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| - I love Ethiopian food, and after having this place bookmarked for months, I finally went to check it out.
Being that I'm still not familiar with the Phoenix area, I actually passed up this place coming from the I-51. Once I doubled back, I saw it sitting in a little strip mall, across the street from the Fry's grocery store, on the SW corner of Thomas and 30th. It was @ 30 minutes past noon and there was a "Closed" sign on the door. Yelp said they open at noon on Sundays, so I pulled on the door. It was open. A nice young lady said that they were open. She apologized and said she simply forgot to turn the sign. (Hence, if you come during scheduled open hours and it says "Closed," double check before driving away.)
If you're not familiar with Ethiopian food, know that even though there are meat dishes, you can always find vegan options.
Appetizers:
VEGGIE SAMBUSSAS -
Think samosas (if you've had East Indian food), but these are filled with lentils instead of potatoes. Ours came out a tad over-cooked, but they were ok. It was served with a spicy red sauce, which didn't compliment the sambussas. I'd like to try them with a sweet & spicy type sauce (similar to tamarind); I might like them better that way.
Entree:
Their entree menu is divided into to options: Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian. Everything under "Vegetarian Dishes" is vegan. I suggest (especially for first timers) the Veggie Combo, which is a sampling of all the veggie items. I don't like mushrooms (which is one of the offerings), so our waitress was kind enough to let me get double Misir Wot instead.
MISIR (aka Misir Wot) - a slightly spicy red lentil dish. (This is my fav!) Theirs was good and flavorful, but I'll ask for extra spicy next time.
TIKIL GOMEN - cabbage and potatoes. It's supposed to have carrots, but they were missing from my dish. The cabbage was well prepared and this dish was very good.
FOSOLIAN - green beans, carrots and onions. This dish is sometimes more tart than I'd prefer, but their tart levels were at a minimum. This dish is decent.
GOMEN - a collard greens dish, which sometimes can also have that tart factor (and I don't know what it is). I cannot quite put my finger on it, but something was a little off with this dish here. It was ok, but not the best gomen I've had.
ATER KIK - Now this is just a personal opinion, but this has to be the grossest thing to ever cross my lips. It was yellow and pretty much resembled what would happen if I ate another bite. My insides are churning just thinking about it. Don't know what it was because my DD enjoyed it, but not I. Ew. Next.
Now this dish was supposed to come with 8 samplings, but I only got 7 (which included my double order of Misir Wot), so I don't know if the remaining item was DEFIN MISIR or MITTEN SHIRO. It was greenish in color, so maybe it was the pea dish (Mitten Shiro)? Not sure, but I wasn't a fan of its taste.
INJERA BREAD - I'm singling out their injera because it's good and doesn't have that weird (tart) after-taste that the injera at some other restaurants have.
There are no vegan desserts.
Non-veggie in my party:
DD got the DORO WOT (chicken in a red berbere sauce), which came with 2 sides. Her peeps on her paternal side serve this dish with a hard boiled egg, which she didn't get with her meal, and she immediately went on a Easter-like hunt for it. Come to find out, you must ask for it if you want it.
Service was good, the waitress was delightfully friendly and helpful. Prices were very reasonable. The food was plenty; I couldn't even eat 1/2 of it. I'd certainly return for more Misir Wot and Tikil Gomen.
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