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More Ethiopian: Queen of Sheba

12 Fortess Road
NW5 2EU
Kentish Town
020 7284 3947

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 29th

The Victims: Al, Louise

The Damage: £30 each

The Background: No, I didn't eat Ethiopian food two nights in a row. Actually , it was about two weeks apart. See, in the middle there, something happened.

My rent went up. A lot.

But I did a cost/benefit analysis and it makes much more sense for me to stay where I am than to pay to move somewhere else (I have a lot of stuff) and then have to pay for all the incidentals that moving in can cause.

So I decided to cut back on going out to eat. We'll see how long that lasts. But by my estimates, I probably saved £120 over a two week period.

Anyhow, it was back up to Fortess (Not Fortress--thanks ChrisC) Road for dinner with Al & Louise at the Queen of Sheba.

The Entrance: It's small and cute and cozy. It's a bit more upmarket almost than Lalibela across the street. This is more definitely a date place.

The Service: Is smart and friendly and informative. The only downer was the LOOONNNGGG wait for the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I nearly fell asleep at the table. But it was SO worth it. More in a bit.

The Food: More injera. More chicken with hard boiled egg. Those were both winners. The spinach was not so great. It was really bland. Because we ordered one of those "combo" platters instead of ordering dishes individually, I'm not entirely sure what else we had! I am sure there were chickpeas in there somewhere.

That being said, on a comparative basis, I liked the food at Lalibela better.

The Coffee Ceremony: They came to our table with a platter of roasting coffee beans. Like live roasting. They shook them up in front of us, which smelled absolutely fantastic. Then they brought back a pot of coffee about 20 minutes later which was really great. And it was like a bottomless pot. I must have had four cups, sitting there. Which was good, because between the white wine earlier in the day (barbecue in Essex) and the beer with dinner, I was dragging. Oh yes, and there was more frankincense!

The Verdict: Food was better at Lalibela, but the Queen of Sheba has its own appeal. The shaper service and the intimate atmosphere make it a nice choice.

Ethiopian: Lalibela

Lalibela
137 Fortress Road
NW5 2HR
Tel: 020 7284 0600

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, September 16th

The Victims: Gerry, Ben, Matt

The Damage: I want to say that it was about £15 a head. Maybe £20. But no more.

The Background: So you know that the other night, I took the bus to Tufnell park. I liked Fortress Rd so much that I was determined to go back.

Enter Gerry and Ben and their new flat in Holloway. After checking out the digs, we enjoyed a pint at their new local, The Swimmer. Love it.

So the topic of dinner arose. You might know that I have this thing for Ethiopian food. I suppose I like eating with my hands. And on Fortress Rd, what do you know...there's a cool looking Ethiopian spot. (Two, as I would find out a few weekends laster.) I suggest it as our ultimate destination.

The Entrance: Suggestion accepted. We hop the bus down Tufnell Park Rd and there we are. I love it immediately. Seriously oozing in atmosphere. Whoever designed this place was a very interesting person -in a good way. The only miss decor-wise us the strange mannequin on the 2nd floor. I could have lived without that.

The Ordering: Service was sweet but confused. It was almost like it was her first night waiting tables. We very clearly...I think...ordered a vegetarian dish for the vegetarian. We had a long discussion with the server about the size and the type of the dish because we are sensitive to Gerry's veggie needs.

Well, we get lamb. And a long discussion on how we had definitely ordered the lamb, when we are sure we did not.

But that was the only glitch in what was otherwise a lovely meal in lovely surroundings.

Okay...two other glitches...

The spongey lemon-y Ethiopian bread. (Injera.) We ordered too much. And this was on the advice of our server.

The height of the table. It was knee high. This was fun at first but not really.

So About the Food: Loved the traditional chicken dish with the hard boiled egg. So spicy in an edible way. Loved the two salads that we started out with--avocado with tomatoes and chick peas and tomatoes. They were light and summery. Really, the chicken dish was the stand-out. We had a fish dish that was only okay, and I am back to being terrible and totally drawing a blank on what it was. Oh, we had some rice that turned out to be a nice surprise--but I think we may have imbibed a few too many St. George's (Ethiopian beer) by that point to remember.

What Matt Says: Tricky. Ok we had two appetizers. One was seafood, I think prawns. The other I'm blanking on. Our mains were lamb, lentils, chickpeas and a chicken dish. All I remember now was that the chicken and chickpea dishes were quite good. I don't know what they used for flavouring the chicken dish and I wasn't expecting much but we were licking it off the bread and bowl. And we had waaaay too much bread.

Was Jealous Of: The Ethiopian Coffee ceremony that went down at the table by the window. Now that was cool. Although the frankincense thing threw me back to 3rd grade in Catholic school.

The Verdict: I liked it. I really liked the atmosphere. I love that chicken dish with the egg. Love the bread. Love communal dining. Service was a bit off, but not bad. Just spacey.

Gastro: The Junction Tavern

101 Fortess Road
NW5 1AG
Tel: 020 7485 9400

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 15, 2007

The Damage: £40 per person

The Victims: Al & Louise and friends

The Background: Al & Louise are THE BEST. They've got a sitter for the evening for Baby Oscar and they've organized dinner at one of their new locals. I've never been to Tufnell Park, so I am excited! Field trip! And you know what...my local bus goes STRAIGHT there. Which is nice.

The Entrance: I like it. It's pub-y. And large. And friendly. We have about three different people waiting on us and they are just all so nice. Particulalry the French guy. He's a keeper.

The Starters: We start with some bread and olives which are nice. The bread is good. And then I go for the squid and it is really just average. It needs salt. The menu says it's spiced. It's not.  Note, however, that I said the same exact thing about my Katsudon at Sasa Sushi earlier in the day, so maybe it's me that needs salt! But I mentioned the blandness out loud at the table and there were many nods of agreement--not enough salt.

The Mains: Because I am so addicted to Risotto now, I go for the pea and mint and mushroom risotto. And it is nice. Better than nice, but less excellent than the risotto the other night at Osteria dell'Arancia. I am not disappointed. But I am not enthralled either.

The Company: EXCELLENT. We make plans. We form a dinner club. An interesting and different dinner club. So I can get my fix on Ethiopian. And Korean. Yey! I can't wait.

The Verdict: Oh, my friend Sarah will get mad at me for this one. See, even though my food was only OK, I actually quite liked The Junction, so I'd probably go back. It's just a nice and friendly unpretentious place. But I wouldn't use the Loo there...because it's filthy.