Making it one year in the restaurant business is an accomplishment but let’s congratulate The Helmand on their 20th Anniversary. I’ve dined there multiple times and my chef friend from Oregon just ate there on Friday evening and had a marvelous Afghan dinner.
If you haven’t been to The Helmand you should go and now is a good time with their anniversary pre-fixe menu at $20 and their special $20 bottles of wine in honor of the 20th anniversary.
About Afghan food:
Afghan food is essentially a variety of Persian food, with influences from the non-Iranian ethnic groups. It centers on pilaus, kabobs, chalows, and dumpling-like dishes introduced by the Altaic peoples from the north. A pilau is a rice dish in which the rice has been cooked with other ingredients and is therefore colored and flavored by those ingredients. The rice is usually cooked with meat juices, but sometimes only vegetables are used. Probably the most famous Afghan pilau is qabile pilau. There are probably as many variations of this dish as there are villages in Afghanistan, but typically pieces of lamb are covered with a pilau that includes strips of carrots and currants. Another quintessential Afghan dish is aushak, scallion-filled dumplings with meat sauce and yogurt, sprinkled with mint. For more details on the food and drink of Afghanistan click HERE
Located in the Mt. Vernon cultural district of Baltimore, The Helmand is always consistent, always pleasing and cost effective for the purse.
The Helmand Restaurant
806 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-5308
http://www.helmand.com/
410-752-0311
Photo by (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)