Yeshi Buna Ethio African

I really like Ethiopian food, it has weird food bowls, you eat the food with your hands and most of it is super tasty. I mentioned this to Jubi and I was telling her that I really liked the type of food there. We had a look at a few different menus and decided on Yeshi Buna Ethio African because I had to have an early dinner because I had work the next day. Here's to another Jubiventure!

By the way, do you have a worried noise? A noise you make when something is making you feel concerned, worried or uncertain about something? For me, its a very distinct, "urrrrrrr", its actually quite similar to a sound that Siri makes when she has no water in her bowl and wants a refill. I was making this noise when I was trying to find this restaurant.

Its goddamn hard to find because its on the corner of what is mostly a bunch of banks. It doesn't really have a sign for me to locate it. It also is located right across from a really seedy gazebo and dirty, run down public toilet that reeks of stale urine. Does that it make any easier to find?

Its a sugar bowl!

The interior of the restaurant is interesting. It reminds me of my cousin's house, if the living room was converted into a quick restaurant. The posters remind me of 1970s National Geographic pictures. There's a front desk with lots of little teapots on it.

Don't worry if you have dirty hands, there's a hand basin with antibacterial soap to wash your hands before and after the meal. I read somewhere that is an important part of Ethiopian culture to hand wash before and after a meal. I've noticed there's always a very public hand washing basin whenever I've been in an Ethiopian restaurant.

The lighting is terribly yellow

I don't even know why I get this vibe because none of my cousins decorate anything like this.

It reminds me of a cousins living room somehow

Also this is the menu.

I like most of the dishes here to be honest

Even the veggo food sounds interesting

We ended up picking the mixed meat and vegetarian combinjation. I wanted just the meat one while Jubi debated the vegetarian one since she doesn't eat lamb very much. We settled on the combination ust to try a little bit of everything. I really wanted to eat the gomen wat which is a spinach or silver beet stew but we'd have been too full by then to get another dish.

So we what we had, according to the menu, was:

Doro wott, the national dish of a marinated chicken slow cooked in berbere and other spices. This was the direct centre of the dish and had one large chicken drumstick with the bone attached still but with the knob of the joint sliced off. I've had this before and like earlier, I really enjoyed this. The berbere spice mix is a very interesting one, you should google it, it adds amazing aroma and complexity to every dish its in. I want to find a recipe for doro wott one day. The meat was delicious, moist and easily poked off the bone.

Minchet abish, a minced beef stew. The beef in here was very, very finely ground, imagine the thinnest beef mince you've ever encountered, like the kind you get in a very meager spaghetti bolognase sauce. Not that there was beef lacking in this dish, just the texture was similar. 

Gomen be siga, lamb cooked with spinach, onions, green peppers, garlic and ginger. This was spicy, spicy, spicy I was really taken aback by it. I did eat all of mine and Jubi's, since she doesn't like lamb. I highly recommend eating this. The lamb pieces are much smaller than what is normally used in Eastern/Western culture and the meat was cooked to the point of not being to hold its shape, meltingly tender.

Atkilt wot, fresh carrots, potatoes, green peppers, cabbage and onions in a garlic and ginger sauce. I didn't particular mind this, but I didn't care for it either.

Kik alicha, split green peas cooked with green peppers, garlic and ginger. Jubi loved this, she ate all of mine. I think if you like pulses, you will like this dish very much.

Fassolia, green beans and carrots cooked in a spicy sauce also not on the menu. I'm not 100% sure if this was on our dish, although there is a little pile of carrot and beans there, but I didn't notice a particular change to the flavour.

Ye beg alicha, a mild lamb stew that I didn't recall being on the regular mains menu at all. I'm also not sure if this was on our plate, just because when I tasted the two lamb blobs, they tasted the same to me. This was my favourite thing on the plate and I really enjoyed it although I had to keep cooling down my mouth with bits of cucumber.

Missir wott, split red lentils cooked in a berbere, garlic, ginger and mysterious spiced sauce. My second favourite dish on this plate. I can't even describe how good this was. It just was.

Mixed salad, mixed greens with sliced cherry tomatoes, capsicum, red onions and fetta with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette. There was no feta, but I really liked this mixed salad and its zingy dressing, Jubi eats a lot of salad and didn't think this was particularly as good as I was saying. Who do you believe though? The girl who hates salad or the girl who always eats it? Hmmm tough call.

The plate is actually a mirror image, so from upper L-R, minchet abish, kik alicha, gomen be siga, missir wott, atkilt wot, mixed salad and in the centre is the doro wott

What was the stuff under the meats and vegetables you ask? Injera! Its made of a very iron rich teeny tiny grain called teff, the seeds of which are smaller than a 1mm in size! Wikipedia and many other websites on the internet sing its praises as a very good crop, a very valuable staple food and its also gluten free! Lol wiki! The wonders of teff! Read this link! This one too!The texture of injera is soft and slight spongy and is used as almost a secondary serving dish. You use the injera to scoop and pinch bits of food as you eat. The food resting above it soaks into the injera below it and the meal is considered finished when you finish all the injera!

So spongy!

We didn't finish the meal of course haha. We had quite a bit of sauce soaked injera left behind at the end.

Yeshi Buna Ethio African:
Atmosphere: 5, I didn't think this was a restaurant for some reason. It has menus and tables, but I don't know.
Service: 10. Best service I've ever received. The beginning was a bit odd, as we went in a pair and were seated right in front of the kitchen against the wall. The first table was directly in front of the kitchen door, the second still had plates on it and the third was occupied. We were motioned to the second table and then had the table cleaned in front of us. The owner immediately gave us some water and some cups before giving us the menus. He asked us if we had been there before and explained the menu thoroughly, recommending the combination platters to try a little bit of everything. Halfway through the meal, he came back to ask how everything was and we were happily digging away. Towards the last five minutes of the meal, he came back to check up on us again and asked if we needed any more injera. We said no, but he came back anyway and dropped off another two portions. When we were paying he asked again how the meal was and Jubi asked if she could take the remainder of the bread home, which he obliged. I gave him a large tip for the great service and like everyone else who had dined there, he walked us over to the door and asked how we had found the place. I explained that I had used Urbanspoon and that I was a food blogger, and he was enthusiastic about the whole thing and said he would look forward to my post.
Food: 9, I would definitely go back here again. I've recommended it very highly to friends as a interesting experience and food meal. The combination of flavours is very interesting to people who are used to Western/Eastern palates, go somewhere new and try the food here~