Did I mention they eat Ethiopian food in Ethiopia? I mean, of all the crazy things!
This only struck me as remarkable, I suppose, because the Ethiopian restaurants I’ve been to all have very much the same aesthetic and presentation and menu. So I assumed they were presenting a semifictional version of Ethiopia, the way a certain type of red-lacquer-and-moon-doors Chinese restaurant does of Chinese food.
But there it all was, injera rolled out on platters, dotted with different stews, and men sitting there, eating with their hands, like it was utterly normal. (Which it was, yes. It slowly sunk in…)
The grocery store was even stocked with all the ingredients for these dishes. Berbere, shiro, etc, etc. (Also lots of pasta. And, the one real surprise, loads of different kinds of peanut butter.)
So nice to see such huge bags of red chile…
After the initial surprise wore off a tiny bit, we went on a food walking tour (now officially my favorite-everkind of tour to take, anywhere) with the excellent ADDIS EATS
I can’t recommend this tour enough! Our fantastic guide, Xavier, was up for any question, and the neighborhood we walked around was also an interesting mix of business and residence and income. We went everywhere from a really basic lunch joint to a weekend-splurge restaurant that specialized in raw beef.
In the end, the tour didn’t reveal a wildly different cuisine from what Peter and I knew (not the way, say, just walking down the street in Bangkok did the first time we went there). But it did fill in a lot of detail in the big picture we already had. It also gave me fresh respect for the Ethiopian restaurants I know, and how true to the cuisine they actually are.
Ethiopian coffee–it’s real! (Secret ingredient: rue.) These cafes are all over Addis, complete with frankincense. Note businessman in navy blazer in background–he’d just stopped in for a quick sip.Chat, aka qat, is legal in Ethiopia, and sold all over the place. Alas, no photo of the neat little to-go bundles. In this pic, I like how it’s next door to a liquor store. One-stop mind-altering shopping!Standard lunch place, with our guide and another tour member. Please note water served in old Stoli bottles. And platter of shiro wat on injera. Just like you expect.Fried fish! This is something we wouldn’t have found on our own, and didn’t know about from Ethiopian restaurants already. Note the scoring into bite-size chunks–easy for eating with hands. And that was a great hot-fruity chile sauce.Ethiopia has excellent beers–which I didn’t know. Xavier made sure we tried them all, including a freakish non-alcoholic version of Guinness (not pictured). Ambo, the water in the middle, is some of the best fizzy water I’ve had in the world.At the splurgy raw-beef place, you get served a huge hunk of raw meat, and a knife. How bad-ass is that? These men were happy to show off their bad-ass meal.These guys are in the restaurant, in view of everyone. They’re also sort of hammy, and loved having their picture taken. It’s their job to cut all the fat off the beef, so when it arrives at your table, it’s just a glistening ruby of flesh.We got the pre-cut version for our table. Comes with red chile sauce and mustard, for dipping. (We also got cooked beef cubes, which were easier to compare in flavor to American beef. Guess what–Ethiopian is much better.)Just for context, here’s the in-house butcher in a different restaurant. Right?! (Both Rod and the butcher are watching the football game on TV.)“Special tea”: tea, ginger, lemon and pineapple juices, honey, optional ouzo. Filing with some of the best international drinks ever.
No suff! I didn’t even know about suff! (Just had to look that up now.) Clearly I have not been going to the right Ethiopian restaurants.
Dammit. I will just have to go back. Really, we so barely scratched the surface. Oh! I didn’t even get into the whole fasting-days thing, I don’t think? The hotel we stayed at is famous for having all-veg food every day (as opposed to just Wed and Fri, the fasting days), and its lunch buffet was truly lovely. (Even though all-veg means vegan, really, hence no butter. It was still all good!)
“Suph” is amazing stuff Zora. Great recommendation from Baji. It’s actually served at the restaurants next to the hole in the wall joint, where we eat “shiro” and “mesir” (lentils). The problem, in Addis at least, is that suph is ground sunflower paste served over injera, with fresh tomatoes, onions, etc…. BUT they usually use water when making the sunflower paste.
It’s one of the most refreshing dishes in Ethiopian cuisine and great for a hot day! Also super healthy stuff.
Yessssss! Thx for the pix-n-txt! No suff?
No suff! I didn’t even know about suff! (Just had to look that up now.) Clearly I have not been going to the right Ethiopian restaurants.
Dammit. I will just have to go back. Really, we so barely scratched the surface. Oh! I didn’t even get into the whole fasting-days thing, I don’t think? The hotel we stayed at is famous for having all-veg food every day (as opposed to just Wed and Fri, the fasting days), and its lunch buffet was truly lovely. (Even though all-veg means vegan, really, hence no butter. It was still all good!)
“Suph” is amazing stuff Zora. Great recommendation from Baji. It’s actually served at the restaurants next to the hole in the wall joint, where we eat “shiro” and “mesir” (lentils). The problem, in Addis at least, is that suph is ground sunflower paste served over injera, with fresh tomatoes, onions, etc…. BUT they usually use water when making the sunflower paste.
It’s one of the most refreshing dishes in Ethiopian cuisine and great for a hot day! Also super healthy stuff.
You’ll just have to come back!
Ooh, yes, definitely next time!