Often I read long form pieces and the signal/noise ratio is so low it feels like someone was blessed with a short point to get across but burdened with a large word budget.
This is one of those rare exceptions; when I reached the end, I found within myself an unexpected feeling of grief—mildly, for the end of a piece that managed to convey such a rich sense of place, and deeply, for the pain our senseless wars inflict on the innocent.
Yeah, even the first paragraph hooks you, it makes me want to go to the Afghanistan that was part of the hippie trail in the 70's, that faraway exotic unknown place, not the place you can look up on Instagram or YouTube...
Signal to noise ratio should be high for signal (in this context the quality of writing) be better. Saying "signal/noise ratio is so low" you are saying that the content is basically useless.
If you want authenticish Pakhtun restaurant style food in the Bay Area I recommend the following restuarant locations. Please add any other recommendations to the replies:
Peshawari Kababs in Union City
Shalimar on Jones St (the Jones St one in SF has a couple Pakhtun cooks, the other branches have Punjabis)
On a related note, most of the South Asian restaurants on Jones St/Tandoorloin are Hindko-Pakhtun owned (though Pakwan has gone downhill now that they have Central American cooks).
I understand this article is about the restaurant, but its good to be fair. Taliban are hypocrites, but so were the Mujahideen with Ahmad Shah Masood and now his son. They were freedom fighters but they were also thieves who stole emeralds from Afghanistan's mines, smuggled and sold them to Pakistan (same people who fund taliban). They've made millions but afghans haven't seen a lick of it.
Oldest doesn't seem that old, but maybe that is for historical reasons of local politics. 70 years was frequently mentioned but there are several restaurants in London that claim to be operating in the 1700s and the oldest pub in my city claims to be over 800 years old [1]! The mosque it mentions is old and surely people must have had to eat near there at some point.
Often I read long form pieces and the signal/noise ratio is so low it feels like someone was blessed with a short point to get across but burdened with a large word budget.
This is one of those rare exceptions; when I reached the end, I found within myself an unexpected feeling of grief—mildly, for the end of a piece that managed to convey such a rich sense of place, and deeply, for the pain our senseless wars inflict on the innocent.
Yeah, even the first paragraph hooks you, it makes me want to go to the Afghanistan that was part of the hippie trail in the 70's, that faraway exotic unknown place, not the place you can look up on Instagram or YouTube...
Signal to noise ratio should be high for signal (in this context the quality of writing) be better. Saying "signal/noise ratio is so low" you are saying that the content is basically useless.
And that's exactly what they were saying.
This one is shorter but more recent with more photos. Seems it's still going now the taliban are back in power.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220904-the-kabul-restau...
Wow, this was amazing. I like how the main topic was the restaurant, but yet the article told the story of Afganistan in past few decades.
If you want authenticish Pakhtun restaurant style food in the Bay Area I recommend the following restuarant locations. Please add any other recommendations to the replies:
Peshawari Kababs in Union City
Shalimar on Jones St (the Jones St one in SF has a couple Pakhtun cooks, the other branches have Punjabis)
On a related note, most of the South Asian restaurants on Jones St/Tandoorloin are Hindko-Pakhtun owned (though Pakwan has gone downhill now that they have Central American cooks).
Ka Forushi = Hay Market
I understand this article is about the restaurant, but its good to be fair. Taliban are hypocrites, but so were the Mujahideen with Ahmad Shah Masood and now his son. They were freedom fighters but they were also thieves who stole emeralds from Afghanistan's mines, smuggled and sold them to Pakistan (same people who fund taliban). They've made millions but afghans haven't seen a lick of it.
It's all a mess.
Hamid Karzai's brother owns some restaurants in Baltimore. They're pretty good.
And "The Helmand" in Cambridge MA (and other locations):
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/a-taste-of-power/
Apparently Mahmood also owns (or owned) a tex-mex restaurant in Boston.
I didn't know Helmand was owned by the Karzais! I splurged there a bunch when I was in college!
Oldest doesn't seem that old, but maybe that is for historical reasons of local politics. 70 years was frequently mentioned but there are several restaurants in London that claim to be operating in the 1700s and the oldest pub in my city claims to be over 800 years old [1]! The mosque it mentions is old and surely people must have had to eat near there at some point.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Trip_to_Jerusalem