Return to the Afghan Gotham

Before we get down to today’s business, I need to share a thought with you. How is it that the Broadband Wireless Connection in Dubai airport is slower than even our connection in Maymana office? As a matter of fact, I was planning on sending you a live note detailing how I’m delighting at the pains au chocolat and coffee here, but in truth I’ll have to settle for using a good ole’ word document and put it online whenever I’ll be able to connect – and that may not be anytime soon.

Anyway, after a whole 6 weeks away, I finally returned to Kabul last week. After hearing the praises of a couple of new places, five-star hotels and all that have become the place to see and be seen, and given that I had an army of mates, friends and acquaintances who happen to be in my mobile memory and vice versa to catch up with, I resolved to try the now famous Serena hotel.

I had heard a lot about the place and was rather prepared for a disappointment but I ought to be honest here, I was in awe. The internal decoration of the place is absolutely fabulous, with very pure lines and columns, often in dark Nuristani wood. The furniture is dominated by red and purple shades, with some white or yellowish touches here and there. Rather than the rich Afghan wanabe Bollywood decoration I was expecting, I saw something reminiscent of the best ‘Be the Aga Khan For One Day and Decorate Your Home’ kind of BBC shows. I have to admit being especially fond of the restaurant, all in dark wood, with a few lamps and old tea and water carafes in golden shades.

This said, you know me. I would not bother you if it were only for the decoration. So let’s get down to business: the food. We started with some pumpkin raviolis and on my part a duck salad with oranges. Although I only had one ravioli, it seemed positively good, with a hint of spiciness in the background and a melting effect in the mouth. As for my salad, not much green on there, but it was fantastic nonethless. A honey sauce offered a comfy bed to an army of duck breasts slices, with some orange (or was it grape fruit?) pulp on top. A beautiful sweet and sour contrast; positively one of the best salads I’ve had in Afghanistan ever.

The tomato and basil soup I ordered as a main was a bit of a disappointment, neither looking nor tasting quite right. (A bit of oil on top, as I suspect they used some basil marinated in oil, and way too hot, with not enough basil). Anyone in their right mind would think there was something not quite right about it, so I gave up after a while on my attempt to ingurgitate some vitamins. This said, based on the rest of the meal, I suspect the cook is a quick learner and will happily spend half an hour doing capacity building in the kitchen if it can guarantee us some decent soup next time.

When time for desert came, we settled for a cookie parfait with a strawberry sauce. If I may, that plate was clearly calling for more of the latter, but otherwise it was all very edible, with the parfait being somewhere between a mousse and Haagen Dazs’ famous Cookies and Cream.

All in all, it was all fairly good, a pleasant journey in a different environment and cuisine, for a total bill possibly slightly cheaper than at Atmosphere.

For contrast’s sake, I also have to develop on another entirely different food place.
We went with two friends to a new French restaurant, La Fontaine, only a few meters away from Flower street in the direction of Shar-e-Nau park. The place is simply decorated, with a few carpets and some chairs that hint at a Southeast Asian place. The menu wasn’t quite complete, but the owner promised it would be by next week.

As a start we bravely gave the green salad a try. The portion was rather small, but the mustard vinaigrette was simply fabulous, enough so that none of us felt like we had turned into healthy rabbits.

Afterwards, we had some lovely quiches with leeks that were to die for. Buttery, creamy, maybe a little small as one was clearly calling for another, but without a doubt a quiche like none I have eaten in this part of the world. As a matter of fact, it made me ashamed I dared serving something fairly rubbish to friends in the past labeling it as quiche. Meanwhile, one friend was having a steak with chips. Now one could argue that bringing the steak alone, no matter how big, with only fries as garnish would be a little disappointing. Wrong. This steak was the type of life-changing experience that one only goes through a few times in a lifetime (Ok, maybe read a year). Actually, just the thought of it and I find myself drawling again, which in the middle of Dubai Airport could get me in trouble.

To make the picture even better, the owner enjoys making his own chocolate, which consists of white or milk chocolate filled with one or two nuts. Anyone who knows me knows how dogmatic I am on the subject, yet it was delicious. In fact, I bit in one and had a flash of me and a few friends crashing for a DVD and eating those. Surely that’s a sign.

On top of it, the owner, who’s French, also bakes his own croissants. It goes without saying I had to come and try that… As it is, they start being served at 8.30 am until they run out and cost 40 Afs a piece, all worth it. Since I had to have an informal meeting with our coordinator ad interim, we agreed to have a brekky together to try these out. The shameless staff put before us a gigantic plate covered with 25 croissants and pains au chocolat, which we proceeded to eat. Amazing how two croissants call three, call four etc. And take my word on this one, outside of Europe, I have not eaten as decent croissants in the past 18 months. They were buttery, really crispy yet melting inside, calling for some jam, although I could not find the desire to ruin them with anything. In short, they were fabulous. We brought a bunch back to the office and I’m not sure what the people thought but the stuff run out fairly fast so I have to take it as a positive criticism.

All in all, La Fontaine is fairly cheap: less than 5 USD for a starter and between 5 and 12 USD for a main and provides decent ‘bistrot’ cuisine – their words – eg plain but good food. While the surrounding may not quite do it for a romantic evening, it is perfect for a working breakfast or lunch. Only down side, the owner is desperate for constructive criticisms, so he will not leave you alone. However, given that his repeated returns to the table involve some more chocolate tasting I have to forgive him.