AFRICAN CUISINE MAGAZINE Vol. 1 No. 8 October 2013 | Page 16

African CUISINE All The Goodness of Africa Eating Out RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH Addis Restaurant ETHIOPIANI CUISINE 40-42 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DT Tel: 0208 7278 0679 h?p://www.addisrestaurant.co.uk/ King’s Cross Sta?on, 5 mins walk. Our arrival at Addis Restaurant at midday found it quiet but ready for business. It’s resplendent and authen?c decor set the mood for what was to be expected. It was our ?rst ?me dining Ethiopian but our guest has been a few ?mes. She guided us through the menu, men?oning that we must try the Injera. We promptly leafed through the Menu. She being a Vegan - no dairy and also being vegetarian - no meat, we expected to run out of choices. Alas, the Addis menu had dishes for both Vegans and Vegetarians and our server knowledgably described the speci?c reasosn why they suited both descrip?ons. So, from the Vegan list, we ordered the Yetesom Beyaynetu a mild mixed vegetable sauce made with cabbage, potato, carrots and chickpeas seasoned with our special spices. My carnivorous palate went for the Ye Beg Alicha Fi?it Mild spicy lamb stew mixed with piece of injera. The third member of our party ordered Doro Wot (hot) Chicken cooked with hot pepper and spices sauce. We ordered Mango juice and se?led into the becalmng ambience of this cosy restaurant. Music came through barely visible loudspeakers with the sonorous voices of Ethiopian women wa?ing like bu?er?ies ?u?ng their wings. You felt transported to the ancient lands of the 16 THE BILL Yetesom Beyaynetu Ye Beg Alicha Fi?it Doro Wot (hot) Mango Juice x 3 Bo?led Water x3 TOTAL £8.95 £9.35 £8.95 £3.00 £3.00 £33.25 great emperors of the Ethiopian past. And we all agreed that it was easy to have conversa?on without trying to talk over the music. Good. The food arrived in good ?me. The Injera was served piping hot like an unfolded pancake unto which both Yetesom Beyaynetu and Ye Beg Alicha Fi?it were served from the bowl that bore it from the kitchen. We were encouaged to eat with our hands which we did. Naughty, naughty! The server had omi?ed to arrange how we’d wash our hands before and a?er the meal! Anyway, we soon got started and tucked into the delicious chemistry of ?avours. Not to forget, the Doro Wot (hot) was astounding. For presenta?on, it scored 10/10. For ?avour, 100%. We enjoyed ourselves and would certainly do Ethiopian another ?me. A couple of points to note though, the ?rst being about the washing of hands as said earlier. The second point is that the servers served us tap water inba jug when we ordered water. She did not ask us what we wanted. But small ma?er. On the whole, Addis does a fantas?c job especialy with its Vegan and Vegetarian menu which is something other African restaurants ought to emulate. Magazine Celebrating the Best of Africa’s Food & Drink in the Diaspora