Queen of Sheba
A few weekends ago, David and Laura met up with me and Ken at Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian restaurant in Hell’s kitchen. I’ve never had Ethiopian food but I love the idea of eating with your hands, so I was totally down for the restaurant when David suggested it. Ethiopian food is served on a sponge-like sourdough pancake called injera:
The injera serves as the plate and the proteins and vegetables are piled on top of the injera. You get additional injera on the side so you don’t have to break apart the plate when you are first starting to eat:
The meats and vegetables were all delicious – the meats are somewhat spicy and stewed for a long time until the flavors all meld together – it has a similar taste to Indian foods (some of the curries). Here’s our order of chicken going into the middle of the plate:
We ordered way too much food and ended up taking home just as much food as we ate because the service was so slow…by the time our desserts came out, our main course was also coming out (very weird timing issues at the restaurant). Their desserts were good (not great):
The pudding was much better than the baklava, which was a little on the dry side. Ken and I really enjoyed the dinner and definitely want to go back soon – it’s cramped and very dark in the restaurant but such a fun experience to share with friends!
Reader Comments
Had a great time although the leftover cabbage stank up our fridge! Eating with your hands definitely adds something to the experience.
I had my first taste of Ethiopian at this small hole in the wall restaurant in Greenwich Village…I don’t even remember the name of it! The server/owner wasn’t too pleased when my friend asked of a knife so we could split a piece of chicken!
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