By Heath Brown

The Mantu’s exterior at night.

Established in 2019, The Mantu is a restaurant in Richmond known for their authentic and traditional Afghan food. In Dari, one of the official languages of Afghanistan, “mantu” means “me and you.” In early April, I went to Mantu for the first time with my parents and grandparents. Around the restaurant, the streets were crowded with people. Considering the restaurant’s location in Carytown, this is not surprising. Especially on warm spring nights, Carytown is bustling with people looking for a place to eat or shop. Mantu’s location is advantageous for customers, because it is within walking distance of shops, the Byrd Theatre, and dessert places. 

The lively atmosphere of Carytown did not influence Mantu’s interior, which was very quiet throughout our meal. The restaurant was small and decorated in black and white. A painting with a rose in its center, The Mantu, hung against the back wall. The tables were arranged in a line through the middle of the restaurant, and a few other groups sat near us. An empty bar was along the far side of the restaurant.

The prominent Mantu painting.

Hearing they were one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, we ordered beef and vegetable aushak (dumplings) to start. They came in sets of three, each the size of a tangerine and filled to the brim with warm and delicious filling. The tomato and yogurt-based sauce paired perfectly with the flavor of the aushak.

Most of the entrees on The Mantu’s menu are a combination of rice, veggies, a choice of meat, and Naan bread, which comes with a savory sour cream and garlic sauce. I ordered the Chicken Chapli Kebab, which came out steaming on an oval flatiron pan that never cooled down, even after I was finished. Three rice options were brought to the table: rice cooked with saffron and topped with cranberry, rice mixed with carrots and raisins, and rice with baby spinach, dill, and garlic, which was my favorite. My parents shared the Chicken Koobideh, which also came out steaming hot, and an Afghan salad. What they liked most about the restaurant was the mixture of textures and flavors in all of the food. By the end of the meal, we had ordered so much food that we were forced to turn down dessert, and I had plenty to bring home and eat the next day. I was excited to find that the leftovers were almost just as good when microwaved.   

One of the restaurant’s famous aushak, or dumplings.

In 2019, The Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote a heartfelt feature article about Hamidullah Noori, the owner of The Mantu, and his story, as he was forced to flee Afghanistan with his family in 2015. After moving to Richmond in 2016, Noori began working at Ellwood Thompson, a small local food market in 2017. When Burger Bach vacated the space across from his store in 2017, Rick Hood, Ellwood Thompson’s co-founder and store owner at the time, was ecstatic to offer the space to Noori, knowing that it was his dream to one day own a restaurant. “He’s a man that’s had tremendous challenges,” but “he has such a joy and a positivity about him,” said Hood. 

Grateful to have evacuated his family from Afghanistan and achieved his dream of opening a restaurant, Noori has dedicated himself to serving others in the Richmond community and Afghanistan. The Times-Dispatch reported that all of Mantu’s employees are former refugees, and during the pandemic he allowed homeless Richmond residents to sleep outside of his restaurant. Money has never been the motivation behind Noori’s hard work. If the restaurant is successful, “I may be able to serve the needy families that are still struggling back home with no food,” he said. 

Childsavors is a non-profit organization in Richmond that provides children’s mental health services to children in need. Recently, my grandparents, Janet Brown and Tom Williamson, attended a Childsavors event that was catered by The Mantu. At this event, Noori spoke about how beneficial a service similar to Childsavors would be for Afghanistan because of the vast number of kids in desperate situations due to the country’s instability. This topic is very personal for Noori. At eight years old, he was forced to work to support his family after his father and uncle were killed by the Taliban.

Chicken Chapli Kebab.

Fort Pickett, a US Army base in Blackstone, Virginia recently renamed as Fort Barfoot, welcomed nearly 10,000 Afghan refugees between August and December 2021, as reported by the Times-Dispatch. Noori prepared and served almost 3,000 meals at Fort Pickett in one day. The Afghan refugees were overjoyed to see their traditional food. 

During our meal, Noori talked to every table to ask if they needed anything and to hear about their dining experience. During this time, my grandparents told him how moved they were by his speech at the Childsavors event. Noori’s message to the table was that no donation or act of generosity was too small for the people struggling in his homeland. Even a dollar could be what keeps someone from going hungry that day.   

All photos by Heath Brown.