Kabul

Peshawar Kebab Shop

A great local place for a tasty lunch. They only serve one type of food; Pakistani style flat chapli kebabs, but they do it well and it will only set you back Afs 100 or so.

Shar-e-now Burgers

Fast Food cuisine, English menu. Phone orders available.

Street stalls

Abound, and good ones can be found around shahr-e naw park and near the pul-e khisti bridge in the old town. however, the hygiene is questionable particularly in the summer.

Cafe

In the basement of kabul city center, share-e naw. burger and banana drink for less than us$3.

Hong Kong Restaurant

Good Chinese food.

New World Korean Restuarant

Now moved to a new location, but the food is still excellent quality. Good selection of Korean dishes, including excellent kimbab Korean sushi.

Kulba Afghan

Afghan and Italian cuisine, English menu. No phone orders/home delivery.

Popolano Italian Restaurant

English menu, good pizza and pastas. Phone orders available.

B’s Place Restaurant

Italian and Mexican cuisine, English menu. Phone orders available.

The Springfield Restaurant &amp Bar

Pizza and assorted Italian/Western fare, and has a weekly quiz night on Mondays.

Cafe du Pelican

Run by a French couple, good French cafe food with a bakery.

The Grill Restaurant

Lebanese food in pleasant garden surroundings, mixed clientèle.

Anaar Restaurant & Bar

UN security clearance. Great Indian and Asian cuisine. English menu, English speaking staff. Phone orders - take-away and delivery available.

Le Divan Restaurant (frm L'Atmosphere)

French cuisine, French and English menu. Phone orders available. Garden dining and swimming pool. Closed on Sundays.

The vast numbers of foreigners in Kabul has lead to the city being perhaps the best place to eat in the region, and in the mid-range bracket there are dozens of good places to eat for US$15-25 per person for an evening meal.

Escalades Restaurant

European cuisine, English menu. No phone hours/home delivery.

Afghan International Pizza Express

Good pizza. Destroyed during the May 2006 riots, but has since been rebuilt and has a new chef.

Park Residence Hotel

Provides a good Afghan buffet.

Pamir Restaurant

Offers an excellent and cheap buffet.

Carlito's Restaurant & Bar

Mexican cuisine, English Menu. No phone orders/home delivery

Grilled meat, seafood, steak and pizza. Vietnamese spring rolls and coffee served in the rose garden around back on Fri-Sat 10AM-3PM. Restaurant is closed on Monday.

Tasty high-end international food and nice atmosphere, one of the nicest restaurants in the city. Their large buffet is probably the best in the country.

Specializes in South-east Asian food, in a luxurious atmosphere.

One of Kabul's classiest establishments serving a varied menu in a nice atmosphere. Alcohol is very expensive, even by Afghan standards, but that can be forgiven given the fairly reasonable food prices.

The thousands of foreigners in the city since the fall of the Taliban has gradually turned Kabul into something of a restaurant mecca. Restaurants can crudely be split into 'places for locals' and 'places for expats' - with the latter having higher security, higher prices but not necessarily higher quality. Restaurants that are UN approved are particularly expensive. If you are looking for a place with a good mix of Afghans and expat diners the dry Lebanese, Turkish and Iranian restaurants are the ones to head towards.

Restaurants open and close with surprising frequency, so it is a good idea to check whether a place is still operating before heading out.