Addis in Cape

Last night Brad, Alex, Ryan and I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant called Addis in Cape. ( http://www.addisincape.co.za )The food was great, things I have never tried before! The best part was the experience and the setting. We sat at a small round table with only enough room for the main plate. Side tables sat between each of us as a place to set down our beverage. Before our meal, the waiter came around and poured water from a silver kettle on our hands so we could wash them before our meal. This reminded me of my mom and dad always washing their hands before every meal! Our appetizer was a huge piece of crispy flat rice bread with a homemade spicy butter on it and two dipping sauces, one out of olives and one out of chickpeas. No utensils were necessary at this restaurant, as you just break off portions of the bread, which is served on a large central plate, and dip into the sauces. It was very, very good. Secondly, our main meals came out which were served, again, on a massive piece of bread which was the unbaked version of our appetizer. It wasn’t really bread, Alex and I thought it kind of resembled gauze and was spongy in texture. Again, no utensils, but rather you would rip off pieces of the rice pancake and dip it or grab the food (which was dumped on top of the pancake). There were prawns in a spicy red sauce, seasoned fish, cabbage, spinach, lamb, lentils, and chicken. An extra serving of pancakes was necessary to scoop up all of the food. It was a pretty strange experience to be scooping up prawns with your fingers and having spicy red sauce dripping down your hands. Afterwards, our plate looked…well, I won’t describe. After dinner, our waiter brought around warm wash cloths to wipe our hands with. We also got to have a delicious dessert of baklava and berries with vanilla ice cream, paired with really great Ethiopian coffee served in tiny little espresso cups. The food was different and delicious, but the dining experience was unlike anything I’d ever done before.