Restaurants

The tiled floor and plain pale walls offset by assorted artefacts give little hint of the delights to come at this charming restaurant, where platters lined with injera come piled high with delicious meat or vegetarian selections, elegently served under a tagine-shaped basket. Impeccable food and funky music played a little too loud made for a cheerful evening, even before the restaurant filled up with Ethiopians later in the evening. From a menu that has as much to appeal to vegetarians as meat-eaters, everything was cooked with delicacy; alicha minchet abish (minced beef warmly spiced with ginger, garlic and turmeric and laced with Ethiopian clarified butter) belied drab looks with its irresistibly rich and complex tastes: an exceptional dish. Paired with a selection of subtly and distinctively spiced wot (spelt here as wet) stews one with green chilli-spiked yellow split peas and peppery brown lentils, the other a cabbage and potato wot and accompanied by a zingy tomato salad, it made for a perfectly balanced feast. By the time wed lost the attention of the notably beautiful waitress to the numerous arrivals, we were nicely sated and not much poorer.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008