Have you ever wanted to eat your dinner with your hands? Well in some cultures, this is the norm. This week, Petchi and I ventured to an Ethiopian restaurant called Queen Sheba. Petchi has been to Ethiopian places before, but this was a first for me. :)
Queen Sheba is a quiet hole in the wall type place with a hookah bar joined to it next door. If you don't like hookah, don't worry since the restaurant is separated from the smoking lounge. We went around 7PM and were seated immediately. I looked around at the tables and wondered, where was the silverware? Apparently, you don't need them here! We get to eat with our hands tonight.
Our waitress came quickly and took our drink and food order. I was a bit timid so I ordered the Doro Tibs which consists of cubes of boneless chicken cooked with garlic, onions, and fresh tomatoes, finished with axaze sauce. It was served with imjera. If you are wondering what axaze or awaze sauce is, it a sauce made with berbere, oil, and water or an Ethiopian honey wine called Tej. It's a bit spicy and tangy. Imjera is a flat sourdough bread. It is kinda spongy and your meal is served on it as well as rolled up on the side. When my plate came out, I couldn't believe how big this portion was. There wasn't a lot of meat or salad but the bread was spilling over the plate!
You may ask how do you eat this without silverware. Well, you are supposed to use the bread to pick up whatever is on your place. I used this method: tear off a piece of bread, pick up a piece of chicken with it, and then take a bite. I could tell already this was going to be fun.
The chicken was cooked nicely, but now that I am familiar with the flavor of Ethiopian food, I think I would prefer to have had something more intense. This dish was pretty bland and didn't have a lot of spicy heat to it, but it could be good for a beginner.
Petchi was a more experienced eater so he ordered the Queen Sheba Combo so he could get multiple dishes together. It came with a ye-beg key wott, doro wott, and veggies. Ye-beg key wot was small chunks of lamb slow cooked in a spicy butter. It was thick like a Indian curry dish. The doro wott was cooked in the same sauce, but it came with a chicken drumstick and a hard boiled egg. The veggies included two types of lentils, gomen or collard greens, cabbage, and green beans.
Petchi's dish was definitely more interesting than mine. His "wots" had a lot of flavor and berbere. The flavoring reminds me of Indian food, but it has more tangy flavors and less curry taste. These definitely paired well with the sourdough bread. The veggies were pretty plain compared to the meats, but they still had a distinct flavor to them that I'm not sure how exactly to describe other than savory.
For my first experience with Ethiopian food, I'm pretty happy. The service was good and we got our food quickly. I had a lot of fun eating with my hands, but if you aren't as adventurous, you could always ask for some silverware!
Overall, How Nuts Are We about Queen Sheba?
Food: 4 coconuts. There is a lot of variety in dishes but they all seem to have very similar flavors but I am ok with that since I liked it! The portions are also pretty large.
Service: 4 coconuts. There weren't too many people in the restaurant but our waitress was serving all the tables and we never needed to ask for anything.
Repeatability: 3.5 coconuts. The menu is has options but the flavors are similar and if you aren't into the eating style, this may not be for you.
Food: 4 coconuts. There is a lot of variety in dishes but they all seem to have very similar flavors but I am ok with that since I liked it! The portions are also pretty large.
Service: 4 coconuts. There weren't too many people in the restaurant but our waitress was serving all the tables and we never needed to ask for anything.
Repeatability: 3.5 coconuts. The menu is has options but the flavors are similar and if you aren't into the eating style, this may not be for you.
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