Ethiopian cuisine is one that I recommend to friends when they visit Toronto, because many seem to have never heard of, or thought about what those in Ethiopia eat (save the starving jokes!). My first experience with Ethiopian food was a good five to six years ago and while Toronto has quite a few spots, I’ve only tried three to date.
Ethiopian House has been our go to spot (and by that I mean, we dine there once a year) but this time we decided to try out Ethiopiques. My parents came down to celebrate our anniversary and it had been a busy day and the kids were cranky, so I was looking for something low key. We hadn’t eaten Ethiopian since last summer when we had a horrible experience at a spot on College Street so I figured why not? Ethiopiques always intrigued me as it looked so beaten up from the outside. I’ve come to learn that we really shouldn’t judge the faded front facades of restaurants because more often than not, the insides are surprisingly lovely. Four adults and two super cranky kids rolled in around 8 p.m. on a Sunday evening and we were greeted by soft lights, candles and a very flashy bar. Each of the Ethiopian spots I’ve been to has had a flashy bar where all the activity revolves around!
We were quickly seated at a booth by the bar and the hostess brought out menus for us while the gentleman behind the bar brought over a high chair for Baby Boy. Of course Mr. Crankypants wanted nothing to do with that chair, but it was available! The menu was very similar to the other spots we had been to but Ethiopiques has the friendliest service we’ve encountered. They were happy to suggest items but also warned us that we were ordering way too much ( and they were right!).
I love Injera, which is their traditional flat bread (looks like spongy pancakes and tastes like South Indian Dosas). Little Monkey was hesitant to try it but soon dug right in. Ethiopians enjoy communal dining and so I always recommend dining with friends and family you don’t mind sharing a plate with. All the meats and veggies are brought out in a large plate-like dish and you dig right in. This is very similar to some Muslim and Indian cultures where everyone eats off a large tray.
I always order the Tibs and Gored Gored and love the way the Ethiopians cook their veggies. That said, my mom who is a vegetarian, does not enjoy the veggie dishes one bit! I’ve taken her to three spots and she’s yet to utter a word of praise. If you can get a meat lover such as myself eating veggies, I think that’s quite an accomplishment.
Most of the dishes we ordered were on the spicier spectrum and so our server brought over a beef and rice dish for Baby Boy and Little Monkey. They didn’t even charge us for it as they asked me if they could bring something and I told them that five tablespoons would be plenty.
Highlights include the Defin Misir Soup ( a dark lentil based one which Baby Boy enjoyed nibbling from) and there’s no going wrong with the Meat Platter which comes with Minchet Abish (Mild or spicy minced meat beef stew), Lamb Tibs and Key Wot (beef stew). They have some pretty sweet lunch deals so that is one easy way to explore the cuisine if it’s your first time.
During our visit we spotted many dates happening and a couple large family gatherings as well, so service was a bit slow but that worked out well for us because Baby Boy needed to be taken for walks a couple times. Luckily the hubs, my dad and my brother took over the task. I was especially grateful as his nagging, crawling behaviour really irked me and I was about leave the restaurant at one point! He’s getting to that antsy stage which I hope passes in a month’s time, like it did with Little Monkey. We still need to take him out but to low key spots versus the super fancy ones! Ethiopiques will be added to my roster of Ethiopian spots and if you haven’t tried Ethiopian food in Toronto, what are you waiting for?
