Wheels of Addis

It looks like Ethiopian food may be an acquired taste.

As soon as our trip to Africa was finally confirmed, Daisy and I decided to celebrate with a traditional meal at Addis Restaurant on Caledonia Road.

The restaurant itself is pretty cute - scattered with trinkets and painted ochre with Amharic writing scribbled on the walls. We took to our table and glanced at the people around us as they tucked in to their meals and chattered away.

The menu was overwhelming. Meat after meat dish - each one sounding exactly the same as the next. I’m not much of a meat eater but I decided I wouldn’t mind trying the lamb. The trouble was figuring out precisely what the difference would be between a dozen odd lamb dishes, each one described as “lamb cooked with spices”.

We asked our waiter for guidance. Now, I’d love to tell you exactly what it was he recommended, but I honestly can’t remember the name. All I can say is that it consisted of lamb… with onions… and unidentified spices.

We accompanied this fine dish with a vegetarian dish called Fuul Musalah (fava beans mixed with feta and falafal). And all of this was piled onto an injera - a large (and slightly vinegary) pancake which is used as a base to soak up the juices from your meal… but also as a replacement for cutlery.

The end result looked something like this:

I didn’t say it would look appetising!

Daisy bravely tucked in first…

We did away with cutlery and used the injera to pick up our food instead. Our waiter taught us how to use the pancake as a pincer.

I’ll tell you what… it didn’t look too great, but it tasted pretty good. I wasn’t a fan of the lamb, still the fava beans were yummy. The vinegar in the injera was a bit cloying, but I think it would work well with the right stew (next on the list is a fish wot!)

The whole thing was washed down with a very tasty Ethiopian beer. And that’s the one thing I will definitely order more of in future.