When you are out of your comfort zone in your own neighborhood or even out of the State you live in, it might be challenging to find a good restaurant. With much research, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. I found that light here at Pomir Grill. It is an authentic Afghan cuisine, which I don’t see much anywhere, especially in suburbs, quite interesting! They say that they make their dishes with recipes passed down from generation to generation, and techniques used for thousands of years. How cool is that!
The inside is not very large, but spacious with tables spread apart, giving good amount of personal space in between. All of their tables had clean and crisp white tablecloths and a bright red flower. Even thought the interior is not covered with fancy, glamorous, shiny things, they did a great job creating a very nice and sophisticated atmosphere.
They had a very cute collection of teapot near the entrance, with a note asking patrons NOT to touch them. Totally understandable. They had classic ones to funny looking one, like one in a shape of a fire station, a bird, and a school house!
I heard they have a really awesome Naan, so we asked for that first. The first round of Naan is complimentary, and comes with three sauces. Good amount of Naan came in a basket, nice and hot.
The Naan is their traditional Afghan Bread, and additional order is $2 per basket. The three traditional Afghan sauces are: Coriander Chutney, Cucumber Yogurt Sauce, and Tundak which is a tomato based sauce with nigella seeds. They were all very fresh and tasty, and each one of us had our own favorites. I liked the Tundak the best. All of us absolutely loved the Naan, so much so that it disappeared quickly, we had to get the second order!
For drink, they are BYOB, so if you want to have alcohol beverage such as wine, you need to bring your own. We ordered Hot Green Tea ($2), which was actually Afghan green tea. It tasted more like mint green tea, and is free refill. I am not sure if they actually brew it in their kitchen (instead of some tea bag), it takes a while for the tea to come out, even the free refill takes a while. It was a really nice tea, worth the extra time it takes.
For the main, two of us ordered Lamb Kabob ($25) and another one ordered Beef Sampler ($21). They both came with side salad and choice of rice. It was generous portion, really plentiful. Lamb Kabob is marinated with Afghan seasonings served with grilled vegetables and rice. I chose spinach rice, and it was excellent. First, the lamb… It was so tender and juicy, and packed with flavor. It was sooo much better than I expected, it was great! Their seasoning was really nice and flavorful, and cooked to perfection.
Afghan boneless short ribs on sautéed onions and tomatoes served with an in-house pomegranate sauce. The short ribs were cuddled in tasty sautéed onions, and had great seasoning. The meat was tender and juicy, very tasty. It was cooked perfectly so that it still soft and flaky without being mushy. I loved the subtle flavor of tomatoes as well.
Kabob-e-Kobeda (ground beef kabob) was really good too. It was firm but tender, packed with flavor. It had great texture and juicy, mouth-watering.
Kofta, also known as meatballs, was super nice too. It is cooked in a plum sauce, and had some corns on it. At this point, I was thinking they could do no wrong at this restaurant. Each item was really great, with deep flavors, all tender and juicy, and very delicious. I could not a single item that I didn’t like. And everyone at the table felt the same way.
We decided to push our luck with desserts. We ordered Afghan style Baklava ($6). Two pieces came which was a nice surprise, and my goodness they were amazing! Flaky, airy, sweet and decadent. It was so good! We were pretty full from the main dishes, but this one was gone within few minutes. They were nice size too, not too big, not too big. It was warm as they are made to order (it takes a little while for it to come out) and addictive, nicely done!
We saw a table next to us (four people) getting a scoop of pistachio ice cream. Shortly after (guessing after they all got a bite), they got three more orders of the ice cream. I heard about their pistachio ice cream being pretty tasty, so we had to get it too! They had option of one scoop or three scoops, and we got three scoops of Pista Sheer Yaakh or Pistachio Ice Cream ($5). For extra information, one scoop is $2 each, and they have three flavors: Pistachio, Quince, and Fig. The ice cream was really rich and creamy. It was like velvet, and I think they add condensed milk to their ice cream, providing deeper, sweeter flavor. I can see the reason why this is very popular.
We had great dinner here, food was very flavorful and clean. Even though we were stuffed, we didn’t feel heavy. A really nice, fresh ingredients can do that! The service was quite slow, I think they are only two staffs on this day. I heard they are family owned and operated, so they might not have many staffs. This also created some issues, as one of them were the waitress also helping in the kitchen, and the other one being the cook, helping out on the floor, they were not always available. But they were really nice, polite, and I could see they care about their customers. Just don’t go there when you are in a busy or on a tight schedule. Go there when you have plenty of time to relax and enjoy a wonderful meal with your loved ones. Even though I have been there only once, they have captured my heart (or my stomach and my taste buds). I would love to go back again for another delicious food!
Pomir Grill – 119 Shrewsbury St, Worcester, MA 01604