Ethiopian food
HB and I went out for Ethiopian food on Saturday. Our trip was prompted by a couple people (one Indian, one Morrocan) about how much they both enjoyed Ethiopian food.
The goofy thing is that the image I have in my head when I hear the word Ethiopia are those starving children where you can see their ribs and their distended bellies and big pitiful eyes. So it IS a bit odd to go to a restaurant from that culture.
We picked out one (of 3 or so) in the Twin Cities that actually had a few reviews – all were very positive. They all mentioned getting a sampler plate so that you could try a little bit of a bunch of stuff.
When we arrived, the decor was light and African/Middle Eastern – it was all very clean and nicely decorated with iron scrollwork and baskets and pottery.
We each started with a cup of vegetarian lentil soup. It had such a good flavor that we knew we were in for a treat when it came to our platter of food.
So they bring out this circular 1.5″ in diameter platter with the food arranged in a circle with a few things in the center. There were 4 kinds of stewed meat – chicken, 2 beef and lamb, 3 kinds of lentils, 1 chickpea and 1 cabbage. We ended up liking the meats the best, but enjoyed the vegetarian ones too.
The funny thing was how we had to eat it. They gave us each a basket of this floppy spongy bread and we were supposed to grab a bit of the dish with our bread and eat with our fingers. I tried to use it like a nacho first, and that was a disaster since the bread was too floppy. HB figured out that if you flip the bread on top of whatever you want to eat and then pinch down to the bottom you can create a mini inverted taco/fajita and flip it over quickly to eat. That ended up working out the best and we each acquired quite the knack for it. They gave us a rolled up steaming towel to wipe our fingers off as we went which was nice.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and we would definitely go back. We had a great time talking while we were there and the food was great and a fun, new experience.
Squirl says:
Tee hee, I wondered if you were going to say you had to eat with that spongy bread. I’ve been to two Ethiopean restaurants and they were both like that. I enjoy them because they have so many vegetarian dishes. Some of the food is a bit spicy for my tummy, but it really tastes good. I’m glad you tried it and enjoyed it.
LadyBug says:
I have the same image associated with the term “Ethiopian.” So when I read the title “Ethiopian Food”, I immediately wanted to make a joke about starvation and Sally Struthers. Heh.
Sounds like you two had a good time. I’m glad you got to experience something new and enjoyed it in the process.
jenski says:
Yum! I’ve always wanted to try the Ethiopian restaurant everyone talks about around here but still haven’t made it. Sounds like it would be well worth the trip!
kulani says:
i really like it