Thursday, June 15, 2006

Ethiopian food

I recently went out for Ethiopian food. I went to a restaurant called Nyala in Little Ethiopia which is on Fairfax just south of Olympic. We ordered a combination veggie plate and combination meat plate. They bring everything out on these large, circular platters. On the bottom is this big, crepe/tortilla-looking thing and they also give you a basket of them. They have a kind of sour taste to them and you rip off pieces of this thing and "pick up" your food with them. There are no utensils, only your hands! The tortilla thing tasted good for a while, but then I thought it was tasting a little too sour for me and I just started eating directly with my fingers. Surprisingly, I liked the veggies better than the meat! That almost never happens! And another surprise is that the corn dish was my least favorite of the veggies. I normally love corn, but I really preferred some cabbage dishes they had.

The meat dishes kind of looked like Indian food. It's similar to Indian food in that there are lots of spices used. It's different though in taste. I think I prefer Indian, but I'm glad at least I've tried Ethiopian.

The atmosphere is nice, open and comfortable. The service was good too. After dinner, we walked up the block to check out the other stores. There are all these crazy bakery shops! Another time I wish I had had my camera because they had this crazy cake that was a big castle that had a dragon wrapping itself around it. It was amazing.

Overall: I'd recommend it to try something new. You might really like it. The prices were reasonable too, so that's always a plus!

Nyala Ethiopian Cuisine
1076 S. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 936-5918

No comments: