HABESHA
I
had a few hours to spare in Nairobi on a stopover flight, and really wanted to
taste some authentic Kenyan food. From the weak internet I had on my phone, I
tried to research some decent restaurants. Unfortunately most of the
recommended places in the area served European or Asian food, so the closest
thing I could find was an Ethiopian restaurant. The taxi took us there through
the gates of a strange little compound that had a barber shop, travel agency, a
set of swings, and Habesha. The restaurant itself also has a strange layout,
with various outdoor spaces and canopies that each have a different set of
furniture. We chose a table shaded by leafs overhead, as this was the perfect
place to relax in the heat. The staff wasn’t too friendly or helpful when we
asked for suggestions, so we decided to go for injera with wat and tsebhi
because my friend had tried that before. Injera is a spongy flatbread, made
from either teff or rice flour. It is served with a selection of stews, which
you eat with your hands by grabbing it with a piece of rolled flatbread. The service was
incredibly quick, probably because the casseroles had already been cooking for
hours and just needed to be scooped onto the plate. The various types of meat and
vegetable stew were really tasty, and had an unusual texture due to its long
cooking time. It wasn’t really possible to distinguish any pieces of meat,
apart from the chicken carcass placed in the middle of the sharing plate. I wasn’t such a big fan of the injera bread
though, as I thought it tasted too yeasty. I would have preferred using
cutlery, but that would kind of ruin the whole authentic dining experience.
Next to the meal we had Tusker, a refreshing Kenyan pale lager, and Coca Cola, as
the city was plastered with coke ads, so it was impossible not to crave it. At the end of the meal bitter coffee was
served in the traditional way, without milk, but with plenty of sugar and with
some popcorn on the side. A very interesting
and tasty break in Nairobi.
Kirichwa Road, Nairobi
