Tri-City: De Afghanan Kabob House

I didn't realize how stressed I was over the bar exam until my mother pointed it out to me.  I wasn't sleeping well, my tummy rebelled whenever I ate more than a slice of red bean toast, and I kept breathing weirdly on my way to the testing center.  

Needless to say, I didn't have much of an appetite the entire week.  Including the day I finished the bar exam.  Coming out at the end, I kinda just wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep for a nice long while.

My ahyi and my mom, however, had different plans.  They wanted to celebrate my surviving the bar exam with dinner out.  I didn't want to get all fancy, so even though my brain was completely fried, I rounded up my few remaining brain cells and came up with De Afghanan Kabob House: 

I was the first to spot the restaurant from our car window as we drove by.  We parked around the corner and then walked over.  We became thoroughly confused when we found out that there were two restaurants called De Afghanan almost right next to each other.  One was De Afghanan Kabob House, the other De Afghanan Cuisine.  Uh...

I couldn't for the life of me remember which one we were supposed to be looking for.  De Afghanan Kabob House was a tiny hole in the wall, while De Afghanan Cuisine was a little sit down restaurant.  The 3 of us walked back and forth like idiots for a good five minutes before we gave up and went back to our car for the paper on which I'd written the address.

De Afghanan Kabob House was the winner.

Seriously small inside:

Over half of the interior is taken up by the kitchen.  There are 3 small tables squished on the side wall and a tiny patio table outside.

We decided to order to-go.

I knew going in that we had to order the bolani kachaloo.  Filled with potato and leeks, the bolani is basically a pan fried flat bread.  It smelled so good in its cute little pizza box that we were going crazy in the car.  No joke.  I don't remember ever wanting to eat something so badly based off of smell alone.

The first thing we did once we got home was to tear into the bolani:

Damn my house and our yellow lighting.  These pictures really don't do De Afghanan Kabob House justice.  That bolani tasted just as good as it smelled.  Maybe even better.  Paired with their homemade yogurt?  Priceless.  (Except there actually is a price.  $7.99 in fact.)

We also ordered the teka kabob (beef):

And the chaplee kabob, which was grilled ground sirloin patties mixed with scallions, cilantro, and special seasonings:

Each entree came with shornakhod (an Afghan potato salad), Afghan bread, rice, and salad.

Two words: CRACK RICE.  I don't know what they put in that rice, but it's ridiculous.  Meat juices?  Secret spices?  I don't know.  All I know is that we inhaled the rice.

The meat was no joke either.  Surprisingly not dry at all and packed with flavor.  Wow.

I realize I'm gushing.  Perhaps anything would've tasted good to me then.  Maybe what I was actually moaning over was the taste of freedom after a month of torture that culminated in 3 days of pure agony.  Maybe.

But I'm definitely going back for more.  For single-handedly giving me back my appetite and restoring my faith in the world, I thank you, De Afghanan Kabob House.  You have my eternal gratitude.


De Afghanan Kabob House
37405 Fremont Blvd
Fremont, CA 94536
(510) 745-9599