Ghar-E-Kabab
944 Wayne Ave., Silver Spring
301-587-4427, fax 301-587-4428
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5-10 p.m.
Cuisine: Indian and Nepali
Entrée prices: $11.99-$18.99
Credit cards: all major cards
Accessible
Catering
Free delivery (5-mile radius)
www.gharekabab.com
Redevelopment has brought anticipated national and local chains and unexpected independent restaurants to Downtown Silver Spring. Ghar-E-Kabab is happily one of the latter. Directly across the street from the Wayne Avenue garage (a noteworthy redevelopment perk), the 5-month-old restaurant adds another international strand to a rich garland. Like its food, the 42-seat dining room is simple rather than flashy.
Ghar-E-Kabab, meaning House of Kabab, is the shared dream of three partner chefs: Nepal natives Lok Tiwari and Chetnath Bhandari and Bombay native Chandasar Ray.
While working in the kitchen at D.C.’s Marriott Renaissance Hotel, Tiwari noted the company’s efforts to strip trans-fats from its food. He began thinking about ways to make Indian and Nepalese food healthier. He outlines his ideal: ‘‘Classic vegetarian dishes would be made from locally grown organic produce effused with Indian and Nepalese spices. Meats would be cooked high over hot charcoal in a tandoor (a traditional clay oven), allowing fats to drain, thereby lowering their cholesterol content.”
Olive oil would be the oil of choice. Yogurt and bread would be homemade. The accent would be on ‘‘the simple fresh, organic, flavorfully spiced foods that a mother would cook if she came from New Delhi or Katmandu.”
Chef Bhandari moved to Washington to cater diplomatic parties at the Royal Nepalese Embassy. Later, while working for 13 years at The Bombay Club on Connecticut Avenue, he befriended Ray, who had come from Raga in Rockefeller Center, one of Manhattan’s first Indian fusion restaurants.
In Ghar-E-Kabab’s kitchen, Bhandari is master of the tandoor oven, skillfully marinating meats overnight in yogurt with herbs and spices to make them tender and juicy. From his oven come boti kabab (chunks of boneless lamb), Malai kabab (chunks of chicken breast with almonds, cashew and mild spices), lamb chops and sheesh kabab (rolls of minced lamb blended with herbs and spices). Tandoori salmon, a popular dish not on the menu, shows up sometimes as a special. The chef also bakes fresh naan, one of the more interesting of which, Peshawari naan, is stuffed with almonds, coconut and raisins.
Ray is the go-to man for the curries, and Tiwari divides his time between kitchen and dining room presided over by his wife Shanti Sharma.
In addition to kababs, the menu contains familiar fare like the welcome bainghan ka barta (tandoori eggplant) and biryanis (pilafs) with shrimp, lamb, chicken or vegetables.
Tiwari explains that an Indian and a Nepalese dish may share the same ingredients but taste different. Indian cooks add spices in the beginning, while Nepalese add them at the end. Nepalese dishes tend to be lighter on spice and oil, he asserts.
Ghar-E-Kabab’s thalis offer a variety of tastes. The non-vegetable version ($17.99) features a samosa, lamb curry, chicken masala, palak paneer, dal, mixed vegetable, rice, naan, papad and kheer.
A children’s thali is $4.99, as are classic non-Indian choices like pizza, chicken tenders, and mac and cheese.
The lunch buffet changes daily. ‘‘Even the chefs don’t know what they are cooking tomorrow,” Tiwari says, adding that they look for what’s fresh in the market.
At one lunch-time, the table holds a green salad, assorted condiments, rice pilaf with saffron and carrot shreds, and whole curried eggs. Two vegetable dishes look similar, but looks are deceiving. A hot curry envelops the potatoes, peas and leeks, whereas mild seasoning flavors aloo gobhi’s potatoes and cauliflower. The star of the buffet is the chicken tikka, possibly the best rendition I’ve savored.
It would be a valuable service to diners, though, if these dishes were identified.
The lunch buffet, $9.99, includes fresh crisp naan brought to the table, warm from the tandoor and kheer (sweet rice pudding) served in a small copper cup. For a refreshing beverage (not included), skip the masala tea and try the mango lassi, an Indian yogurt smoothie.
Lunch, like dinner, begins with a long wait as tables are cleared and orders eventually taken. ‘‘Thank you for your patience,” the polite staffers remark as customers depart.
I missed trying one of the Nepalese appetizers: momo (a chicken, turkey or vegetable dumpling), cho-e-la (boneless marinated tandoori duck) and gundruk (Himalayan dry spinach). All the more reason to return.
