Afghan Restaurant in Warren, NJ - Silk Road

[skinsey123]

Read an article in the Star-Ledger on Friday about an Afghan restaurant in Warren - "Hint of spices greets Silk Road visitors" (11/5) - and thought we'd give it a shot. We had a wonderful meal and a nice, relaxed time. We've been to Pamir in Morristown (The only other Afghan restaurant in NJ I'm aware of), and enjoyed the food - so we hoping for similar food. We were definitely pleasantly surprised.

I had chicken kabobs which came with a rice dish with raisins, carrots, and basmati rice, and my wife had a vegetarian dish called Ashak. We also started with an appetizer (Mantu - a meat & veggie thing), and had a side dish of spinach. We also had normal tea, along with a sweeter milk tea for dessert called shir chai. Overall the meal was wonderful. Very flavorful, and the staff (Albeit a bit harried for a Saturday night - maybe the article brought a few more people than expected) was helpful and friendly. The room is very small, maybe seating 20 - 30, with a single door to the cold outside opening to the main room. The lighting was also a touch too bright. We brought wine, and our meal came to $50 or so with tip. We definitely would recommend this place to anybody interested in a little adventure & some extremely flavorful, mediterranean fare.

[Rosie]

Thanks for the report. I'll put this place on my "go to" list.

[birder53]

Thanks for the review! That's about four miles from home, a lot closer than Pamir. We'll have to get over there soon.

[pnapoli]

thanks for posting about this place. sounds like a great addition to the area. whereabouts in Warren?

[ghostrider]

There was once what I thought was a great Afghan place in Ridgewood that we went to regularly for a couple of years after we discovered them, but then they closed.

I still remember their spinach, a wondrous thing.

I'm curious about all the references to Mediterranean food though? Is that a deliberate attempt on the owner's part to bring in a wider clientele? It's not a term that would have leapt to my mind in the context of the Ridgewood place.

Star-Ledger doesn't give an address for Silk Road either, only that it's across the street from the municipal bldg. What street would that be?

[birder53]

thanks for posting about this place.  sounds like a great addition to the area.  whereabouts in Warren?

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This is on Mountain Boulevard, about a quarter mile east of Mt. Bethel Road. It is in a small shopping center that has all the stores facing each other instead of the main road, making it hard to know what businesses are in there as you drive by.

[skinsey123]

thanks for posting about this place.  sounds like a great addition to the area.  whereabouts in Warren?

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This is on Mountain Boulevard, about a quarter mile east of Mt. Bethel Road. It is in a small shopping center that has all the stores facing each other instead of the main road, making it hard to know what businesses are in there as you drive by.

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Its right across the street from the library.

I wonder if the reference to Mediterranean food is to provide a description that is more familiar to more people. Had I not been to Pamir, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what kind of food they were talking about. Its not as spicy as Indian, and there are less curries & stews. So, Turkish might be even more descriptive than Indian, or something else.

[larryc]

  We've been to Pamir in Morristown (The only other Afghan restaurant in NJ I'm aware of)

There's also an Afghan restaurant in South Orange called Mazar Kebab House. I ate there last year and enjoyed it. There's a review on nj.com here

and here, as well as a posting on eGullet.

(This is funny as the review in the Star Ledger also said Pamir was the only other Afghan restaurant in NJ, forgetting about their own review of Mazar Kebab House!)

Edited November 8, 2004 by larryc (log)

[ghostrider]

thanks for posting about this place.  sounds like a great addition to the area.  whereabouts in Warren?

←

This is on Mountain Boulevard, about a quarter mile east of Mt. Bethel Road. It is in a small shopping center that has all the stores facing each other instead of the main road, making it hard to know what businesses are in there as you drive by.

←

Its right across the street from the library.

I wonder if the reference to Mediterranean food is to provide a description that is more familiar to more people. Had I not been to Pamir, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what kind of food they were talking about. Its not as spicy as Indian, and there are less curries & stews. So, Turkish might be even more descriptive than Indian, or something else.

←

According to the Star-Ledge, the guy serves what he calls a Mediterranean salad, complete with feta. Just doesn't sound very Afghan to me. Not that it's not good!

At the Ridgewood place, the cuisine struck me as similar to Indian but less aggressively spiced. I wouldn't have used Mediterranean as a frame of reference.

Granted there is a continuum from Turkey eastwards & such. We used to have a Persian place in town that was more reminiscent of what I'd call Mediterranean in some of their dishes.

[skinsey123]

  We've been to Pamir in Morristown (The only other Afghan restaurant in NJ I'm aware of)

There's also an Afghan restaurant in South Orange called Mazar Kebab House. I ate there last year and enjoyed it. There's a review on nj.com here

and here, as well as a posting on eGullet.

(This is funny as the review in the Star Ledger also said Pamir was the only other Afghan restaurant in NJ, forgetting about their own review of Mazar Kebab House!)

←

That I'm aware of, this restaurant (Mazar Kebab House) has closed. I drive by the restaurant fairly often, and it closed a few months ago.

[larryc]

  We've been to Pamir in Morristown (The only other Afghan restaurant in NJ I'm aware of)

There's also an Afghan restaurant in South Orange called Mazar Kebab House. I ate there last year and enjoyed it. There's a review on nj.com here

and here, as well as a posting on eGullet.

(This is funny as the review in the Star Ledger also said Pamir was the only other Afghan restaurant in NJ, forgetting about their own review of Mazar Kebab House!)

←

That I'm aware of, this restaurant (Mazar Kebab House) has closed. I drive by the restaurant fairly often, and it closed a few months ago.

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Too bad... I enjoyed it. (Although I'm not surprised, as it was empty the two or three times I went there)

[LNorman]

My husband and I went to Silk Road and had a great dinner. I've been to Pamir and I don't think it's as good as other Afghan food I've had before. Silk Road is a bit closer but still different. My standard is The Helmand in Baltimore, MD.

It's too bad Mazur's closed. I tried to find it over the summer and it was closed. There was a very good Afghan place on Oak Tree Road but 9/11 made it impossible for the business to keep going.

[pbrodsky]

I really miss the Afghan restaurant on Oak Tree Road. It was originally called "Afghan Grill" and changed the name to "Asian Grill" (I think) after 9/11 and before they closed.

[coquille]

I really miss the Afghan restaurant on Oak Tree Road. It was originally called "Afghan Grill" and changed the name to "Asian Grill" (I think) after 9/11 and before they closed.

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Oh, I agree!! It was Afghan Grill and then Khyber Pass, and it was UNbelievably amazing. I am sooo upset that they closed! There is nothing to replace it so far. :(

[coquille]

I really miss the Afghan restaurant on Oak Tree Road. It was originally called "Afghan Grill" and changed the name to "Asian Grill" (I think) after 9/11 and before they closed.

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Oh, I agree!! It was Afghan Grill and then Khyber Pass, and it was UNbelievably amazing. I am sooo upset that they closed! There is nothing to replace it so far. :(

[Curlz]

Maaaaaaaaajor BUMP. I finally had a chance to try Silk Road with friends who live in that part of the world; this restaurant is in their regular rotation thanks to a heads-up from me (I had read about it, but don't know where), and now that I've been, I can see why! As described above, it's a bit tough to find because of the way the shopping center is set up, and I certainly didn't notice the listing on the big sign out on the main road, but trust me that it's there and worth trying. The people who own/work the restaurant couldn't be nicer or more accommodating. We felt welcome from the moment we arrived, and watched as everyone who came in got the same warm greeting.

I've never had Afghani food, but I knew to expect kabobs. But I didn't know about the wonderful Afghan bread (very naan-like, but oblong in shape), which arrived warm from the oven, in a 'basket' made of cloth napkins. YUM. The entrees also came with a cucumber/tomato/onion/cilantro salad that is similar to what is often served in Thai restaurants, but with a slightly lighter flavor in the 'dressing,' which appeared to be lemon and olive oil. Huge portions of it per person, too. For an app, we shared a potato and a Cadu (butternut squash) Bholani, the Afghan version of a samosa, I suppose, although these are flat. Again, YUM. What could be bad about warm, flaky pastry pockets filled with potato or butternut squash?!?

For the entree, I went traditional--the lamb kabob with Naringe Palaw, a wonderful rice dish that has saffron, fresh orange peels, almonds and pistachios mixed in. My only complaint is that it was a tad sweet for me, but considering the clear plate at the end of the meal, it wasn't that big of a problem! My friends (who don't share much) had the chicken and beef kabobs and the vegetarian dumplings, which were filled with scallions and cilantro and cooked lentils. The 2.5 year-old did let me taste the sauce on her Chicken Korma, and it was very tasty. Sadly, we didn't have dessert there, as the very pregnant one in the group declared that we (SIGH) had to go to Coldstone Creamery. You just don't argue with the belly, esp within a month of the due date! Next time I'll try the baklava or the Afghan style rice pudding at Silk Road, thankyouverymuch.

All in all, simple, tasty food, and the prices were very reasonable: apps were mostly $3-$5, meat entrees were all around $15-$17, with some (i.e. the Korma) far less ($7-14).

Silk Road Restaurant

41 Mountain Blvd

Village Square Mall

Warren Twp

908-561-8288

BYO, Closed Mondays

No web site from what I can see

My best directions:

Rt. 78 East or West to Exit 36, then go south (a right if you came off of 78 East, a left if you come off of 78 West) on the road off of the exit ramp. When you get to the light at Mountain Boulevard, there's a Kings Super Market on the left corner--turn left, and the shopping center is about 1/4 mile down on the left.

This would be a fun place to go with a group!