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| - It is interesting to be taken out of your comfort zone food-wise. Not everyone appreciates it but it's fun when I enter a restaurant of a certain cuisine and have absolutely zero idea what kind of dishes I can expect. This recently occurred for the event of a friend's birthday where he brought us to Khyber Pass on Duluth street for a little Afghan BYOW and for no other reason then simply "finding the restaurant looked cool everytime I passed by".
And indeed, Khyber Pass does look rather interesting from the outside and equally as much inside. Our table was located in their basement space which has been modelled to look like an cavern. It is a little odd - and because of the use of polycarbonate on the walls, a little hot - but it certainly fits the overall theme. Being in a smallish basement space made for rather noisy acoustics once the space filled up but otherwise no complaints!
I had never had Afghan food before, so I basically decided to work with their Table d'hôte and wing it! My friends at the table also having never had this cuisine before also decided to simply try stuff which allowed me to sample a bunch of dishes throughout the dinner. We are all curious to see!
First up, there were two soup options available - Mashaba soup and a house soup of red lentils and coriander. I went with the Mushaba. Composed of noodles, vegetables, ground beef, yogourt and fresh coriander, it was a nice way to start things off. A very hearty soup - tons of flavour through both the dark broth as well as the plentiful veggies and noodles.
I had one starter as well - the eggplant borani. Consisting of fried eggplant slices topped with tomato sauce and garlic yogourt, the texture wasn't necessarily as crispy as I was hoping but the flavour was all there. Lovely mixture of the sweet tomato sauce, the cool garlicky yogourt and spices overtop brought tons of levels to the party.
Ashak was my main of choice - Steamed pastas stuffed with leak, served with tomato sauce, ground beef and garlic yogourt. Again, I wasn't totally happy with the texture of the pasta - steamed but too soft and a little watery underneath - but flavour-wise, this was an excellent dish. The leak stuffing had a nice touch and kept the dish feeling light. Once again, the combination of the tomato sauce, yogourt and beef provided a nice addition and there was a healthy amount of rice and vegetables provided as well.
Among the other mains I tried, there was the Teka Kebab - filet mignon brochettes - which were nicely tender and flavourful. The Sabzi Chalaw - lamb shank with spinach - was a lovely cooking display of the lamb. Fall off the bone with that lovely lamb gaminess, the spinach didn't feel super necessary but it was delicious nevertheless. The last main was the Kofta Chalaw - beef meats balls in tomato sauce with afghan spices. A weirdly Italian dish to me but the addition of the middle Eastern spices provided just enough of a change-up to not make me wonder why I was not in a trattoria at that moment. All of these were served with the same amount of rice and vegetables as I got with my main so portion-wise, we all got our money's worth.
The last item for the night was our complimentary dessert of rose water pudding with pistachios. Now... I am not a fan of rose water as I have found that typically it is overused and just destroys any dish with its overtly flowery tones. However, in this case, count me as surprised to find that it was pretty good. Weirdly though, the entire table felt the pudding tasted like Fruit Loops! I guess I should check what goes into Fruit Loops. Anyway, texture was excellent on top of being a weird flashback to my childhood!
Khyber Pass was a very pleasant surprise - huge flavours and nice portions all around. The decor feels pretty hokey to me but I get it and frankly if the food is still enjoyable, I can look past it. Add the BYOW element - and believe me we did - and you have an excellent option for a relatively reasonable night out. Khyber Pass... you showed me what Afghan food was and I am happier for it.
Cheers!
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