Bamyan Kabob: Middle Eastern w/smattering of Central Asian

New culinary crush, recently opened Bamyan Kabob, Middle Eastern with a smattering of Central Asian. Clean, Friendly, Delicious, Inexpensive. I'll be back soon.








Bamyan Kabob, Count me a Fan!

Bamyan Kabob
5701 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
773-961-7794

Love the look of those manty - the ones I've had in Turkish places are much smaller and end up being too much pasta, not enough filling. I've made them before (from a recipe from Nicole Routhier's "Cooking Under Wraps") about this size, as four-sided pyramids made from square dumpling wrappers. They're cooked in butter and broth, so the oiliness is appropriate.

Woke up this morning thinking about Bamyan Kabob's falafel, went back again today for lunch, two days in a row, and lunch was terrific! Focused more on the Central Asian side of the menu today, manty, pelmeni, borsch, oromo and kabuli, salata, and a nod to the Middle East, best falafel I've had in years and hummus w/chicken shawarma. Service, price, quality, friendliness, cleanliness all tip-top. Plus the plate ware reminds me of eating at my grandmothers house.











Bamyam Kabob, Count me a Fan!

Meltingly tender lamb shank highlight of today's lunch at my new culinary crush Bamyan Kabob.




Bamyan Kabob, Count me a Fan!

gary or steve: what's in the manty? their menu doesn't say... and what is 'oromo'. i googled it but couldnt find any food references. thanks

justjoan wrote:gary or steve: what's in the manty? their menu doesn't say... and what is 'oromo'. i googled it but couldnt find any food references. thanks

We were told by our server that the manty are filled with beef and onions.

=R=

Uzbek manti are larger than Turkish ones and usually filled with chopped — as opposed to ground — meat. There is generally no sauce other than sour cream.

The picture of “oromo” makes it look like what I’ve seen called “khanum”, which is almost the same stuff, except the pasta is in sheets that are rolled around the filling before being cut into individual pieces and the filling includes potatoes in addition to the meat.

As long as we’re talking about idiosyncratic names, “Kabuli” just means “from Kabul”. The pictured dish looks like plov/palao to me, but plov is listed separately on the menu....

cilantro wrote:Uzbek manti are larger than Turkish ones and usually filled with chopped — as opposed to ground — meat. There is generally no sauce other than sour cream.

Yes, these contained coarsely chopped beef.

=R=

Were they good? I confess, I like but do not love this way of stuffing manti/samsi/etc., as the meat (which in the U.S. is usually beef, for economic reasons) can often be a bit gristly.

cilantro wrote:Were they good? I confess, I like but do not love this way of stuffing manti/samsi/etc., as the meat (which in the U.S. is usually beef, for economic reasons) can often be a bit gristly.

They were fine. To echo your comments, I liked -- but did not love -- them. The meat texture was not overly chewy. They were, perhaps, a bit on the bland side. And yes, they were served with sour cream, though I also applied couple of other sauces (hot sauce, tahini) that were on the table to them.

=R=

justjoan wrote:gary or steve: what's in the manty? their menu doesn't say... and what is 'oromo'. i googled it but couldnt find any food references. thanks

As Ron mentions our server said Bamyan's manty are made with beef.
Far as oromo, rolled thin dough with a filling that seemed, though we did not ask, the same as manty.
From: https://www.advantour.com/kyrgyzstan/cu ... eneral.htm
"Oromo: Shredded meat, and sometimes potatoes, onions, or other vegetables, are spread between layers of thin dough, which is then rolled into a circle and steamed. Similar to lasagna, minus the cheese and tomato sauce."

Wikipedia has info on oromo as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oromo_(dish)

cilantro wrote:As long as we’re talking about idiosyncratic names, “Kabuli” just means “from Kabul”. The pictured dish looks like plov/palao to me, but plov is listed separately on the menu....

If I remember correctly, Kabuli is noodles, carrots, raisins, meat, probably lamb. Sweet / savory. One of the people at the table commented on its similarity to plov as we were eating.

cilantro wrote:Were they good? I confess, I like but do not love this way of stuffing manti/samsi/etc., as the meat (which in the U.S. is usually beef, for economic reasons) can often be a bit gristly.

Far as Bamyan's manty, I've been three times and had them each time, they remind me of a cross between a soup dumpling and kreplach. The dough is ever so slightly thickish, a little chewy at the top pleat, yielding slightly oily, in a good way, peppery chopped beef.

thanks everybody for more info on bamyan kabob; i'm looking forward to a visit, but was hoping the manti or oromo had a lamb filling... but they still sound delicious to me.

cilantro wrote:Were they good? I confess, I like but do not love this way of stuffing manti/samsi/etc., as the meat (which in the U.S. is usually beef, for economic reasons) can often be a bit gristly.

As others have said, they were OK. I enjoyed them, and would certainly eat them again, but they are not a life changing version. Taste wise, they were very similar to the ones served at Kabul House...but around 3 times larger.

stevez wrote:

cilantro wrote:Were they good? I confess, I like but do not love this way of stuffing manti/samsi/etc., as the meat (which in the U.S. is usually beef, for economic reasons) can often be a bit gristly.

As others have said, they were OK. I enjoyed them, and would certainly eat them again, but they are not a life changing version. Taste wise, they were very similar to the ones served at Kabul House...but around 3 times larger.

And not nearly as much going on with the Bamyan version. Here's a pic of the mantoo at Kabul House . . .


Mantoo @ Kabul House

=R=

I had my first manty at Bai Cafe this week. They had a decently-seasoned coarse-chopped lamb filling that was very lamb forward. Too bad I know they were re-warmed in a microwave and had soggy bottoms and dry rubbery tops. They'd probably be pretty damn good fresh out the steamer.

Thanks to the forum for getting the word out about this place. Got the lunch combo on friday and it was excellent.

Unbelievable value for 7 bucks and change.

I had high hopes for this place after reading the reviews since it is so close to my office and I was a big fan of Pita Kabob in the early days before they went downhill. Stopped in after work last night and had the chicken shawarma and hummus along with a few falafel and my friend ordered baba ganoush and green tea to share. I'll start with the highlights, the service was great and everyone was very nice and attentive. The tea service was impressively served in the tea set as shown. The falafel were the highlight of the meal, perfectly crunchy on the outside and really tasty. Not normally a fan of baba ganoush but it was actually pretty good. Unfortunately it may have been the worst hummus I've ever had, very little flavor, I described it to my friend as "watery" which is not the right word but very bland. There was more flavor in the little slivers of tomato as a garnish on top. The shawarma was also unimpressive, it looked so good on the spit and came piping hot with nice bits of char but not as good as I've had most places. I will go back hoping it was an off night because it is so close and I also want to try the other items shown above.

Glad to find so many good comments on Bamyan Kabob! My boyfriend and I haphazardly stopped here late after work one night as we were too hungry to continue on to Noon-O-Kabob. So happy we found this!

My favorites here are the pelmeni soup and the honey cake, which was recommended to us by the server. I've since been back for both and occasionally I find myself thinking of the pelmeni soup. I will happily work my way through this menu!

Not sure what happened but there's a license suspended sign on the front door. Thats a big bummer

Noted a sign saying Afghan yesterday after our lunch at BryAnna's, which is practically across the street. It look as though there may be some more evolution at this site, which has had a fair amount of change over the years. We need to check this out as well as a newish Middle Eastern restaurant in the other point between California and Lincoln.