541 State Street
3 Adjectives: Spicy, savory, salty.
Price:
app (4-9) entree (9-16)Authenticity:
Atmosphere:
Overall:
Other Opinions: madisonatoz, yelp, badgerherald, menuism ...
---
Last weekend, my boyfriend and I headed over to Kabul, one of several middle eastern restaurants on campus. What interested me about Kabul is the previous positive experience I had at the restaurant and I wanted to go again to try it out. What is interesting about Kabul is its proximity to Husnus, another great restaurant in its own respect and the two tend to get compared quite a lot due to several overlapping dishes. Personally, being a Kabul fan, I was determined to go there first and try Husnus another time for a final comparison.
The interior of Kabul has the perfect atmosphere for its cuisine. I was quickly whisked away to a restaurant of fanciful middle eastern flair. Also the waitstaff was very friendly and helpful.
We were first given some pita, which was slightly plain but good. If you catch them at the right time, their pitas can also be toasty and crunchy. The salad/ soup course consisted of a nice fresh salad with yogurt dressing and a spicy bean soup. The soup was good but was a little on the salty side and had a spicy smoky taste.
For an appetizer, we got the bulani, samosa-like large triangular dumplings filled with potatoes and spices. Although the bulani was good, we concluded that it did not have as much kick as the bulani from the restaurant across the street: Maza.
Our main dishes were the vegetarian ashak and the qabuli murgh. The ashak consisted of nice and spicy cilantro dumplings. The qabuli murgh was a spicy chicken fried rice with raisins. The dish was delicious and the chicken cooked to perfection. However, the dish was a tad salty.
Overall the experience at Kabul was wonderful but not as superb as past visits. In the past, I remember really enjoying their chicken kabob. In addition, one dish I heard about afterward that I missed out on was the duck strudel special that is sometimes offered. This demands a future visit!
3 comments:
I love Kabul's and Husnus - although I'm afraid my favorite is the metropolitan Maza, just across the street.
I'm going to be incredibly disappointed when I leave Madison and have to survive on much, much less exotic (read: delicious) fare.
I went to Kabul for dinner tonight, and I loved it. Everything looked so good that I had a hard time deciding.
Definitely prefer Husnus. All three mentioned though share staff/cooks so it's a friendly competition with great resulting cuisine.
Post a Comment