Cooking
My first apartment in San Francisco was in North Beach, on Telegraph Hill. I thought I would be eating a lot of Italian food but what I discovered was that North Beach was a neighborhood in transition. New restaurants were opening up, not necessarily Italian ones. A restaurant that opened up right around the corner from me on Broadway was an Afghani place, The Helmand. The food was different from other cuisines yet not too exotic and because the prices were low it quickly became a favorite neighborhood spot. Not long after Gourmet magazine discovered it and gave it a terrific review. Fortunately The Helmand has remained inexpensive and has very good service despite its populaity. Perhaps most surprising is how elegant the restaurant is, with linen tablecloths, soft lighting, beautiful photography and an exposed brick wall it looks like a much more expensive place than it really is.
Some of the best dishes at The Helmand are the vegetable ones. They are also different from anything I've had anywhere else. One favorite dish is Kaddo, a baked pumpkin that is so sweet it is almost candied and served with a yogurt sauce. Another dish is Banjan, a pan-fried eggplant seasoned with spices and baked with fresh tomatoes and served with a garlic mint yogurt sauce. The cool yogurt balances the rich and flavorful egglant. This yogurt sauce shows up again on Aushak, a leek and scallion filled ravioli along with either a split pea sauce or ground beef sauce depending upon your preference. I am crazy about most kinds of dumplings and Aushak is no exception. I am determined to see if I can recreate this specialty. Hopefully I will be able to do it in time for the next "Is My Blog Burning?" theme: dumplings.
Also on the menu at The Helmand are great lamb dishes, I recommend the tender kebabs or the succulent rack of the lamb. The rack of lamb is the most expensive thing on the menu and is $17.95. Appetizers are about $5 and most entrees are in the $11-15 range. They also feature a lunch buffet for $9.95 or you can order from the regular menu. And if you enjoy the whole "six separations" thing, you'll be interested to know the proprietor of the restaurant is the brother of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan. The Helmand also has a sister restaurant of the same name in Cambridge, Mass.
Helmand Palace
MOVED
430 Broadway @ Montgomery
San Francisco
415-362-0641
2424 Van Ness Ave
San Francisco
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- Irving Street Eats--ucsf Med Center Dining Guide
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When I first ventured into San Francisco with my friends, we always headed for North Beach. I loved hanging out in cafes and pizza places. Hearing Italian spoken there made me want to study the language and live abroad. It was only when I got back from...
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The Chinese are masterful when it comes to dumplings. You can enjoy an amazing variety of dumplings in just one sitting when you eat at a dim sum restaurant. But there are other types of Chinese restaurants that specialize in dumplings and serve them...
Cooking
The Helmand Restaurant Review
My first apartment in San Francisco was in North Beach, on Telegraph Hill. I thought I would be eating a lot of Italian food but what I discovered was that North Beach was a neighborhood in transition. New restaurants were opening up, not necessarily Italian ones. A restaurant that opened up right around the corner from me on Broadway was an Afghani place, The Helmand. The food was different from other cuisines yet not too exotic and because the prices were low it quickly became a favorite neighborhood spot. Not long after Gourmet magazine discovered it and gave it a terrific review. Fortunately The Helmand has remained inexpensive and has very good service despite its populaity. Perhaps most surprising is how elegant the restaurant is, with linen tablecloths, soft lighting, beautiful photography and an exposed brick wall it looks like a much more expensive place than it really is.
Some of the best dishes at The Helmand are the vegetable ones. They are also different from anything I've had anywhere else. One favorite dish is Kaddo, a baked pumpkin that is so sweet it is almost candied and served with a yogurt sauce. Another dish is Banjan, a pan-fried eggplant seasoned with spices and baked with fresh tomatoes and served with a garlic mint yogurt sauce. The cool yogurt balances the rich and flavorful egglant. This yogurt sauce shows up again on Aushak, a leek and scallion filled ravioli along with either a split pea sauce or ground beef sauce depending upon your preference. I am crazy about most kinds of dumplings and Aushak is no exception. I am determined to see if I can recreate this specialty. Hopefully I will be able to do it in time for the next "Is My Blog Burning?" theme: dumplings.
Also on the menu at The Helmand are great lamb dishes, I recommend the tender kebabs or the succulent rack of the lamb. The rack of lamb is the most expensive thing on the menu and is $17.95. Appetizers are about $5 and most entrees are in the $11-15 range. They also feature a lunch buffet for $9.95 or you can order from the regular menu. And if you enjoy the whole "six separations" thing, you'll be interested to know the proprietor of the restaurant is the brother of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan. The Helmand also has a sister restaurant of the same name in Cambridge, Mass.
Helmand Palace
MOVED
San Francisco
415-362-0641
2424 Van Ness Ave
San Francisco
- Free Lunch In San Francisco (for The Next 48 Hours)
Thanks to smartphone apps you can now get through security and into your seat on a plane, book a hotel room, deposit checks, find a parking spot and even buy lunch. And today if you live or work in San Francisco and have a smartphone, I am buying...
- Noodle Fest 2010
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer You can keep Disneyland, for me the happiest place on earth is Noodle Fest. I am an absolute noodle fanatic, so from the moment I heard about the event, fostering unity between North Beach and...
- Irving Street Eats--ucsf Med Center Dining Guide
This time last week I was spending pretty much all of my time over at UCSF Medical Center waiting, waiting, waiting. It's amazing how exhausting it can be just waiting. Being under stress is disorienting as well. We all seemed to lose track of time...
- Yahoo! Pizza, Delivered
When I first ventured into San Francisco with my friends, we always headed for North Beach. I loved hanging out in cafes and pizza places. Hearing Italian spoken there made me want to study the language and live abroad. It was only when I got back from...
- Shanghai Dumpling King Restaurant Review
The Chinese are masterful when it comes to dumplings. You can enjoy an amazing variety of dumplings in just one sitting when you eat at a dim sum restaurant. But there are other types of Chinese restaurants that specialize in dumplings and serve them...