Unaabi Grill, Cary NC - Yummy Middle Eastern goodness

So hubby and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. We planned on a family outing, but wonderful friends at church offered to watch our kiddos for the evening. Yay! No kids = more adventurous food :) They usually eat what we eat, but they make a lot of noise out in public, so the meal process becomes fast and furious and once in the car, hubby and I usually look at each other and say, "What did we just eat?"

We opted for an Afghani restaurant. The reviews were  mixed, everything we read about the food was a positive, but almost everyone said it was going to be an empty parking lot and an empty place inside. We decided to go anyway. And BINGO! Unaabi Grill was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
Preface: we usually dont care about the way place looks, smells, or serves its food as long as the food is fresh and tasty. And it was just that. In addition to Afghani food, they serve some Mediterranean basics like hummus, baba ghanoj, kebabs, tabouli, etc. We opted for all things Afghani. The owner personally took our order; I asked about their specialty and he explained how to eat it and with what. We were one of the two couples there at 7 pm on a Sunday night. More people came in later on.

For an appetizer we got these tender fried dumplings Bolanee Gandana, Bolanee Sambosa, and Bolanee Sabzi. They were served with mild yogurt minted sauce. Devoured in 3 minutes. Holla!

We ordered per owner's suggestions. Hubby got Kabuli Palau with Lamb - with spices brown basmati rice with these sweet yummy tender carrots, raisins and almonds. And I got Naringe Palau with Lamb - brown basmati rice seasons with orange rinds, pistachios and pine nuts. Oh. My. Food. Heaven.
We waited for our main course for almost an hour! Yes, it may turn many people away, but it did not bother us one bit. We were not in a hurry to get out of the place like we would from a fast food joint, b/c this is not fast food and the results proved it - everything was made from scratch, fresh meat grilled to perfection, rice seasoned so well we kept stuffing our faces until we thought we couldn't move, we enjoyed "us" time, AND we got humus, salad AND baklava (sweet dessert made with phillo dough, nuts and honey) on the house courtesy of the lovely owner. He apologized for food taking so long; he wanted our first Afghani food experience to be perfect. It was so worth the wait!

I realized I better take some pictures of what was under the rice - deliciously seasoned lamb.

To top the perfect dining experience we ordered baklava, which was very small but we appreciated it so much. It was just enough to satisfy that sweet tooth of mine :) Plus, as it turned out, it was free! Turkish coffee was also a yummy finish. Sorry, no pictures of coffee and baklava; though we were busting at seams, coffee and baklava were devoured in no time.

Hubby enojoying his leftovers for lunch and so will I, as soon as I can put my kiddos for a nap so I dont have to share :) Oh. Bad. Mama.

Ok. So I don't have other places to compare with, but this Pizza Hut turned Afghani cuisine was so tasty and fresh. We will be back someday. But for now we will be looking forward to another big occasion to go out and excite our taste buds with new flavors.