Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant

UPDATE: BAMIYAN AFGHAN RESTAURANT IN CITRUS HEIGHTS HAS CLOSED.

Until a few days ago, I had never tried Afghan cuisine. I'd intended for some time to make the drive to Citrus Heights to check out Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant, but since that's off the beaten path for me, I kept putting off my visit to the restaurant.


Fortunately, my friend Deborah decided that she'd like to see what Afghan cuisine tasted like too, so we made a lunch date and drove up there last week. What a wonderful decision that turned out to be!


We ordered a Samosa appetizer to start, little fried turnovers filled with potatoes and peas and served with a cilantro chutney sauce. We dug in before I remembered to take out my camera, so although the picture below shows only two samosas, the order came with four. They were crispy and delicious and I could gladly have eaten all four of them myself.

For my main course, I ordered the Vegetarian Dinner pictured at the top of the page, consisting of brown rice, okra, sweet and spicy pumpkin puree, and eggplant. Every part of this meal was good, but the pumpkin puree and the okra were outstanding. I always thought I didn't like okra, since in my experience, it was usually overcooked and kind of slimy. The okra at Bamiyan, however, was fresh and crisp and not even remotely slimy.


Deborah ordered the Vegetarian Platter. It also included the eggplant and pumpkin puree, but instead of the okra and rice, it had spinach and potatoes. I think the only thing that could have made my Vegetarian Dinner any better would have been a helping of the potatoes that were in Deborah's Vegetarian Platter!

Our meal came with bread and a pomegranate dipping sauce. However, be forewarned that the dipping sauce includes honey.


Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant is located at 7622 Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights. Their phone number is 916-725-6009, and their website address is http://www.afghancuisine.com/. The restaurant is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and for dinner Monday through Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant also has a location in El Dorado Hills.