Addis Ababa Café
Shop 4 /462A Port Road
West Hindmarsh South Australia 5009
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8241 5185
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open Open all day 12 noon till late Monday to Saturday, closed Wednesday, dinner only Sunday from 6.00 pm
entry in Galaxy Guides since our inaugural reviews in 2006 — a favourite with us!
FOOD Walking in to the Addis Ababa Café is to become swathed in the exotic perfume of Yenensh Gbere’s Ethiopian cuisine. It is the smell of spice and ghee and generosity and even on the coldest night it is cosy and warm and the welcome of Zed Gbere, Yenensh’s son is genuine. Zed is a natural restaurateur always in good spirits and always attentive. He’ll frown if you don’t order his favourite Ktifo a scrumptious minced beef dish that can be served raw or cooked (we have cooked) that is crumbly and moist and delicately spiced. On our last and very recent visit he excitedly showed us their acknowledgement in one of Australia’s best food magazines “Delicious”, his pleasure and surprise and pride at such deserved national acknowledgement utterly delightful. This is the type of restaurant where everything is good, but it is impossible not to have favourites. We always have Fosolia, beans and carrots cooked with garlic and ginger and ghee. The vegetables are cooked soft and have a splendid buttery ginger taste. Siga Wett a scrumptious tender beef stew that is spicy and rich with the Berbere spice, onions and garlic. To these dishes we add Yekik Alicha, yellow split peas cooked with turmeric and everything comes served with wonderful Injera, the big thick sour spongy pancakes that are an integral part of the meal and used to spoon up the food.
Vegetarians are welcoming that they now do an excellent $25 vegetarian banquet and also provide tasty vegan options. Here you are invited to wash your hands and the food is eaten with hands in the traditional manner.
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Yenensh brings food to the table under the traditional woven cloche — this is food to share, spicy and generous! |
Addis Ababa Café has had a small bamboo extension added to the frontage and the entire restaurant space is twinkling with massed fairy lights that draw especial attention to a poignant Madonna, painted in modern Ethiopian style by a teenage artist Beza, who the Gbere’s have taken to supporting. The renovations and fairy lights were done to coincide with the return of Yenensh from a trip to her homeland to visit family and friends and she still delights in telling how surprised and happy she was when they led her back into the restaurant and told her to open her eyes. Yenensh Gbere is honoured not just for her terrific food but also for her passion for life and commitment to the things she believes in including her strong Christian faith and her role in helping Ethiopian refugees settle into Adelaide, a community contribution has been officially acknowledged by government. When asked why they didn’t get a license because they could make more money, the simple answer was “I don’t want to sell alcohol, but I don’t mind if my customers bring their own.” Live and let live, now there’s a novel idea!
We love this humble little restaurant for its reliability and generosity and really wonderful food. It is the best African food in Adelaide by a very long way.
WINE — Unlicensed BYO welcome
OWNER/CHEF — Yenensh and Zed Gbere
RESTAURANT MANAGERS — Zed and Melanie Gbere (Yenensh’s son)
