Helmand: New Afghan Restaurant in Albany Park

Driving down Kedzie recently, I noticed a new restaurant in the former Noon O Kabab space and we decided to check it out.
We had a lovely meal and we'll definitely be back.
We wanted to try a broad swath of the menu and we ended up ordering mostly appetizers.

Afghan naan


Borani --potato and onion stuffed flatbread (this was fantastic, hot and crispy, and we loved the tomato-based sauce that accompanied it)


Afghan dumpling--Aashak (filled with leeks/scallions) and Mantu (filled with ground beef, carrot and onion). Both were delicious with nice delicate wrappers. Note that these are the small portions


Sambosa--filled with potato and peas. This was the one dish I wouln't order again. Maybe because I'm comparing it to Indian samosas, I thought this was a little bland.


Kadu--baby pumpkin with honey, yogurt mint sauce. This was another highlight. I'm not a fan of overly sweet dishes and I thought this perfectly hit the balance between sweet and savory.


I forgot to take a picture of our one entree, the rack of lamb with Kabuli rice. This was a dish that was much more delicious than it appeared--simple, perfectly cooked to medium rare as requested. I'll probably try some different entrees but this will be on the repeat list for sure.
My dining companion had the baklava and liked it--I'm not a big baklava fan but I thought it was solid.

The folks who run this place couldn't be nicer and they were happy to let us linger over tea. Prices were extremely reasonable and portions generous. Service was leisurely (but in the best possible way--easy to get our server's attention but nice pacing). The space looks very similar to how it looked in the Noon O Kabab days--nice and bright with well-spaced tables.
We are big fans of Kabul house, though I haven't been since pre-pandemic. I thought Helmand compares very favorably. This spot is definitely worth a try and would be a great place to have a nice, non-rushed dinner with a group of friends. It looks like they a have a smallish private dining room in the back.

Helmand Restaurant
4661 N Kedzie
Chicago
https://www.helmandchicago.com/

The new Helmand is apparently not related to the Helmand restaurant that was at Halstead and Belmont.

Happy to hear it's worth a visit! I live super close by and have been waiting for them to open. I'll definitely go check them out.

Sounds good.

The name alone encourages me to try it as I have positive memories of the original Helmand on Halsted. Reportedly, it was run by a relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The atmosphere was pleasant and the food was good and fairly priced.

I hope the new Helmand is also a success.

I'm meeting an Afghan newcomer there next wk and will report back.

I brought an Afghan friend here for lunch yesterday. Last time we met we went to Kabul House but this is closer to my home and not having been here wanted to give it a try. Walid the chef (and I believe owner) oversaw the beginning of our meal as there was no staff there yet. Unfortunately we were the only ones there throughout our lunch, which I think was a notch above Kabul, as did my friend.

Mantu were excellent and seemed a bit spicier than what I've grown accustomed to and I found preferable. The fried eggplant (boranee banjan) w/tomato and yogurt-mint sauce was my friend's favorite and told me "they make eggplant as amazing as we make." and appeared to tear up a bit. We'd been talking about "survivors guilt" and how he doesn't feel right spending money or enjoying himself knowing what his family is going through back home. My favorite dish of the day was the kofta korma, meatballs in a tomato sauce, something I'd normally not order but he did and for good reason. Really delicious. Fwiw, he also felt the rice was better. When I asked Walid what I should order he suggested lamb kabob or salmon but I let my buddy order and ended up w/o either. Next time.

Stopped in for lunch today. Based on our experience, agree that the food tops Kabul House. Service was very professional and warm. Although we were the only customers in the restaurant, a photographer from the Reader was taking photos to accompany an upcoming review. Hope that gives them a good boost. Highly recommend that LTH-ers show this place some love!

Went for dinner. One caution for vegetarians, the stuff available is all in the Appetizers section. But what is available is really good. I had the Potato filled flatbread (Bolani), Fried eggplant (Banjan Boorani), and Yoghurt drink (Doogh). Got Afghan Naan and salad alongside with the order. Even this was too much for me and I took some home! I got a couple of dipping sauces: one was basically the Mast Khair (yoghurt sauce) and the other was reminiscent of Yemeni Zhug. It was all tasty and filling. And I am glad they offer Afghan Naan which I really like.

When you order Doogh, ask them to make it without ice and drink without straws. It came with chunks of cucumber; so I don't know how they expect people to use a straw to drink that!

The other veggie stuff (that I want to try next time) is Spinach Curry, Dumplings (Aashak), Pumpkin (Kaddu), Sambusa, and a couple of soups. So you can easily make a meal out of these, which is what I did. Plus, they had some Afghan desserts (Jalebi, Firnee and a version of Cannoli) that I didn't try.

They also have the regular Hummus and Baba Ghanoush as their Mediterranean selections, but I don't think I care to eat that here.

Lovely slow paced lunch at Helmand. Good food, service, ambiance, even found parking right in front of the restaurant.

I'm a sucker for old school tea service, Helmand's hit the mark, and the baby pumpkin was a revelation.

Thanks for posting Thaiobsessed, going back soon.



Helmand, count me a Fan!

Grabbed some food to go here last night for the first time. An order of the lamb kababs and mantu based on the staff's recommendation.

While I know nothing about Afghani cuisine, everything was really well executed from a technical standpoint. Nice addition to the hood and will be trying it again!

https://chicagoreader.com/food-drink/wi ... tid=Zxz2cZ

This place is classic LTH and needs love.