HOdown: Dinner 3/31 at Babur Garden (Afghan) in Ocean, NJ

They have like 4 different rice dishes there - they might have gotten the order mixed up. I can never decide which rice to get when I go there!

We will be there too, although as an official old person I must complain that you are pushing back my bedtime with this 7:00 dinner thing. You kids and your wild ways!

Count us in for 2.

2 Likes

@gracieggg We’ve been there a couple of times and I don’t think they have ever gotten all the rice orders correct. Luckily we’ve liked all of them. And if you’ve ordered the spicy one but didn’t get it, that red condiment they serve does the trick.

@CurlzNJ We’re in for the 31st.

1 Like

I’m bumping this up so everyone is reminded that you can still decide to join us…

Food looks awesome. Unfortunately I am unable to make it. I’ve got too much going on right now / money being spent. Just took a 3 hour drive to Pennsylvania, taking another, and taking a trip to Virginia too.

A post was split to a new topic: Excellent Spring Rolls

Looking forward to seeing everyone next Friday. Remember this is another BYO place for those of us who drink alcohol.

1 Like

Thanks for bumping this up @seal! For those of you who haven’t seen this thread already, please join us! I can raise the count well in to later this week, I’m sure .

Meant to add the list of RSVPs thus far:

Curlz (and hopefully one of my friends)
@seal (2)
@joonjoon
@MsBean (2)
@eleeper (2)

Reservation is at 7pm

If you’ve been thinking “I should go…” today’s a good day to let me know!

Hey yuppie. Any recommendations along the route to VA? Hopefully off of route 299 50 or 301 from Delaware to md? Looking for a place and it’s a wasteland

This is indeed a wasteland. I usually stop at Two Country Chicks Kitchen, 1104 Price Station Road in Church Hill MD. It’s just 500 feet off 301 about 20 miles before the Bay Bridge.

Diner style food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Friendly service, always in and out quick and the food is ok and pretty cheap. I usually keep it simple, like a BLT or an omelet. Usually just locals in the place but they do seem to order everything on menu. Nothing spectacular about the place and if it was around here I’d go someplace better but that’s the best I’ve found on that route.

If it’s breakfast time there is also a Waffle House on 301 just south of 299 on the northbound side.

Wasn’t this a thread about tonight’s HODown?

Neither rain nor sleet…

See everyone in a few hours.

It was, and yes! Looking forward to it!

So how was it guys and gals? :slight_smile:

While I didn’t have the opportunity to join the festivities for dinner I was able to stop by and share a toast with my NJ HO pals. My apologies (well really @seal should apologize he is the HOfficial photographer) to @eleeper since she had already left by the time the picture was taken.

From left to right;
@MsBean @NotJrvedivici (Mr. Bean) @CurlzNJ @joonjoon (Mrs. Seal) @seal

It was a pleasure as always seeing you all.

5 Likes

It’s true. It’s all my fault. What were we talking about again?

Sorry about the lack of pics. A good time and some good food was had by all. The best eating was in the apps. We shared some chicken and some beef dumplings that were excellent. Then @NotJrvedivici showed up and we ended up next door at Piccola Italia for after dinner drinks and dessert.

Words don’t do these things justice. Just the fact that we are able to come together as often as we do and eat different food is amazing. Everyone should make an effort to come to a HODown soon.

3 Likes

We had a great time, but I fully agree with @seal that the food didn’t wow any of us. The Afghan naan was excellent and we loved the condiments. The apps were interesting, flavorful, and got me very excited for the entrées–and then we waited. AND WAITED.

While beautifully cooked, the skirt steak had absolutely no other flavor than meat. The lamb kebab had a delicious grilled flavor, but was woefully overcooked–and again, no spice or flavor other than the meat itself. We tried the spinach rice and the palau, and again zero flavor to it. The chicken korma was tasty, but I’m not sure if I liked it because it at least had some flavor.

It’s almost like there were two different shifts – one preparing apps, and other entrées. It’s a shame, because it was a lovely spot, the servers were very nice (albeit MIA while we were waiting for our dinner, probably because they didn’t know what to say), and we had a really fun time, but I really thought we were going to have far more interesting food.

Still, you can’t beat the company! Watch this board for planning/news of our next outing!

Agree 100% about the food. We’ve been there several times before and the food was quite good. While the food was not worth the way too long wait, it did give us time to time to chat, laugh, and get to know each other better. All in all a great night.

Missy

2 Likes

The apps were definitely the best prepared. My (four) main course lamb chops were from a very small lamb, and impossible to cut with the table knife. I could have asked for a steak knife, but when Mark did, it took quite a while to arrive, and cold lamb chops are no fun. So I took advantage of the “handles” the chops came with. (That’s how we always ate them at home when I was young!)

The big problem was that the main course took for-farkin’-ever to arrive. (I think it was about an hour for the main course to arrive after we ordered it.)

Which is why Mark and I left before anyone thought to take a pic–it was almost 10PM when we left.

Bottom line: The crowd was great; the restaurant not so much.

2 Likes