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Ethiopian food cravings at The Abyssinian

By Adrian / January 26, 2010

Hey, what’s wrong with eating with your hands? This way, there’s no chance of burning the tongue or roof of your mouth.

For the past three summers, a group of friends and I have been making our way down to the Queen Victoria Night Market every week. What usually occurs is a ritual fast during the day in order to leave room for the loosening up of our belts as we over consume to the point of delirium  as the night progresses.

Despite the wide range of international cuisines on offer, our taste buds seem to always point towards the African stalls. With this in mind, we all vowed to resolve our Ethiopian food cravings at The Abyssinian later that week.

Details: 277 Racecourse Rd Kensington, 3031. Phone: 03 9376 8754 Google Map Website: http://www.theabyssinian.com.au

Surroundings: As soon as we walked in, our eyes were fixated on the dangling wall ornaments and traditional paintings. I appreciated how much effort was put towards the decor so that patrons can soak up the Ethiopian culture.

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Entrées: A friend of mine, nicknamed Eggnog, has an addiction to eggplant. So much so that she had repeated this order more than a few times which led to more than a few welcomed servings. We get the point! Melazany- grilled eggplant cubes came well seasoned and nicely marinated with fresh garlic, olive oil and chives. It was slightly fiery from the chili but fitted perfectly when rolled up with the injera bread which I’d describe as a lighter version of a pancake but had a sourdough aftertaste.

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“When dining at The Abyssinian, don’t expect to use much of the cutlery. Wash your hands, and get bare handed with your meal. In fact, this is probably the most enjoyable part of the whole dining experience. Just tear the soft aromatic injera bread, scoop, roll and succumb to the wonderful delights.”

Being Filipino, eating with your hands is part of the norm. In fact, strangely enough, some of our best dishes seem to taste better when eaten without cutlery.

Also great was the Silsy– a puree of  onion on ghee (clarified vegetable palm oil) and berbere (80% sarrano chili, 20% mix of 25 various spices) and tomato sauce. Despite this being a meatless dish, with the abundance of flavours, it tasted like beef! We were positively confused.

Mains: After the exited bouts of going back and forth on the menu, we finally cut down to three main dishes. All the mains came at once covered by large straw lids served on once large dish which took up most of the table space. Starting from the left, Goat on Kemmam Sauce was slightly on the hard side, but appreciated the tasty combination of lemon, cardamom, cloves and my favourite cinnamon. When growing up, I’d always had goat served in a spiced soupy stew so this was an interesting way of cooking this dish.

From the specials section, better was the Shiro Bozena presented itself as chopped up cubes of marinated lamb cooked on a very hot pan resulting in some crispy bits. I could taste the garlic and chickpea which was grounded into a sauce. This was my favourite dish of the evening as I happily rolled these babies up with some of the house salad and injera bread like a little kid experimenting (not playing!) with his food.

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It was time to try a little tenderness – Dorho Kulwha, not Otis Redding. Although now I have that classic song in my head! This poultry dish is reminiscent to that of a Filipino recipe which my family has been cooking for generations called Chicken Asado. The chicken breast strips were well marinated with Ghee, African spices, tomato puree, turmeric and simmered to perfection. Yea boy!

TIP: Depending on how you like to eat your food, the mains are traditionally all tipped atop the injera bread. Personally, I would have preferred to keep them in their pods in order to keep the dishes separated and to prevent the bread going soggy. You feel me?

Overall, we were impressed, loved the service and enjoyed our experience. Despite the many attempts to have a food fight, it was a good change to our usual types cuisines when dining out on a Friday night and loved using our hands. Prior to this, we had Asian and Italian 4 weeks in a row! Also check out a review by fellow blogger Iron Chef Shellie

It’s 2010 people…time for a change. Looking forward to our next visit. In fact, we’d also just eaten at Kamel – think middle eastern and African infusion- which was also unbere-vable! Review coming soon yo.

Dessert: tummy says no…

Bring a date here? Perfect.

Night out with friends here? Yes, but book pronto.

Service: Courteous and friendly.

$$$: 80 inc drinks. Cheap eats certified!

Food Rehab Verdict: Sent me to food rehab (book this place now! Wowzer) – Greenlight

So um, what other eateries can you suggest where you are encouraged to use your hands rather than cutlery?

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25 thoughts on “Ethiopian food cravings at The Abyssinian”

  5. Wow they’ve really decorated the place! I haven’t eaten food with my hands enough! I need to find a place that does it. Of course I could just do it at home but I think doing it in a restaurant where its part of that country’s culture would add much to the experience 🙂
    .-= Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella´s last blog ..Ruby’s Diner, Waverley =-.

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  6. Ethiopian! this is the first ethiopian food review ive read! i dont think we have an ethiopian restaurant in sydney?!?!.

    That bread looks unique it looks like a rolled out crumpet? with the little holes?? and yea i feel ya when you say soggy bread =|

    Totally nothing wrong eating with fingers.. I cant imagine eating Indian food with fork, knife and spoon.. I always say “eating with fingers is what makes food taste good” (of course with clean hands lol eating with dirty hands would take the taste else where LMAO)
    .-= Leona´s last blog ..Via Volare, Fitzroy =-.

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  8. Wow, looks really good! I was in Washington a few years ago (Georgetown to be exact) and saw an Ethiopian restaurant that I wanted to try, but didn’t have time! This looks very tempting.

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  10. Hey Michele- no wuz. Yes, I’m up for a trip back and it seems Penny is as well! We should def try out their vegetarian dishes.

    Hey Penny- haha- for sure. I’m down. Email/Twit me and we can all go down.

    Hey Agnes- yeah, no soggy bread!

    Hey Belle- Love food that I don’t get to eat that often. Yes, I’m with you on the clean factor but this place passes the test. Very clean.

    Hey Lorraine- I know huh. The atmosphere is amazing and you can’t help but look around till your neck gets sore!

    Hey Leona- LOL. Yeah, there are actually quite a few in Melbourne but haven’t researched Sydney. This place is in the top 5 according to urbanspoon which is why I went. Kamel is also great.

    Yes, they do look like crumpets. Like crumpeted pancakes. Def wash your hands beforehand hehe

    Hey foodwink- I def recommend you check it out. Get ready for a feast.

    Hey Joey- you should come down and try it out when your in Melb next. Great experience.

    Hey Chris- my favourite part was mixing and matching the food together. I’m beginning to be huge fan also.

    Reply

    1. Hey Conor- Eating with your (hygienic) hands is the best. When I first saw it, I didn’t know what to expect, but unlike say, Roti bread, it turned out to be really light.

      Hey Maria- Serious?! You gotta go! Me thinks I should plan a blogger dinner. Would you be in?

      Reply

  13. I’ve eaten quite a bit of Ethiopian and Indian dishes and they always get me for using my left hand to eat! I can’t help it though…I’m left handed. So if the reason for using their right hand is for sanitary reasons…wouldn’t it be best if I used my left hand? -nevertheless, I still get scolded by friends.
    .-= f0nxer´s last blog ..Anniversary Day! =-.

    Reply

    1. Hey f0nxer- LOL- totally understand. Yes, I have a few left handed friends so they would realte. Nonetherless, the food is too good.

      Hey Rahel- Welcome to my blog! I appreciate the time you’ve taken to comment. My dining companions and I loved using our hands refusing to use the cutlery. In my culture, using your hands to eat some meals is quite normal.
      Through research, I understand and appreciate the fact that the mains must be poured over the Injera bread. Either way, the dining experience was highly enjoyable which resulted in my high recommendation. In fact I’m celebrating my birthday there tomorrow (saturday) night so I can talk to you further about your food and culture.
      Thanks again for your feedback. 🙂

      Reply

  14. My name is Rahel and i am the Owner and Chef at The Abyssinian.

    I do appreciate all feedback i can obtain through reading blogs and reviews about our restaurant on the internet and i usually refrain myself to either comment or reply to reviews.
    But one thing i have to say in regards to Injera, our traditional bread.

    In our country, Injera serves as a plate and as tools to eat with your fingers.

    Injera must not be hot when served, and the food must be poured on top of the Injera to be eaten. That will make the Injera underneath soggy which we do understand can be a bit of a nuisance but avoidable by using additional Injera on the side, as traditionally recommended, to use to pick up and eat your food, and by leaving the “plate” Injera untouched.

    We do have forks and spoons available for customers that require them.
    We do suggest, so to experience our traditional way of eating and culture, do give it a go to eat with your fingers.

    We hope to see you all back at The Abyssinian and give you our food and service at the highest standard.

    Best regards to all

    Rahel

    Reply

  15. I just had Ethiopian for lunch today! Looking forward to making the trip to the Abyssinian one day. I love eating with my hands – you get to experience the food in another dimension.
    .-= Ms Baklover´s last blog ..Hao Phong 2 =-.

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