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Afghan eats draw locals to a warm, classy space centered around a hearth where bread is baked.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 143 First St, Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: (617) 492-4646
Website: http://www.helmandrestaurant.com/
Menu Photos
Order and Reservations
Reservations: opentable.com
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Related Web Results
The Helmand Restaurant – Afghani Restaurant in Cambridge
The Helmand is an Afghani restaurant named after Afghanistan’s longest and most important river in the south. Located in East Cambridge, the Helmand …
The Helmand Restaurant – Cambridge, MA | OpenTable
Helmand Restaurant offers Afghani dishes with a wood-burning oven where the famous flatbread is cooked on one side of the room and an intimate fireplace is on …
The Helmand, Cambridge MA – Boston, New England – Hungry Onion
The dining space is warm and cozy, very welcoming, the service was spot on and the food was excellent. We had very generous wine pours and …
Reviews
Sam W
The food here is amazing, with the best part being to bread they serve at the beginning of the meal. It comes with a range of sauces and butter. There’s a wood fired oven they have running to make the bread and it comes out hot and fresh. Full wine selection and have never had a bad meal here. Good service. FIVE STARS !!
… moreChan Mi Lee
It felt like I was traveling Europe or Middle East right in the middle of Boston. That foreign feel was so unique. Servers were very nice, some didn’t speak English but we somehow communicated and they were helpful. I am new to Afghanistan cuisine and the Afghan special yogurt drink tasted like a more liquidy version of one of their yogurt sauce… A little salty and tangy. Interesting flavor. We ordered Chef Signature Special platter for the group per waiter recommendation and it was plenty to go around and worth it if you are with a group and want to taste different types of meat without having to order multiple dishes. Their bread was amazing – fresh and full of pleasant aroma, probably with some herbs as well. I really loved the experience. The appetizers were pretty good too. One of them was eggplant and the other some assortment – I couldn’t take pictures of the whole menu as it was extensive. I gave 4 for food only because I’m not used to Afghanistan food and some was bit unusual/unfamiliar to my tasting. But a definite recommend if you want the experience. Felt it was really authentic, both the food and the ambience (note the displays at the entrance!) though I will need someone from Afghanistan to testify this. Overall enjoyed my time there, will likely check it out again!
… moreGrace Zhanel
Great for date night and to spice things up. Amazing seasoning and everything tasted so cohesively. I love the aesthetic and looks fancy but still at a good price. The service was fantastic too! Best Middle East/Central Asian food i’ve had in Cambridge.
… moreMasoud H.Z.
I find Persian food delicious, and the menu here is rich, featuring both Persian dishes and some Afghan exclusive options. The pricing felt a bit high compared with other Middle Eastern restaurants in Boston. I can’t quite give the food five stars, but it’s still a good place to experience the cuisine from that part of the world.
… moreRajiv Khosla
Authentic Afghani food. All dishes were well prepared. For salad Shor Nakhod and for appetizer we tried Aushak. Some of the dishes we ordered were Lamb Chowfan,Lamb Seekh Kababs and Chicken Murgh Kabab Lamb Sabzi Challow was excellent. They have a full bar and a customer friendly wood fired oven by the bar where one can see fresh bread being baked
… moreMilena Sida
Absolutely delicious food! Portions are pretty big, we got lamb kebab, it comes with rice and salad and it was enough for 2 people to eat and be pretty full and happy. The dish also came with sauces and complimentary lavash bread. Overall atmosphere and decorations are very authentic and waiters are very kind. Definitely recommend this place!
… moreLockie Hunter
Review of our recent experience plus ordering tips from a semi-frequent diner.
We have been coming here for quite a few years. Over a decade, in fact. And the food is always consistently good! But this time the drinks were very… Subpar. Really subpar. Like we were joking about it. Which sounds awful, but they just were that… Bad.
So here’s what happened. The food is glorious, and it always has been, but on this recent visit, I ordered some sort of mixed drink, and it didn’t taste like it had any sort of alcohol in it. Not a big deal, right? Maybe they just mixed it to the point where I could not taste it. But then my friend ordered just a whiskey meat. What he received was so small that we all were laughing. Like, it became the focal point of the conversation. I understand when something is ordered ‘neat’ there’s no opportunity for an ice cube, but considering the fact that there were bartenders in our group, and we have been pouring drinks for decades, the fact that they gave him what looked like a pinky’s worth of booze when he ordered his whiskey neat was just so amusing. When the server showed up at the table, she was embarrassed, and so she ended up pouring a little bit more in there. Is something going on with the bartender? Is the bartender/owner so stingy of the booze that they would pour something like this? It looked like they just dribbled a few drops of brown liquid in the glass. When I say we’ve never seen something like this, I’m not being hyperbolic. It was just amusing. (I have attached a photo).
OK, enough of a rant about the drinks! That is why this review is four stars instead of five. I would never give it three stars, because the food is so damn good!
Let’s talk about the food!
The food, as always, is full of umami. It’s perfectly spiced and perfectly balanced and just exquisite.
Here is breakdown of what we ordered.
I was craving beef meatballs so I had the had the koufta challow. It was really good. Not a big dish, but very good.
One of my friends had the qoremay mahe, which was the fish and very good.
Another friend had the mantwo entree, Which was the puff pastry. It was delightful. And the presentation was pretty.
We shared a veg kaddo which is the pumpkin app, and it was savory and well cooked.
We also shared the veg Ashak app, Which had leaks and was beautiful. You can order this one as a vegetarian option.
But I will have to say the winner of the night was my husband, because he ordered the qablee. It was savory and sweet with carrots and rice and raisins, but we thought it was going to have chunks of lamb in it, but instead, he received a huge piece of lamb. With the bone on. This was such a big meal.We had leftovers for days! Sometimes when you get a big plate of something, the quality isn’t great, but this was both a big plate and extraordinary quality. I was a bit jealous, and I kept picking on his leftovers.
When go back again, I will absolutely order the qablee. And we will just get a glass of wine instead of any cocktails or liquor!
… moreWe have been coming here for quite a few years. Over a decade, in fact. And the food is always consistently good! But this time the drinks were very… Subpar. Really subpar. Like we were joking about it. Which sounds awful, but they just were that… Bad.
So here’s what happened. The food is glorious, and it always has been, but on this recent visit, I ordered some sort of mixed drink, and it didn’t taste like it had any sort of alcohol in it. Not a big deal, right? Maybe they just mixed it to the point where I could not taste it. But then my friend ordered just a whiskey meat. What he received was so small that we all were laughing. Like, it became the focal point of the conversation. I understand when something is ordered ‘neat’ there’s no opportunity for an ice cube, but considering the fact that there were bartenders in our group, and we have been pouring drinks for decades, the fact that they gave him what looked like a pinky’s worth of booze when he ordered his whiskey neat was just so amusing. When the server showed up at the table, she was embarrassed, and so she ended up pouring a little bit more in there. Is something going on with the bartender? Is the bartender/owner so stingy of the booze that they would pour something like this? It looked like they just dribbled a few drops of brown liquid in the glass. When I say we’ve never seen something like this, I’m not being hyperbolic. It was just amusing. (I have attached a photo).
OK, enough of a rant about the drinks! That is why this review is four stars instead of five. I would never give it three stars, because the food is so damn good!
Let’s talk about the food!
The food, as always, is full of umami. It’s perfectly spiced and perfectly balanced and just exquisite.
Here is breakdown of what we ordered.
I was craving beef meatballs so I had the had the koufta challow. It was really good. Not a big dish, but very good.
One of my friends had the qoremay mahe, which was the fish and very good.
Another friend had the mantwo entree, Which was the puff pastry. It was delightful. And the presentation was pretty.
We shared a veg kaddo which is the pumpkin app, and it was savory and well cooked.
We also shared the veg Ashak app, Which had leaks and was beautiful. You can order this one as a vegetarian option.
But I will have to say the winner of the night was my husband, because he ordered the qablee. It was savory and sweet with carrots and rice and raisins, but we thought it was going to have chunks of lamb in it, but instead, he received a huge piece of lamb. With the bone on. This was such a big meal.We had leftovers for days! Sometimes when you get a big plate of something, the quality isn’t great, but this was both a big plate and extraordinary quality. I was a bit jealous, and I kept picking on his leftovers.
When go back again, I will absolutely order the qablee. And we will just get a glass of wine instead of any cocktails or liquor!
Ghada
Tucked away in Cambridge in a quite street. The decoration is very elegant and the tables are nicely arranged and clean with many Afghani crafts and paintings around the walls of the restaurant. The place is quite and you can easily have a conversation without being so loud, the also run a light music that makes the places even more pleasant. The place offers complimentary bread and spreads that’s quite delicious “chutney was yummmy” and service is great.
Now the food! I think this place is great for meat lovers, many options meat and chicken dishes and few vegetarian options too. However as a vegetarian I find the vegetarian special dish a bit too sweet for dinner and is just a mix of different mashed veggies.
The kebab, Chicken and chelo kebab were super delicious though. To sum it up, I highly recommend the meat dishes and the Turkish coffee!
… moreNow the food! I think this place is great for meat lovers, many options meat and chicken dishes and few vegetarian options too. However as a vegetarian I find the vegetarian special dish a bit too sweet for dinner and is just a mix of different mashed veggies.
The kebab, Chicken and chelo kebab were super delicious though. To sum it up, I highly recommend the meat dishes and the Turkish coffee!
Ian Wilson
Unique, fantastic food! We especially recommend the lamb and rice dish (qabelee) and the citrusy vanilla cake with saffron ice cream. Complementary bread and sauces were also a major highlight.
… moreDoug Joubert
Absolutely incredible! Dinner was off the charts great. Service was impeccable. It’s larger than it looks from the outside and quaintly decorated. The only knock is the restaurant was about 2/3 full and the noise level was a little much for me. Otherwise I would heartily recommend The Helmand.
… more