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Inspired perhaps by the success of Long Street's Kurdish eating house, Mesopotamia, two huge ethnic restaurants have opened over the road.
Addis in Cape is a burgundy-painted, three-storey Ethiopian charmer, whose sister outlet in Dar es Salaam has been in Time magazine. On her first visit here seven years ago, Senait Mekonnen (pictured) decided to introduce South Africans to the unique food and coffee ceremonies of her country. Subtly spiced chicken, lamb and lentil and chickpea stews are ceremoniously arranged on a giant communal pancake and you break off pieces to scoop up the spicy stuff. Back in Ethiopia injera is made with fermented grain and tastes like sour, wet foam rubber, but in Mekonnen's state-of-the-art kitchen the pancake is made from rice flour - fluffy and delicious.
"I think the Ethiopian way of eating works anywhere," she says, "and South Africans all want to sample something new." Especially when you can eat for between R60 and R80/head in cosy, colourful surroundings, at straw tables in the shape of an hour-glass, washing it down with Ethiopia's honey wine at R35/bottle.
Down the road, Gugulethu's Colin Nyoni has opened a restaurant with a marimba band, where the food is unashamedly South African. Nyoni's Kraal covers the spectrum from roti and breyani, through tripe curry, smoked snoek, biltong and boerewors, to samp and mopani worms - and more besides.
Formerly of McRib and The Meat Company in Montecasino, Nyoni is a smart marketer. His shop sells Zulu hats, San bows and arrows and jewellery boxes made from Coca-Cola tops. In his shebeen at the entrance you can order umqombothi (maize beer), amathumbu (chicken innards) and umleqwa (organic chicken slaughtered on the farm). |
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