Plov. Pelmeni. Qabili pulao. Three dishes people ask for by name rather than by restaurant, and they deserve a dish answer rather than a list of restaurants.
The short version: Calgary has two Central Asian halal kitchens, both small, both family-run, and between them they cover plov, pelmeni, manti, chebureki and somsa. Afghan qabili pulao — the same family of rice dish, a different tradition — is far easier to find, and the kitchens that do it are spread across the city.
Plov
Rice cooked in the fat and stock of the meat it is served with, with carrot and onion, until every grain is separate and stained gold. In Uzbekistan it is the dish of weddings and of Sundays; the spelling changes by country — plov, pilav, palov, osh — and it is the same idea each time.
- Caravan Cafe, Manilla Rd SE — a family-run Uzbek cafe on an industrial stretch in the southeast, listed as fully halal on Zabihah. The plov is one of the two things regulars name; the other is the dumplings.
- Cheburek House, Heritage Plaza on Macleod Trail SE — Uzbek plov (pilav on the menu) alongside the fried pastries the room is named for.
Pelmeni and manti
Two different dumplings that get muddled. Pelmeni are small, thin-skinned and boiled, eaten by the bowlful with smetana or butter. Manti are the larger steamed ones, pleated and filled with spiced meat and onion — a cousin of the mantu an Afghan kitchen serves.
- Caravan Cafe — pelmeni and manti are what people rave about here, ahead of everything else on the menu.
- Cheburek House — pelmeni, in a room that also does khachapuri and Napoleon cake.
- Kabuli Pulao “Afghan Street Food”, Westwinds Dr NE — mantu, the Afghan version, beside the rice.
If dumplings are what you are after generally rather than these specifically, the momo and halal Chinese pages cover the rest of the city.
Chebureki, somsa and khachapuri
The pastries around the edges of a Central Asian menu, and the reason to go with more than two people so you can order across them.
- Chebureki — a big half-moon turnover of thin dough and minced meat, deep-fried until it blisters. Cheburek House is named after them.
- Somsa — the baked, flaky-shelled parcel of meat and onion. Caravan Cafe bakes them.
- Khachapuri — Georgian cheese bread, and the four-cheese version at Cheburek House is one of the two dishes reviewers mention most, with the Napoleon cake.
This is halal Eastern European comfort food, a category that barely exists in this city. If you have never eaten it, that is the argument for going.
Qabili pulao
Spelled kabuli pulao, qabili palaw and half a dozen other ways: long-grain rice steamed over lamb or beef, topped with julienned carrot and raisins, often with almonds. It is the dish an Afghan table is built around, and the right thing to order first from a kitchen you have not tried.
- Kabuli Pulao “Afghan Street Food”, 4774 Westwinds Dr NE — named after the dish. The kabuli beef and the tikka are what the reviews name, with bread baked on site. Open from 9am, which makes it one of the few places here doing an Afghan breakfast.
- Kabul Bites, 718 Edmonton Trail — kabuli rice and slow-cooked lamb shank in generous, home-style portions, and a 5.0 across more than 600 Google reviews.
- Kabul Restaurant | Persian Cuisine, Forest Lawn — Afghan and Persian on one menu, family-run, with the owner serving tables himself. Order the kabuli pulao first.
- Kabul Lounge, 846 5 Ave SW — the downtown option, where kabuli pulao sits beside mutton karahi, chapli kabab and hookah.
- Peshawari Kabab Hut, Westwinds Crescent NE — a Pakistani kitchen that does kabuli pulao alongside chapli kabab and a mutton karahi worth the trip.
For the rest of that cooking — the kebabs, the bolani, the bread — see halal Afghan food in Calgary.
Where to start
If you want the Uzbek dishes, it is Caravan Cafe or Cheburek House, and they are twenty minutes apart on the south side. If you want the Afghan rice, start at whichever of the five above is nearest — the northeast has two of them, and downtown has one.
Common questions
Where can I get Uzbek plov in Calgary?
Caravan Cafe on Manilla Rd SE and Cheburek House in Heritage Plaza on Macleod Trail SE. They are the two Central Asian halal kitchens on this map, and both serve plov.
Is there halal pelmeni in Calgary?
Yes — at Caravan Cafe, where the pelmeni and manti are what regulars name first, and at Cheburek House. Caravan Cafe is listed as fully halal on Zabihah.
What is qabili pulao?
Long-grain rice steamed over lamb or beef and topped with julienned carrot and raisins, often with almonds — the centrepiece of an Afghan table. You will see it written kabuli pulao, qabili palaw and several other ways; it is the same dish. In Calgary, Kabuli Pulao on Westwinds Dr, Kabul Bites and Kabul Restaurant all build their menus on it.
What is the difference between pelmeni and manti?
Pelmeni are small, thin-skinned and boiled, eaten by the bowlful. Manti are larger, pleated and steamed, filled with spiced meat and onion — the same idea as the Afghan mantu. Caravan Cafe makes both.