After posting about the Jamaican restaurant last week a friend suggest we should try an Ethiopian restaurant so I found out about one located in Hawalli called Al-Habesha. The place is located behind Bin Khaldoun street and right next to a bunch of other Ethiopian shops.
We walked into the restaurant and were greeted by a friendly lady who told us we could sit anywhere we wanted. There were a few tables occupied by other diners and the place filled up even more when we were leaving later on. They had Ethiopian TV playing music on the television and the place was decorated with bright red, yellow and green stripes. They didn’t have a menu but my friend from previous experience abroad kinda knew what we should get. The waitress asked us if wanted rice or Injera (their flatbread) and we said we wanted flatbread. She then asked us if we wanted vegetarian, meat or chicken. We went for one vegetarian and one meat. For the meat she recommended the tibs which she said we would like so we went for it.
The food arrived awhile later and it looked really good. The food was served on a large tray which was covered completely with their flatbread. The food was then placed on top of the bread in various spots. At one end of the tray was the meat dish which came in a small bowl with hot coals underneath to keep it warm. The reason I wanted to try Ethiopian food was because the flatbread is basically the plate and you eat your way through it which is an interesting idea. I also liked the fact that the dish is meant to be shared. Looking around the restaurant it was groups of two sitting and sharing a dish and I loved that.
Our dish was fantastic and unexpectedly good. The taste of the various stews (called wats) kinda reminded me of Indian food while the meat although not very tender was full of flavor. When we were done with our dishes we ordered Ethiopian tea which is regular tea mixed with cinnamon and a bunch of other spices. Finally we asked for the bill which turned out to be just KD5.5 for the meat and vegetarian dish plus two bottles of water and two cups of tea. I really loved the experience and would recommend the place but again, this is a hole in the wall joint so don’t expect much in terms of appearance. Finding Al-Habesha is easy, if you’re on Bin Khaldoun street in Hawalli, keep McDonalds on your left and drive straight until you see Subway on your left. The restaurant is located on the street behind Subway and Zawya Complex.
19 replies on “Review: Al-Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant”
There’s one behind Avenues caleld Al Habash I think, is it the same owners or completely unrelated
Looks Wow!!!!!! gonna try soon!
Totally looks like indian Thali( The Authentic one, not the ones you get here)..Hmm M definetly givin it a try soon.
india, some stuff in mid east(biryani), ethiopia, somalia, zanzabar these countries have some food in similar mostly influenced by india man. man india influenced even carribean countries, South Africa’s national dish is indian influenced called bunny show it’s curry in like a square bread kinda like the molten cake etc. thanks for giving kuwait your spices from so long ago man 😀 used in biryani, machboos n everything 😀
I have been looking for this place, thanks!
Wonder if they have coffee ceremony
@dougmacho
What is that?
I’ve heard of Oriental tea ceremony.
Mark – thanks for the report…
You compared the food to Indian. Is it a crazy spicy or more a southern Indian delicate spiciness?
Thanks
as far as i know southern indian is spicier than northern indian food
You tend to find that the spicier are from the north / central – Madras / Punjabi / Tandoori / Maharashtra etc while the southern have more a reliance on coconut or complimentary light spices… e.g. Kurma / Goa / Karnataka, though Vindaloo is an exception.
Patrick Jones, Madras is in the South and not Central/North.
Southern cuisine from Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala can get real spicy.
and aside from the north east which has the spiciest chili in the world the bhut jolokia, south indian food is waaaaay spicier than central. Punjabi and tandoori are no way spicier than madraas and kerala. Kerala uses coconut, but if you’ve never eaten in a toddy shop, you haven’t tasted spice. that being said, sri lanka kicks india’s ass in terms of spice!
this is great, most of my family cousins etc have ethiopian maids, they are friends and now we can take them here, they would love it. this is really great
It kind of looks as if it has already been eaten.
What is surprising is the fact that the closer you live to the Equator the hotter the food gets. Sri Lankan food flanked next by Thai are the hottest in the world .. Kind of like the same principle as noise canceling headphones.
You play the same sound you are getting to reach a place of calmness !
Guess it works for the people who live near the equator anyway !
mark, how do you have so many things on your plate. I went there today and asked for chicken and they gave me only that bread and 1 bowl of chicken. where the hell is my other stuff all that green and brown and red yellow things…… (was too shy to ask them)
so please can you specify the name of the dishes you ordered. will go there with my wife again and this time i want to be prepared.
My dish didn’t have chicken, it was a vegetarian dish. I think the vegetarian dish was called skalatips while the meat dish (the bowl) was called bayanet. That’s how they are pronounced at least and we used hand gestures to describe what we wanted since there was no menu. Next time show her the pictures from here.
This is my kind of place! Added to bucket list.
So old, very old, dude I tasted that like four years ago, you can order plate while ur at gahwa above them.
one of my friends is interested in Ethiopian, he even traveled there which i suggest you travel and see Ethiopia
Did I say it’s a new place?