36 LaSalle Rd., West Hartford
We keep forgetting to bring our camera
with us--pics are from a cell phone. Sorry.
I dimly remember going to the Shish Kebab House of Afghanistan in West Hartford on a high school field trip. My overwhelming impression of that first encounter with this restaurant was one of utter embarrassment as my classmates behaved like animals. I have no memory of the food, and had even forgotten that the restaurant existed until it was suggested that we go there for dinner. And even though this Afghan restaurant has been on LaSalle Road in West Hartford Center since 1988, and we've walked by it hundreds of times, it had never occurred to us to eat there and no one we know had ever said, "Hey, let's go get Afghan food." So we figured that, given its longevity, maybe the Shish Kebab House was a gem hidden in plain sight.
When you first walk in to the restaurant, you have to go up a flight of stairs to get to the bar area, which is pleasant in its way, with high ceilings, ornate chandeliers and atmospheric sitar music. The main dining area is set well away from the bar (the space is deceptively large and multi-leveled). The decor, while dated and not particularly chic, is muted enough to be inoffensive, and the many rugs on the floors, seating areas and walls give the expected "exotic" air. (Are they Persian rugs? We don't know. We do food.) We were amused, in the way that only over-educated people can be, by a plaque announcing Hartford Magazine's "Best of Hartford" award to the restaurant in the category of "Ethnic (Other)."
The menu promises much. The drink list is impressive. We appreciated the unusual martini and mixed drink list featuring exotic-sounding homemade syrups, and we were surprised to find wines like Malbec, Carmenere, Blanc de Blanc and even sake on the menu. The dinner menu also gave us much to think about. We were tempted by the descriptions of spice-perfumed meats and herb-laced vegetables, but a little disconcerted by the offerings of salmon and swordfish on a "traditional" Afghan menu... isn't Afghanistan a land-locked country? We can't speak with much confidence about anything Afghan, but we can say with almost total certainty that salmon is not a food native to the culture. After much debate, we decided to sample pretty much everything that caught our eye: pea soup, ashak (spinach and onion dumpling covered with chopped beef, yellow lentils, tomato and yogurt), beef shammi kebab, leg of lamb kebab with brown rice and spinach, and a vegetable platter of pureed pumpkin, potato in tomato sauce, eggplant with yogurt and mint, and spinach rice.
As we waited for our food and drinks to arrive, we munched on a flat bread--again, we don't know what this is called--that had a naan-like texture and a tang reminiscent of sourdough. Our drinks disappointed slightly: the Dark and Stormy was mostly dark and not enough stormy, and the homemade cardamom syrup featured in the voluptuously named Scarlett Johanssen was overpowered by sweet pomegranate juice. The appetizers were very generously portioned--probably their most redeeming attribute. The pea soup was vaguely tomato-y and insipid, and the unfortunate-looking shammi kebab, although it did come with a fresh-tasting sauce, had a sinewy texture. The ashak was arguably the best of the three due to its unique combination of flavors: a savory spinach filling contrasted nicely with a bright, tangy yogurt, complemented by the slight sourness of dry mint.
Ashak
Shammi kebab--hard to see, because it was dark,
but it kinda looked like a turd.
Our entrees were also hit-and-miss. The lamb kebab was nicely seared and full of lamb flavor, but we felt it needed more spice or marinade to kick it up a notch; the spinach that we ordered with it looked and tasted like it came out of a can. On the vegetable platter, the pumpkin puree was too sweet and not savory enough, while the eggplant was cooked to near-mush and the potato was completely forgettable. However, the spinach rice was delicious, with a tender, moist texture. The brown rice was similarly textured but somewhat less flavorful.
Up until this point, we hadn't paid much attention to the service, which usually means that the waitstaff are doing their jobs adequately. But as we waited for over 15 minutes for a server to clear our plates, we reflected on other, smaller oversights--a tardy welcome at the host station; a waitress forgetting to clear our appetizer plates before attempting to serve our entrees; an obtrusive filling of water glasses; the noticeable absence and, later, apparent disappearance of our main server. By the time she brought our check, we were anxious to leave.
Perhaps our hopes were too high. But between inattentive service, mediocre food and questionable value (we paid almost $100 for this meal), we are left wondering why the Shish Kebab House of Afghanistan is still in business--especially in a city where so many other great restaurants can be found.
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