Trying Ethiopian for the First Time at Etete (Washington DC)

One of the reasons I really like living in DC is the food. Maybe it’s not the culinary capital of the world, but there are so many options and it’s generally pretty high quality (let’s not talk about price…or the ridiculously high food tax in DC).

[Yes, I know these pictures may appear upside down. If I fix them for mobile, they don’t work in Google Chrome. If I fix them for Google Chrome, they don’t seem to be working in mobile. It’s a problem I don’t have time to tackle right now, but I swear I DO care!]

In addition to just being good food, there are all types of food. I’m not typically adventurous, per se, when it comes to my meals. I like what I like and know what I like.

But sometimes branching out and trying something new is good. And I had never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, ever. So when a Groupon of mine was refunded, I decided to get a new Groupon for one of the well-known Ethiopian places in DC, called Etete.

I really like the idea of Ethiopian food. Using lots of bread and eating it by hand? Sounds good to me.

We started with an Ethiopian beer, of course, since I love trying beer from around the world.

It was good, but not something I’d probably order again. It looked unflitered, and definitely had scents of honey and was very malty. We also ordered samusas that we ate so fast that I didn’t even get a picture. They were really tasty!

And then the main course–as anyone who has had Ethiopian before knows, the food is served on a single platter with injera at the bottom–and more injera on the side. Injera is a spongy flatbread made of teff flour, and is served with all Ethiopian food.

So before we start with the meat and vegetables–all delicious–let’s talk about injera.

I ate one roll of injera, but then I stopped. It has a distinct flavor a bit like sourdough, and the weirdest texture I’ve ever experienced. It is sort of like gak (yea…remember that stuff?) plus angel food cake rolled into one. I couldn’t deal. I wanted to like it, but I couldn’t keep putting gak + angel food cake in my mouth, particularly since I don’t really like sourdough bread to begin with.

Now, the meat and veggies were good. In fact the veggie combo–lentils and potatoes and split peas and cabbage were all incredibly delicious with interesting and savory seasoning. I think I liked the veggies almost as much as anything else. But the kitfo–sort of like a beef tartar and served with seasoned cottage cheese–was delicious! As was the fish…grilled, and tasty to just peel off the bone.

I’d go back to an Ethiopian restaurant again, though I feel like not liking injera puts a damper on my like of Ethiopian food in general. Plus, I was the girl that made fun of our friend who asked for silverware…but then was using a fork to eat off the platter because I didn’t really like the injera. Maybe there is a big enough variation in injera between restaurants to give it a shot? The rest of the food and all the spices were really quite tasty, so I’d be willing to give it another go.

Do you like Ethiopian food?