Abyssinia

Hi All,

went to Abynissia (had been meaning to go for about two years) on Saturday night with my fiancee.

It has a nice enough atmosphere (quite cosy) and the waitress who served us was pleasant.

The food however was quite bland, me and my partner both had a selection dish (a combination of different dishes). While these were pallatable, they were in effect just poor stews (being an Irishman i know how to make a stew). The sauces were watery, lacked flavour and were too similar. The nicest thing i had was the vegetarian option i had (just mixed vegetables).

The worst thing was the injera (unleavened/pancake style bread) which comes with everything and is the only accompaniment available. It was okay but became completely overpowering (completely doused in lemon juice) and also lacked texture (was squishy) which didn't compliment the soft, wet main dishes. In fact if the food had been served with rice it would have changed the way the flavours worked together (as the injera was too strongly flavoured)

To serve all your meals with the same accompaniment smacks of either laziness, a lack of ideas or the sheer pomposity of food fascism. If you were vegetarian and you went into a restaurant that only served meat what would you think? Or if you went into a restaurant and they only served chips with everything what would you think?

Basically from this Ethiopian cuisine seems to be very limited (in fact a restaurant just serving this food is not justifiable to me but then again i think that places that just sell burgers are not justifiable but clearly some people like not having a choice.

To be fair it wasn't the worst food i've ever had but i won't be going back.
Comment on this reader review

Mike
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Monday, October 15, 2007

Great little place, and we were warmly welcomed even though we were clearly not Ethiopian.

Both times we've been we've had the set-menu (several mains all served on a big injera 'pancake'), which allows you to taste lots of different things and not break the budget.

Waitress helpfully explained what each portion was and regularly checked that we were OK and didn't need any more injera etc. I get the impression she would have been happy to answer lots of questions about the food if we'd asked.

I can't comment on how authentic it was, but it was very tasty (some of it a bit spicy, but not all of it). Some was vegetarian, some meat (lamb, chicken, egg, can't remember if there was beef or not).

Great coffee served at the end of the meal - nice way to top it off.

Atmosphere depends largely on how many others are in the restaurant at the time.

Food is tasty and varied, so I'd certainly go back.
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Gavin
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, August 26, 2007