The most famous restaurants in Kabul

Before you go

• Families and women are now seated apart in most restaurants, in family sections or separate halls. Ask for the family section (famili) at the door.
• Prices in afghanis, in 2026: a plate of Kabuli palaw at an ordinary restaurant costs roughly 350 to 550 afghanis. Check today's exchange rate.
• Many places are open late, and several on Sulh Road never close.
• Friday is the day families go out, so gardens and the roads to Qargha and Paghman are busiest then.

The old city

Chainaki at Ka Faroshi. In the old city by the bird market, a family has cooked chainaki for some seventy years: lamb, split peas and onion cooked slowly in small clay teapots, poured over bread and eaten with green tea. It is the only dish on the menu, and it sells out by mid-afternoon. In 2023 a pot cost 200 afghanis. Another family shop on the same street has served chainaki for over sixty years.

Faizi Kalla wa Pacha. Kalla pacha, a sheep's head and trotters simmered overnight, is an old city breakfast. Faizi's is one of the places that serve it, early in the morning.

Photo: Mohammad Husaini

Kebab and karahi

Super Shinwari, Shahr-e Naw. Shinwari food from the east: lamb karahi cooked in its own fat, dampokht and long skewers of kebab, eight or ten to a portion.

Haji Mohammad Sharif's kebab house, Shahr-e Naw. On the flower street off Sulh Road, one of the kebab houses Kabul calls its own, for tikka and chopan kebab.

Palaw and the big dining halls

Bukhara. Several branches across the city, including Qowai Markaz and Kart-e Char, open around the clock, with carved wood and Silk Road decoration. Known for its palaw and moderate prices.

Andkhoy Bastan Turkmen Restaurant, Shahid Road. A Turkmen kitchen in Kabul whose Kabuli palaw travellers have called the best they ate in the city.

Abid Pulao. A palaw house where the whole Kabuli palaw is made in front of you, from browning the meat to the carrots and raisins on top.

Ziyafat, Sulh Road. A grand staircase, private rooms and a long menu of kebab, mantu and ashak, open 24 hours.

Barg Continental, by Shahr-e Naw Park. A two-storey buffet where you can try Kabuli palaw, mantu and the rest side by side, also open around the clock.

The Cafeteria, Shahr-e Naw and Kart-e Char. A garden restaurant with family sections, grills, pizza and cakes: where Kabul families go when not everyone wants palaw.

Sufi Mahal, Taimani. Traditional buildings, a garden and a rooftop, with the choice of floor seating on cushions or tables. Kebab, palaw and mantu. Listed as open in 2025 and 2026; call before a special trip.

Out of the city

Hamesha Bahar, Paghman. Riverside seating in the Paghman valley, where Kabul goes to escape the heat, known for rosh, a lamb stew with potato and onion.

At Qargha lake, west of the city, families picnic on rented carpets with tea, kebab and karahi served in tents, and boys sell shor nakhod, chickpeas in a sharp green chutney. Access for women to Qargha and Paghman has been restricted at times, so ask before you plan a family day.

Sweet things and street food

• Sheer yakh, Kabul's ice cream, churned by hand for two hours in a metal pail set in ice and flavoured with cardamom and rosewater. Ghazna Ice Cream is one of the shops that still make it this way, and the Baharistan area is known for it.
• Bolani, flat pastries filled with potato or leek, fried to order: 30 to 80 afghanis at stalls such as Bolani Fast Food in Kart-e Char.
• Afghan burger: not a burger at all, but bread rolled around chips, salad and chutney.
• Rotisserie chicken shops line Sulh Road.

Photo: Ahmad Redai Hashmi

Street stalls move often, and the city has cleared vendors from some streets, so ask locally.

How Kabul eats

At home and in older restaurants, food is set on a cloth on the floor, the dastarkhan, and shared from common plates with bread, eaten with the right hand. Green or black tea comes before, during and after the meal, and the tea houses around Mandawi in the old city have served it for generations.

Closed: Taj Begum, the women-run café, closed in August 2021. Know a place that has closed or opened? Tell us with the form below.