Yalda's Grill Yields Good Afghan Food, Close to Home

From the opening taste of our Afghan eggplant appetizer, to the last sprinkle of “haile” (cardamom spice) in our final cup of tea, my first visit to Yalda Grill kabob restaurant was a delicious and pleasant experience. 

The then-new restaurant, which opened in May 2007, is the only restaurant serving the intriguing cuisine of Afghanistan in the suburbs. Over the past four years, I have been a frequent visitor for lunches and dinners with family and friends. 

Yalda’s is the pride of Mohammed “Moe” Rahpo and his family.  Should you go (and you should), you will feel that you have been invited into Moe’s home for a home-cooked Afghan meal. Indeed, everything is cooked fresh to order, so a little patience is required.

The restaurant has a take-out side for its pizzas, hoagies, steak sandwiches and burgers, and a separate dining room in shades of persimmon and green that seats about 50 at its booths and tables. Check out the traditional Afghan costumes and a large photo of a young Afghan woman whose face graced the cover of “National Geographic” in 1985. Mellow music from a large collection of Afghan CDs added to the pleasant, low-key ambiance; you might get to see one of Moe’s Bollywood videos on the large TV.

I’d wager that most of us are not familiar with Afghan cuisine. It shares some of the familiar Middle Eastern dishes we do know such as hummus, baba ghanouj, and bahklava. And Yalda’s main attraction, the grilled kabobs of lamb, chicken and beef, are similar to lamb shish kabob, prevalent in Turkish, Syrian and Greek restaurants.  The dishes seemed to be a healthy balance of protein (meats), carbohydrates (rice) and dairy (yogurt).

On that first dinner visit, my LDC (Lovely Dining Companion) and I chose several Afghan dishes, which were totally unfamiliar to us, and were totally delicious.

Our starter, “baanjan bouranee” ($7) was a superb hot appetizer of sliced, gilled eggplant, green pepper and a mildly spicy tomato-based sauce drizzled with yogurt and nicely presented with pita triangles. The eggplant and sauce were just marvelous, the pita bread perfect for sopping up the latter. This became our must-have appetizer on all subsequent dinner visits.

We ordered a dish called “aush,” Afghan noodle soup ($5), which came in a huge bowl and could be a hearty meal in itself, but is better in colder weather. The steaming chicken and tomato-based broth was peppery spicy and laden with vegetables, including chickpeas, potatoes and beans, and topped with ground beef and yogurt.

Rahpo recommended from among the kabob entrées his signature “chopan kabob,” the broiled lamb riblets ($19). Out came a large platter overflowing with five small succulent lamb chops, grilled onion, tomato, green pepper, zucchini, rice, more homemade bread and a piquant green chutney sauce. Though “kabobs” usually mean cubes of meat grilled and served on skewers, these wonderful riblets were grilled perfectly, and not served on skewers. We completely devoured this excellent dish, nibbling the last morsels from each rib.

Our second entrée was “mantu,” Afghan “ravioli”—dumplings filled with ground beef and onion topped with a savory blend of lentils, homemade yogurt, meat sauce and mint ($11).  Perhaps I should more aptly describe it as Chinese dim sum with Afghan ingredients and spices—either way, it was exotically delicious.

The only off-note was the below par piece of baklava we shared for dessert.

Side salads are served with a nicely balanced creamy vinaigrette before the entrées. Note the very reasonable pricing here:  All the entrées, except the lamb riblets and seafood kabob, are under $15.

“Murgh” means chicken. There are five murgh entrées.  One is euphonically named “murgh-e-surkh,” fried chicken breast topped with mozzarella cheese ($10)—think chicken parm. And another is the murgh-e-murkh, which is Afghan “chicken Marsala” ($11). There is also a bell pepper stuffed with ground beef and rice called “dolma” ($8). 

Rahpo seems to be doing some culinary fusion cooking here.

Recently, Rahpo expanded, adding a nicely appointed, large second dining room, open on busy weekend nights and for private parties. Also updated is Yalda’s façade, giving the restaurant much more curb appeal.

I have not tried the lunch buffet ($8) yet, but I can tell you that Yalda’s makes very good cheesesteak sandwiches. 

As recently as two weeks ago, we came in for dinner, and predictably, had the bouranee eggplant and hummus appetizers and shared a grilled lamb riblets entrée.  Thus, I can attest that the good eats and low prices have not changed.

Overall Rating:  mmmm  (out of 5 m’s) different, great tasting cuisine at low, low prices

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Yalda Grill,  222 Horsham Road, Horsham 

215-444-9502

Cuisine:  Afghan, (also American, Italian-American, pizza and sandwiches)

Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday noon to 10 p.m.

Dinner prices: Appetizers, soups and salads, $5 - $13; entrées, $8 - $19

Lunch buffet: $8

Ambiance: Casual, exotic yet pleasantly low-key.

Reservations: Not required.

Credit cards: All major accepted

Alcoholic beverages:  B.Y.O.B.            

To contact Mitch Davis, e-mail him at MdavisMainCourse@aol.com.