Tiny Chairs and Huge Plates at Harambe

Photos courtesy of Harambe. 

Even more amazing than the side-by-side Starbucks on Robson Street is the fact that two Ethiopian restaurants are operating within a block of each other on Commercial Drive. At least I think it’s amazing. I had no idea there was such a demand for Ethiopian food. And good thing too, because my good friend and new roommate had planned to meet up at the Addis Cafe (the one we had both been to before), but when we got there and it was closed we still had a spare and headed down to Harambe just a little bit farther down.

Entering the brightly painted room with arches and windows cut into walls, we were ushered to a section of low tables and chairs by a waitress whose smile exuded warmth and welcome. The section we were in seems to be the traditional Ethiopian area, with heavy furniture intricately carved out of a dark wood and covered in gorgeous tapestries. Hand drums were piled in the corner behind us, waiting for someone who knew how to play them. I would highly recommend sitting there (as opposed to the regular sized, “boring” tables), unless you are a giant in which case it might not be that comfortable.

The service was very slow - rather surprising since there were not that many tables - but the pace served more to transport us to another place than to irritate. Besides, by the time the food arrived we definitely appreciated it.

Ethiopian food is served (as above) on a large plate of Injera bread with various saucy stews (called wats) dabbed on top. The bread is an iron-rich staple of Ethiopia and Eritrea and the wats range from popular doro wat (chicken breast in a Berberie spicy sauce) to yebeg tibs (lamb stew in jalapeno and rosemary sauce with spiced butter). There are also a number of vegetarian options, thanks to the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church specifying up to 200 fasting days per year. We ordered the Chef’s combo platter for 2 ($12 per person) which was a very filling dish consisting of doro wat, yebeg wat (lamb in spicy Berberie sauce and served with Ethiopian cottage cheese), and assorted vegetarian lentil and spinach stews.

To eat it you rip off a piece of bread and wrap the stew in it; there are no utensils. Harambe’s website offers this step-by-step guide to eating Ethiopian:

Traditional Way of Eating Injera:
step 1 Tear a piece of Injera off the side of the large piece laying on your plate.
step 2 Hold the piece of Injera that you tore flat in your hand.
step 3 Put the piece of Injera over your choice of wat (sauce).
step 4 Grab and hold some wat (sauce) with the injera.
step 5 Enjoy the whole scoop or ‘gursha’ (putting food in someone else’s mouth)

We didn’t try ‘gursha’, but we did order some Ethiopian chai tea (shai) which, we learned quickly, is not like regular chai at all. For starters, the water is spiced first and then an herbal tea bag (with very little flavour) is added to it. When the lovely waitress brought it to us on the tray, we were looked at the weedy tea and spicy water and said, “we ordered chai” and she said, “this is chai.” Seeing that we were obviously at some kind of impasse, she added helpfully, “it’s Ethiopian chai.” And so it was. It was interesting, but probably the coffee would have been a better choice, as it occurred to me later that I love Ethiopian Harrar coffee.

I’m so glad that Addis Cafe was closed or we probably would have never ventured down to check out Harambe. Now, of course I want to go back to Harambe, but I also want to try Addis again so I can see what’s unique about each one.

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Harambe

2149 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Mon - Sun, 12 PM - 12 AM

Leggo My Liege Waffle - Cafe Medina is Open for Business

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. What with the French Toast and the Eggs Benny…there is pretty much no bad breakfast food in my book. And if you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to enjoy it, so much the better. Not very surprising then that I’ve had my eye on Cafe Medina since the idea of it was whispered to the Internet. I’m a fan of anything the House of Chambar does, and even without a kitchen I’m happy to report back that Medina is cranking out some heavenly food.

For now (the kitchen will come later), what’s on the menu is waffles and coffee. For $6 you get a snack (or breakfast) sized waffle, with topping and a coffee. Tea can be substituted in and Lattes and other assorted coffee drinks are available for a little bit more. The toppings are where it gets interesting though. Depending on the time of day - or your penchant for sugar - you can have Organic maple syrup, yogurt, fruit, or a mouth-watering choice of flavoured chocolates and compotes.

The first time I was there I had the spiced caramel (above), but when I found myself back in the neighborhood 2 days later, I picked the Blueberry vanilla compote. Both were exquisite in the extreme, but I’m leaning on the blueberry for now. Next time I am going to have to get the Fig orange marmalade.

Like Chambar next door, Medina is lushly decorated in a modern European style. Lots of wood and brick accented by an ocean-y blue resin bar top and a series of blue-themed art on the walls. It effortlessly manages the divide between cool and welcoming.

Both visits have found the place packed - to the point of there being some confusion about whether you should order or find a seat first. To avoid having to eat your waffle standing or squished into the long wooden bar on reworked tin stools, the best process seems to be to go with a friend, get them to find a seat while you order. And of course then you can try 2 different toppings too.

The only thing I would change is that the waffle is served with a fork only. I don’t know if I’m the only one that had trouble with this, but the waffle needs cutting and so a knife would be a nice thought. Next time I will request one when I place my order…either that or just put the whole waffle in my mouth at once.

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Cafe Medina

556 Beatty Street, Vancouver (in Crosstown)

Mon - Fri 7:30 AM - 5 PM, Sat - 9 AM - 5 PM

Downtown Dim Sum at Oji Chinese Cuisine

I’m not sure when I noticed the giant neon lobster in a Robson Street window, but I only passed it a couple of times before I noticed that what used to be a sushi place beside Chapters was now Oji Chinese Cuisine & Dim Sum. And of course it didn’t take long after that to get in there to check it out.

It basically looks exactly the same as it used to, with the high-backed lacquered benches and booths, but now there are Chinese paintings of cherry blossoms and misty mountains instead of whatever was there before. The service is likewise forgettable - random, different, servers dropping off water and menus and then picking them up again without taking our orders, communication that was mostly gutteral, etc, but when the food finally came it was delicious.

Deciding what to eat was a little bit of an equation. After a lot of mulling over the photos on the Dim Sum menu, adding (and then sorrowfully subtracting) various dishes and comparing the final product with the regular lunch menu, we decided on a bowl of noodles each and Har Gow, Sui Mai, and beef balls. Regrettably I don’t have any photos of the food because we ate it all before it occurred to me to pull my camera out.

I had noodles topped with BBQ duck, the beautiful deep red of the meat contrasting beautifully with the off-white rice noodles (in much the same way that the fat of it contrasted with the carbs). The beef balls were full of flavour and dripping oil without being too oil. Instead they just tasted deliciously of spices and onion. Har Gow, a staple, was juicy and succulent and no complaints about the Sui Mai either.

For dessert we somehow made room for egg tarts and then I seriously debated rolling over on one of the benches and having an afternoon nap. The problem with this place will prove to be the proximity to my work. I won’t be able to keep walking by it without stopping in…

UPDATED: I passed by here the other day and noticed they now have a website:

http://www.oji-robson.com/ 

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Oji Chinese Cuisine & Dim Sum

778 Robson Street, Vancouver

Phnom Penh - A Bowl of Love on a Cold Day

A bowl of noodles on a cold day is love. A bowl of noodles with some deep-fried spring rolls on the side (7 mini ones to a plate, perfect for sharing) is a love that can hardly be contained, but I will try. Steering away from more traditional pho, I tried a dish that had a combination of beef balls, squid balls and fish balls in it, along with the requisite noodles and a giant soggy piece of lettuce that gave some colour to the bowl but was deemed inedible by myself and my dining mates. The soup was nearly perfect, with a broth flavored with garlic and green onions, but the floating balls of meat could have been better. Starting off with the beef balls, I was hooked on the solid form of the greasy, meaty flavour that I had already tasted in the broth - they were excellent - but the squid balls were slightly less excellent and by the time I got to the bland fish balls (one of which had a bone in it), I was ready to leave the meat alone and start in on the noodles. That’s my favorite part anyways, so it worked out, but I don’t think I will order it again.

So maybe I should change my title. Maybe rather than a bowl of love… instead a bowl of “like you a lot” or a bowl of “pretty good”. If we are talking terms of endearment, though, then I was crushing hard on my friend’s dried noodles with soup on the side (below). I will definitely be giving that one a try next time.

Having recently moved away from an apartment that was 5 minutes away from Phnom Penh, I wish I had spent more time there. My favorite dishes are the butter beef with a side of gai lan, or if I`m feeling particularly unhealthy, chicken wings. The butter beef is served barely cooked - thin strips of rare beef, tossed with cilantro, soy sauce, garlic and butter. The chicken wings are deep fried heaven - full of grease, of course - but also exceedingly flavorful and just the thing for a hangover. They come with a side of lemon dipping sauce which is so ingenious you wonder why it’s not a city-wide standard.

The restaurant is large-ish, but it does busy on weekends and don’t even try to go on Chinese New Year unless you are prepared to stand around for a while.

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Phnom Penh

244 E. Georgia St, Vancouver

Daily, 10 AM - 10 PM

Nuba: Lebanese Lusciousness

cauliflwers! mmmOriginally uploaded by svacher

Lunching after the Christmas holidays for me requires adding in a couple of tactors to the equation. Namely cheap, healthy and a little more interesting than turkey sandwiches. Nuba, who’s Seymour Street location (down the street from my work) I’ve been meaning to check out for months.

I ordered the Najib’s Special ($8.50) cauliflower tossed with lemon and sea salt and browned in the over, like what’s pictured here, except the meal version also comes with tabbouleh, salad, hummus, organic pita, and a choice of organic brown rice or roasted potatoes. I chose the potatoes (mmmm, potatoes! even after Christmas there’s still no contest there) but the chef accidentally made rice, so I actually got both. Which means that with the Fattoush Salad ($7.50) my friend and I were splitting, we had a huge pile of food on our tiny table.

No matter. The cauliflower, tangy and tart and dipped in organic tahini, melted in my mouth and disappeared effortlessly. Likewise, the chunks of olive-oil drizzled potatoes tasted spectacularly good both on their own and wrapped in a make-shift pita sandwich with some greens and a smear of hummus and tabbouleh. Oh it was so good! All of the flavours balance perfectly and the emphasis on organic ingredients really shines through. By the time I had eaten a couple of bites of palate-cleansing salad (mixed organic greens, roasted pita chips, tomato, cucumber, green onion in a homemade garlic-lemon-herb dressing), I was stuffed to the brim and making contented murmuring noises.

It’s a tiny place and filled up fast but still manages to feel friendly and cozy even with the polished concrete floors and bare walls. And come summertime I’ll be more than happy to pick up a wrap to go and eat in the nearby park.

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Nuba
1206 Seymour Street @ Davie *or*
322 West Hastings Street
Monday - Friday, 11 AM - 8 PM