Vulcan Thai Cafe – Oakland, CA
First of all, this place doesn’t really look like a restaurant to me at first glance. But sure enough, once you step up onto the patio and walk through the front doors you are greeted with an array of tables. I believe this is a family run business, as there were children present.
We stopped in for lunch very late that day, so the restaurant was mostly empty. The following items were ordered:
- Angel Wing – a boneless chicken wing stuff with more chicken
- BBQ Beef Plate
- BBQ Chicken Plate
- Crab Fried Rice
- Thai Milk Tea
The milk tea was YUMMY! :D But the Angel Wing was a little strange… The reason being is because there was slightly funky chicken taste involved. The main entrees were pretty good, you could actually see crab in the fried rice. BBQ beef was a little thinly sliced for my tastes, but the flavor was good. The chicken was nice and tender even though it was a little burnt in places.
Kabul – Sunnyvale, CA
The visit to Kabul was purely on a spontaneous whim, it is the first Afghan restaurant I have ever been to. Upon entry, the restaurant’s setup reminded me of a formal dining room out of history, it was nice, not too fancy, and dim. The lighting was kept very low, and most of the tables were filled with patrons who chatted quietly.
The following items were ordered:
- Bulanee Katchalu – a fried turnover filled with ground lamb, mashed potatoes and spices
- Gulpi Challaw – beef and cauliflower “stew” served with rice
- Sabsi Challaw – lamb and spinach “stew” served with rice
Unfortunately I failed to look around before making my order, or I would have ordered the Kabab entrees that seemed to be really popular with the other patrons. Indeed something that I will have to order the next time I go.
The bulanee katchalu was very crispy on the outside, and I enjoyed it due to the fact that there were mashed potatoes inside. Yay for mashed potatoes! The gulpi challaw had such tender pieces of beef, no chewing effort required. The cauliflower still retained a bite, no need to worry about it being mushy. The sabsi challaw’s lamb pieces were also well cooked, very moist and tender.
The bread that was served with the meal (reminded me of foccacia bread) was very “bread-like”, I prefer naan bread.
