I have never been to Ethiopia. I have only a little experience when it comes to African cuisine. I had had no idea about Ethiopian food until I went to Queen Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant (in Finnish, "Kuninatar Saba") yesterday. A friend of my from yoga class told me about the restaurant the other day and she also said she hadn't had known about Ethiopian food till she went there 🙂 A friend who went there with me said it might come with sour bread from her African food experience in London.
エチオピア料理・・・と言われてもまったくピンと来ないし、アフリカ料理を食べたことも数回しかない（確か新宿にあったアフリカ料理の店に何回か行ったし、モロッコに行ったときはもちろんモロッコ料理をいただいた）。アフリカ料理を数回食べたことがあるからといってその感じがエチオピア料理にも共通なのか・・・まったく不明。でも 昨日はヘルシンキに新しくオープンしたエチオピア料理の店 Queen Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant でエチオピア料理デビュー（笑。ヨガ友のお薦めである。昨日一緒にお店に行った友達とはお店に着くまでに、エチオピア料理はどんなものなのかという話で盛り上がり、彼女がロンドンで食べたアフリカ料理はすっぱいパンと一緒に出てきたからエチオピア料理もそんな感じなのではないかという予想。
I had already decided what to eat before going there. I wanted to try "Ater Kik Alitsa", Split peas cooked with onion, garlic and herbs and seasoned with turmeric! It's vegetarian and herbs and turmeric sound definitely yummy! (Or I should say my kinda' food!) And my friend chose "Doro Wot", The national dish of Ethiopia. Chicken stew with a boiled egg seasoned with Ethiopian spices and berber. One had to try the national dish to experience authentic Ethiopian food! And I was glad that she chose it as I could also taste it from her plate! Why not?! ;-)
お店に行く前からWebのメニューを見てぜひ食べてみたいと思っていたのが"Ater Kik Alitsa", タマネギ、にんにく、ハーブ、そしてターメリックで味付けした干しエンドウ。ベジタリアンだし、ハーブとターメリックというのがいかにもおいしそう。私好みである。そして友達はエチオピアの伝統的な料理という説明がついた "Doro Wot", ゆで卵の入ったチキンシチュー。こちらもハーブたっぷり。2人で全然違うものをオーダーしたからもちろんお互いの料理を少しづずお味見 🙂
As the friend guesses, our foods were served with slightly sour bread. It was really soft and served in rolls. The national dish was spicy but it came with cottage cheese and boiled egg. Chicken was really well cooked and super tender. (the picture on the top)
友達の想像通り、お料理はちょっぴりすっぱいパンと一緒に出てきた。パンはとっても柔らかくてまるでロールケーキみたいな食感、でも甘くなくてちょっぴり酸っぱい。チキンシチューはスパイスが結構効いていてちょっと辛め。でも一緒についてきたコッテージチーズと一緒に食べるとよい感じ。そしてゆで卵も辛さの緩和に。（一番上の写真）
I liked my dish at my first bite. Herbs!!! It tasted great : ) I didn't expect the dish to be that good even though a friend of mine had told me they served good food. Both my veggie dish and friend's Ethiopian national food were really tasty with herbs.
そして私が頼んだ豆料理。一口食べただけで私のお気に入りにランクイン（笑。ハーブが効いててなんともいえないおいしさ。まさかエチオピア料理がこんなにおいしいなんて・・・お店を教えてくれたヨガ友からおいしいとは聞いてたけど、こんなにおいしいとはね！6時前からすでにお店がほぼ満員なのも納得。お店のWebには予約をしたほうがいいと書いてあったし。おいしいだけじゃなくて値段もお手ごろ。この豆料理は9€. この値段でおいしいものが食べられるのはヘルシンキではめずらしい。次回はもっと大勢で行って何種類かの料理をとってシェアしたいな～と思ったりする。
No wonder the restaurant was already quite full before 6pm and it was recommended to make a reservation in their web page. In addition to yummy food, the dishes are inexpensive. My meal was only 9€. You know how much you usually have to pay to get tasty food in Helsinki! This is one of a few places you could get inexpensive but yummy food! At this restaurant, I think it would be much nicer to go with a couple of more friends to order several dishes and share them so that we could enjoy the variety!