as well as the food/flavor pairing honestly made this my favorite ice cream I've ever consumed. I deeply wish this were mass produced and available at my local grocery store. The cardamom is brilliant. Which also showed up in the way of Cardamom Tea which I found both interestingly different and pleasant. Oh! And this place brews a good espresso-- these guys even give you the lemon peel you're supposed to get.

French vanilla ice cream with cardamom, fresh mango, dates, and dried figs.

Helmand, you have converted both my friends and myself. I now enjoy Afghani cuisine and appreciate the culture that much more. How can you appreciate a people if you don't understand what they eat? Well, probably not Muhammad Q. EveryArab but the established cuisine presented to my party of three was everything we wanted.

*- It's of my opinion that the quality and inventiveness of cuisines has altered in many ways, and with the recent green-market movement I think it's for the better. So in some ways he (my father) knows quite a bit from experience but then again he also has no clue about these unknown-unknowns.