Afghan Darbar Restaurant & Takeaway
Reviews · · · ·Rating: 2
We ate dinner here in August 2026.
Banjan boranee
Karahi lamb
We dined at Afghan Darbar early in our relationship, before we were keeping BAATFR records. We do not remember it fondly. So when the gods of randomisation brought Afghan Darbar to us again tonight, our emotions were mixed. On one hand, we were quite pleased to see they were still going. Afghani is not a well-represented cuisine in NZ, so we liked that there was support for something different. On the other hand, we were nervous to return to a previous unpleasant dining experience.
Interestingly, the components of the dishes that The Fee-Rex found most pleasant, Business Andy found least pleasant, and vice versa. The Fee-Rex disliked that lamb the most, and found the eggplant kind of indeterminate and smooshy, while Business Andy disliked the mint sauce that was all over the salad, and unfortunately experienced some very thin naan bread.
What we do agree on is that the general ambiance was quite lacking. It was cold for a start, not quite leave-the-doors-wide-open-in-August cold, (looking at you Kaimak Johnsonville), but still cold. The chairs were uncomfortable, and it was awkwardly quiet, so we spent the entire meal listening in to our fellow diners and speculating wildly about their lives.