Afghan Salang Restaurant, Dandenong by Bureaucrat

I love Afghani food but I have to say I don't get the opportunity to eat it as often as I would like.  So when an opportunity came up to catch up with Big Fil, it was going to be an Afghani lunch.  Afghan Salang Restaurant is a few doors down from my beloved Afghan Tasty Food.  Both, as it turns out, serve very delicious Afghani food.  I'd say the difference between the two would be that Afghan Salang Restaurant feels a bit more like a restaurant, while Afghan Tasty Food is a little bit more family-style in its decor.

Delicious skewers - chicken tikka and shami (lamb mince)

There is a range of banquet options (including vegetarian ones) at Afghan Salang and we both went for banquet number 4 - eight courses for $35.  The banquets are an excellent way to try many dishes for a very reasonable price (since most of the main dishes are in the mid $20 zone). 

First up was the bread with dips.  This turned out to be a very thin flatbread with some finely diced vegetables, which was served with a garlicky yoghurt dip.  Wonderfully thin and moreish.


While I've read and seen many things about manti, I've actually never had them before.  From everything I know about them I was sure that they'd be delicious - and they were!  These gorgeous parcels were filled with finely minced lamb and vegetables.  They're topped with chickpeas and yoghurt.  These had a texture more like a wonton than a potsticker dumpling or pierogi - slippery, they're quite delicate.


I love eggplant in all its forms.  And so it wasn't a surprise that I loved the eggplant with garlic and yoghurt.  Big Fil and I thought this was one of the best dishes of the day (but really, everything was all good!).  Slippery, unctuous and so comforting - I could easily eat a whole pot of this!

The kebab skewers (see first pic) were also quite something!  The delicious char-grilled aroma and the theatre of the long metal skewers would bring out the caveman in all of us!  Beautifully marinated, these skewers (chicken tikka and minced lamb) packed lots of flavour and were deliciously juicy.  I'd take a half dozen of these skewers over any charred Aussie BBQ lamb chop any day!


There's a choice of two rice dishes on offer.  We went for the orange palow.  The first time I had orange palow and qubuli palow I was in love with the sweet yet complex flavours of the rice.  It wasn't until I tried to make it at home that I realised how much sugar goes into these rice dishes!

There was also some very fresh garden salad, a tomato-based dip, and fresh bread to go with our meal.

Because we were so full (there was enough food for me to take home a little doggy bag for later), we asked for the bill.  However, it wasn't until I got home that I realised that we had left before the dessert course!  D'oh!  Oh well... it's an excuse to go there again :)

Verdict

We loved it.

Mid value.

Overall

Oh so yummy!  Definitely recommend Afghan Salang Restaurant.  It's such great value for the quantity and quality of food.  And definitely worth trying if you're wanting something a bit different.  I also liked how the place is quite spacious (very pram-friendly), background music is minimal and decor is solid wooden furniture (it gave me the feeling of having lunch in the formal dining room of an Afghani family).  Service is friendly and the food came out a reasonable time.  However, as there was only one waitress (who looked like she was also helping the kitchen staff), getting her attention was a bit tricky when we were wanting to settle the bill.  But this was a minor point given how wonderful everything else was.

Find it at

Afghan Salang Restaurant
345 Lonsdale Street
Dandenong VIC 3175
Phone: (03) 8774 6778