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Kabob n' Karahi, Halal Kabobs and Karahi on New Hampshire Avenue and Norwood Road in Cloverly Shopping Center


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15521 New Hampshire Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20905
301-879-0044

It is open late, till 1am on Friday and Saturday. The food off the steam table, the sides mainly were a little tired looking but the two i tried were nicely flavored. I had a dish of greens with potatoes that really came to life with a little lemon juice. My main was 2 seekh kabobs that were well flavored but just a tad dry from over cooking, but nicely charred from an obviously hot tandoor. There were nice with the chutney but if they can dial in the cooking time, it will be really incredible, Indique level or better. $7.99 for both and a tandoor baked naan which was uneven, thin and crackery in parts, chewy and soft in others. It was stuck on the side of the tandoor a few seconds too long. The chutney was good once I asked for it. Also came with a little salad but it was undressed and needed something.

I also had a chat samosa, the samosa, maybe a little greasy, was covered in nicely spiced, very soft garbanzos in a great sauce/gravy. Very rich.The grease may have come from either the frying or the steam table garbanzo beans dish.

All in all, if they just tweak the cooking times a little and get the naan more even before putting it in the tandoor, this place will be a great stop for late night dinners. For just being open a short while, I think it is a great addition to the area and well worth repeat visits. $10 and change.

Next time I will try the lamb kebab.

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Wow

after visit number three I am almost in a food coma and that was from eating less than half of the lamb Kahari advertized as being for 2. Yeah.... 2 linebackers! The Karahi took quite a while to cook and i saw other ordders ebing made. Small bits of meat are piled into an iron wok like bpwl like cooking vessel filled with greens, herbs, onion, ginger and lots of oil. I don't know if they are put into the tandoor or another cooking vessel bnut they are served bubbling and smelling oh so good. You get a small bit of iceberg lettuce, a huge, spot on naan that just borders perfectly crusty and chewy with a bit of char that many a pizzauolo would love to produce. The karahi is dense, very heavily spiced, not hot per se but it has a nose/sinus clearing effect equal to horseradish on gefilte fish without the burn. The pale green chutney is the perfect foil. $17.99 with 60% or so of my order in the fridge as left overs and the total with tip and a mango lassi: $25.

Meal number 2 there was lamb kebob which had a perfect char, almost burnt edge that again the chutney set off perfectly. Kay had a steam table curry with lamb which was good but a little tired (as were we at midnight!) and I think the fresh cooked stuff superior.

Today and old man sitting next to me was raising the bowl of chutney and drinking it between bites of his tandoor chicken. His eyes twinkled at me as I saw his eating style!

These folks are friendly if not exactly restaurant professionals, but they put their love in the food. The pride in their eyes when I staggered to the counter to pay was self evidnet.

If you live in the wasteland that is Silver Spring outside the beltway, please do yourself a favor and go. This is a place that deserves to make it and I think they are struggling in their second month. Remember that they are open late (11pm or midnight during the week, I forget, but 1am on Friday and Saturday).

Ohhhh god... must sleep...belly full ... me happy!

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OK foodies, let's use our awesome powers for good and give this place a boost. I went for lunch today, and while it not the best Indian food I have ever eaten, it is pretty damned good, and it doesn't deserve to be completely empty at lunchtime on a Friday. I went for a couple of the steam table specials, which at 1:30 still looked sprightly. Rice was good, the salad forgettable, and the dal ghosht tender and lamby with a good spicy kick. A huge plate with a salt lassi cost me under $11 and will make 2 meals.

(Don, it was 5 minutes from my office. From the Olney Theatre take Dr. Bird Rd/Norwood Rd to New Hampshire Ave, turn left, and it's in a strip 1/4 mile up New Hampshire, right across the street from the ancient Cloverly TV shop. I'm going to add it to our list of pre-theater restaurants.)

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Saturday night's lamb kabob was spectacular: crispy on the outside with juices in the middle, a large tot of the yogurt sauce and a crowd of people at 11:30pm (all but 3 of them Pakistani according to one of the owners). The only off note is the chat samosa: the samosa is pre fried but the garbanzo stew and toppings are first rate. And I am not sur e of how off a note it was as I licked the styrofoam cup it came in. But I think that if I need some instant food while waiting for my kabob, I would just do a side of the garbanzos beans and have them tart it up with the chat samosa toppings (peppers, onions, sumac, yogurt sauce). The mango lassi is superb as well!

Business is up from the article, but it hasn't really caught on outside of the Muslim community surrounding it. Too bad!!!

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I would say that I have run into DR folk at almost every restaurant I have raved about here on the board. Either that or talked to people who tell me they have been to this one or that one multiple times but they lurk and not post. But I have never been to KnK and seen anyone who is either non pakistani or does not work at one of the neighboring businesses in the area eating there. I also know of only one DR member who has been.

Last night, I wanted something very late and where I live it means Wheaton for the usual suspects {Irenes or New Kam Fong these days} so I headed up New Hampshire to K n K. being too impatient for a wait for Kabobs {15 to 20 minutes usually} I opted for a chicken curry off the steam table with dahl, raita and salad plus a freshly cooked nan for $7.99. The curry has a nice bite, the dal cooked so the lentils still ahd a toothyness to them, the nan varying from cracker crisp to nicely bready, this was superb. A freshly made mango lassi and I was out the door for the alliterative $11.11.

All I can say is get your butts to this place so we don't lose one of the best late nigh options I have in the area!!! You will enjoy it, I assure you!

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I also know of only one DR member who has been.

I posted this on Chowhound back in early October:

They were sold out of the Lamb Karahi when I was there (Sunday around 7pm) so we had the Goat instead.

Oh. My. God.

It's supposed to be a serving for 2 people, but I recommend not eating lunch and not sharing with anyone. It was absolutely amazing.

I've only been to Ravi Kabob twice, and the visits were over a year ago, but I don't remember the food being this good there.

Oh, and what everyone else said about the chickpeas, and the boneless chicken kabob was fantastic as well. I thought the bread needed about 10 more seconds in the oven - it was appropriately chewy, but a few seconds short of blistered.

And when they ask, make sure you say "yes, I really mean spicy".

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Make that three actually, I just remembered another one. But this place deserves more love than it gets in the non Pakistani community.

I've been....and I also ate an order of Lamb Karahi all by myself! :( And it was as good as advertised.

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I've been....and I also ate an order of Lamb Karahi all by myself! :( And it was as good as advertised.

You're number three and I have only been able to eat about 80% of a Kahari on my own. But he made it Pakistani hot in my honor as being single that night. Kay always asks for it medium which he tells me is "mild enough for kids"!

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Not much buzz about this place lately. It continues to be very satisfying! Last Friday I had the nehari (beef stew) special and a chat samosa. And that came with mixed vegetables. You get a lot for your money here, and the smell when you get it in your car for take out is intoxicating! The last two times we have been there, it's mostly Pakistani customers. Don't know where they are coming from. There must have been 10 people working in that kitchen. I saw one guy stirring something in a huge container with an instrument the size of a boat paddle. What could that have been? Reminded me of people making jambalaya for big cookouts in Louisiana.

This place is not going away!

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I love one of their Wednesday specials, Kofta Curry, which has meatballs and hard boiled egg in a spicy sauce. I was skeptical but this really won me over! I thought the meatballs might be densely packed and tough but they were really light and moist! What a sauce! I scooped it all up with the tandoori bread that came as a side. Why do I bother eating at so many bland places when there's a flavorful one like this nearby? Potatoes and sweet peas over rice really stretched it.

The use of hardboiled egg reminded me of the country style shrimp and egg stews and gumbos I had in Louisiana growing up, dishes you never see in restaurants, except maybe in small towns like Maurice.

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20 hours ago, Toogs said:

So the Chat Samosa here is addictive.  Cut open a samosa and top with chickpeas, tomato/onion/cilantro, and green sauce.

One of the single best bangs for your buck around.  This place is so, so good.  One of my favorite things about it is that you can drive there at say, 11:00 on a Friday night and not see any sign of human life within several miles of the place, and yet . . . it's packed.  Seems as if the entire Pakistani community in the DMV converges on the place at that time.  And it's obvious that everyone's really happy to be there.  As they should be.

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The karahi, which are the "stews for two" I ignorantly noted above, are great.  And the bread here is phenomenal.  And I am typically reluctant to get chicken, especially when lamb and goat are on the menu, but they have the best chicken kabob I have ever had.  Combination of excellent marinade and great ovens, I would guess. 

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