Crossroads

My first taste of Ethiopian food was back in University at a now defunct restaurant on Wellington St. in Ottawa. The gregarious owner explained that the Ethiopian Empire was part of the Silk Road and traded spices, among other things, with India, Europe and so on. This crossroad meant that numerous influences from various cultures informed Ethiopian cuisine. Furthermore, religious traditions meant that the average Ethiopian diet was 1/3 of the time vegetarian hence the prevalence of vegetarian dishes in the cuisine. I also discovered that some Middle Eastern cooking was very mild, as a number of Iranian friends could not handle the lightly spiced (to me) Ethiopian dishes.

That restaurant is long gone although its only other (much more down-market) competitor, Horn of Africa, is still around. Of course, Ottawa has become a lot less homogeneous since then and there are now numerous Ethiopian and African restaurants in the Capital region.

It's been almost 10 years since I last had Ethiopian as it's not one of my favourite food. But I've had it 3 times in as many weeks at Lalibela in Toronto. This restaurant is located in the Bloor and Ossington area on a stretch from Dovercourt to Shaw that is homed to possibly 7 or 8 Ethiopian/African restaurants. People I've talked to also recommend Nazareth (a controversial choice as it seems to be hit/miss), Zagol (now closed), and African Palace. Lalibela seems to be a middle of the road choice. Outside of this area, there is always Ethiopian House on Yonge, and Addis Ababa on Queen St., among others.

The tangy taste of injera bread, caused by fermentation, as well as the mushy mains (wat) can be off-putting for a first-time diner. However, I found the injera at Lalibela to be not quite so sour. This may be a good or bad thing, if you are more of a connoisseur than I am. The wats are tasty, especially the vegetarian ones. I don't like the tibs as much, I find the meat wats contain more of the sauce flavour.

There's another reason why the restaurants on this strip may be a destination, depending on what you'd consider part of a restaurant's charm. I took a friend who had never had Ethiopian before to Lalibela. He's a bit of a horn-dog. So his eyes became bigger and bigger as the night went on as a procession of young, attractive women came to dine here too ... or just strolling past. Easy to explain. This area is becoming trendy, and more and more hipsters frequent or live in the neighbourhood resulting in Comedy Bar, Disgraceland, Concord Cafe, Saving Gigi and, of course, more business for some of the local businesses. Others, such as the Greek coffee shops populated by old men or the Portuguese sports bars, aren't cool enough to have benefited.

As a side note, one of those cute women was the Manic Pixie Dream Girl from my local laundromat, but that's another post.