Zarak By Afghan Kitchen

Ah, what a wonderful meal. Was very easy to make a reservation online ahead of time. Service was prompt and attentive.
- Bamyan ($10) - amazing mocktail. Loved the mango melona popsicle. Really tasted like a mango lassi.
- Pakawra ($19) - loved how crispy this was. Chutney was so refreshing and flavourful.
- Oyster mushroom kebab ($23) - wow so flavourful for a gluten free dish. Mushrooms were amazing on its own with a beautiful char.
- Lamb shoulder ($46) - delicious and fell off the bone. I personally loved the eggplant and pickled cabbage. The pickled eggplant and cauliflower was a little too sour for my taste.
- Uzbeki palaw ($26) - it was just okay. Felt like we needed a carb with the lamb shoulder and this was recommended to us. Lamb felt overcooked and the rice wasn't as flavourful as I expected. Would get the challow or naan next time.
- Milk pudding ($9) - loved the texture and cardamom spice in this. Very shareable as it's quite filling.

One of my fave places to go! A perfect place to go in big groups as the food is meant to be shared (+ who doesn't love being able to try more dishes?) As good as the food is, I must also give kudos for their drinks. They have a really unique list of drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Additionally, they switch up the menu every so often so there's a good chance you'll be trying new things.

The service is so good. Everyone is so nice and hospitable. The staff are warm and welcoming and they really know their stuff! When I come here in big groups, I often look to the staff for portion recommendations and pairings.

The ambiance of the place is amazing. The place has a lot of windows so the natural light influences the vibe of the place. In the winter time, it's a bit darker and more intimate. In the summer, sunshine comes through and it's light and bright (a more airy sense of space).

Highly recommend a reservation in advance (as much as possible) as this place is ALWAYS busy. It'll be hard to get a walk in for dinner time. I've never gone without a reservation.

Decided to sit out on the patio for brunch. It was a good option since the patio is shaded and it wasn't too hot outside. Although the traffic can be quite loud since it faces main street.

I ordered the mango matcha. At $10 it was definitely a treat, but I had been craving a good matcha for a long time. I will say the size of the drink was quite large and there were a decent amount of mango chunks. I think for a drink like this, I would have preferred a mix of mango puree and chunks. It was hard to drink with the straw since it was a paper straw and it became limp before I could finish the drink. Understandable they're trying to be eco friendly. I ended up just drinking the rest without a straw.

As for the food, I had the kebab and egg skillet. The portion was quite large. It had large chunks of beef, plenty of potatoes, two poached eggs and bread. Flavours were on point. The beef was a tad dry but with the spiced yogurt it was good. Service was attentive and friendly. Overall it was a solid brunch meal.

Zarak provides fusion Afghan cuisines. They had separate lunch and dinner menu but we specifically came to try their weekend brunch menu. Amazing service (the owner greeted each table and check in periodically despite how busy the place was) with great warm and airy ambiance. Brunch was overall tasty and I would come back to try more dishes.

Full Afghan ($29) plus chutney ($3) 7.5/10
Zarak's take on full english breakfast menu with lamb sausage, fried eggs, kidney bean curry, eggplant, and potato bread. Honestly I'm not a fan of sausage in general, so the lamb sausage was a bit lacklustre and gamey for me. The bean curry and eggplant were the highlight, especially eaten with the potato bread and chutney.

Kebab & Eggs Skillet ($25) 7.5/10
Juicy beef with medium poached eggs. Potato was nicely crispy and the spiced yoghurt was strangely addicting. They also gave you two flatbreads, which we barely touched because how big the portions were.

Karak Chai ($6) & Iced Latte ($6)
One thing I need to highlight about Zarak is that they have a variety of unique seasonal drinks. We got pretty basic coffee and chai (though the biscuit was quite tasty) but nowadays they have anything from strawberry matcha to pistachio latte.

Busy brunch place and great location! I little crowded on a weekend and seats are tight but really cool menu for brunch's I had the fruit concoction with rum I think and it was strong! lol I loved the fruit loops. The chicken waffles was delicious! My son had eggs benny with pulled pork and it looked delicious. The staff was attentive and service quick. We'll be back!

We FEASTED @zarakvancouver!

Their menu isn't massive; however, everything they have is excellent! We started off with their buttermilk fried chicken which was exquisite! The blends of different spices and love how juicy they were. The spring rolls were a great with a crispy shell filled with minced beef and cabbage. Their mantu dumplings were soooo good that we could have ordered more...

Butter cauliflower curry, chicken thigh kebab, seven spice half roast chicken, lamb shoulder, volcano, and Uzbeki palaw... we didn't leave any room at all for dessert.

You can't go wrong with any of their dishes so make sure you go with a group of family or friends to sample them all!


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Food is amazing but for some reason we both had stomach issues... not sure but we really enjoyed it while eating it. I will definitely give it another try during brunch time because even the atmosphere is divine.
Value 3/5
Atmosphere 5/5
Service 4/5
Quality 4/5
16/20

Afghan Brunch

Afghan cuisine is a mix of Persian, Central Asian and Indian cuisines and Zarak infuses the typical brunch menu with a punch of spices. The vibe was very upbeat and comfortable which made it a great place to enjoy conversations over a Turkish coffee plated on the most beautiful grand tray with a side of Turkish delight sweet goodness.

This is one of the must stop restaurants when I have family or friends in town and one of the places happy to be on repeat. We started with A Camel Named Gerald and Dr Damji's Negroni cocktails as celebrating milestone birthdays. I am not a Negroni fan but my friend is and the presentation of the Negroni was great with the infused smoke. My cocktail had my favs mezcal, tequila, rosewater and hazelnut in a delicious concoction, tad on the sweeter side but based on the ingredients, my endless love for mezcal was worth a $20 cocktail. We started with the beets & burrata salad which was pretty good, nice start to our early dinner before our musical at the Stanley. Then we had coconut fish dumplings in a tumeric base which were very good and my favorite of the evening but we never got a clear response from our waitress on what was the white fish as she said she would check and let us know and never did, as she thought it was cod but another waiter that brought our next course said it was halibut. Unfortunately our last course was a disappointment as our waitress recommended the lamb shoulder but it was our least favorite of the evening and wish I had ordered the leg of lamb again as I described how it falls off the bone but the lamb shoulder was overcooked and tougher to enjoy. Would be keen to try them for happy hour as hoping it is better for value while they still have it during the week as their prices have gone up substantially.

We dined at Zara'k last night while visiting Vancouver. what a great experience, love the dishes, full of flavors and presented very well . This is neighborhood gem

Excellent service , very friendly and they explained the dishes ( for first timers like us) Jerri took good care of us, warm smiles and very knowledgeable of the menu and dishes

Must try in Mount Pleasant