Amid the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, an Afghan restaurant in Hyderabad, that has been exploring an “authentic Afghani food culture” for quite some time now, has become even more popular among foodies in Hyderabad as well as those from neighbouring states. Be it Mutton Rosh, “Afghani Dum ka chicken”, Kabuli, kandhari and Afghani Tandoor, Afghani Kebab, or Afghani Naan, the foodies are just loving the fare on offer.
Asghar Hussain, owner of the Kabul Darbar Restaurant, said, “Kabul Darbar Restaurant was started with a motive of getting the authentic Afghani food culture to Hyderabad. It was started half a decade ago. Special expert chefs were brought from Afghanistan to maintain the authentic taste of Afghan dishes prepared here. More than the Afghan students and nationals in Hyderabad, people of Telangana as well as neighbouring states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh also visit the restaurant to eat the special Afghan food. After the Afghanistan crisis started evolving, people, especially Muslims, non-Muslims and Somalians, started visiting the restaurant in more numbers to acquaint themselves with Afghani food culture. We get a good response regarding the taste; however, the food is prepared with certain herbals as well as healthy ingredients which are not much preferred in our own traditional dishes.”
Yousuf Ali, an Afghani chef, said, “There are many Afghan nationals who would visit the restaurant, but now we see many Indians and Somalians being very fond of Afghan food we prepare here. A single Afghani naan is 3ft-4ft long. It takes a lot of hard work and special baking to make it.”
Omer, another Afghani chef, said, “After I worked for several years at a famous restaurant in Kabul, I was offered to travel to India five years ago to work at this restaurant in Hyderabad, preparing and serving the authentic Afghani dishes to the people of Hyderabad.”