LUX afghan KEBAB Werribee, 3/49 Cherry Street, Werribee. Phone: 8714 6019

We are delighted to see the sort of Afghan food hitherto available in Sunshine and Footscray make its way to Werribee.

Lux is a lovely set-up – the dining room sparkles with welcome, the menu (see below) covers all the bases (including going beyond charcoal-grilled meats), the prices are almost absurdly low.

And the food is grand – so much so the very minor hiccups noted below barely register as any sort of speed bump.

 

 

Barley chicken soup ($7) is just as homely and satisfying as it looks. It is, though, very plain of flavour – if you’re like us, you’ll be reaching for the salt shaker.

 

 

Mantu ($13) are superb.

The delicate dumplings are festooned with two complementary sauces – a mincey/lentil number and one of minty yoghurt.

 

 

It’s taken us several years to fully get with the swing of the Afghan take on stews/curries.

But now we’re fully there, happily appreciating them in their own right.

Lamb qorma ($12) is a doozy – both runny and rich, with plentiful tender meat that falls away from the bones with ease.

CTS knows that all of the above food is pre-prepared, so happily accept some reheating is the order of the day.

However the soup and mantu are barely warm enough, the qorma not so – it is returned to the kitchen for a blast.

 

 

Our qorma arrives without rice, so we have to order that extra – and it’s very good.

 

 

We suspect most Lux customers go for the charcoal meats, as opposed to our wanderings detailed above.

We love those kebabs ‘n’ things, too!

Mixed kebab ($14) is a treat of two skewers of classy chicken and one each of cubed and minced lamb.

 

 

Afghan bread is invariably so flamboyantly large that we applaud the Lux move to offer half-size portions – for $1. Full size goes for $2.

Lux runs a buffet every Thursday for $25 per person – which sounds like a bloody good deal to us.

Going by the clips on the joint’s Facebook page, it’s popular, so booking is advised.