Adulis

All good things must come to an end, and after six years at the top spot the lovely Adulis Eritrean in Oval has been dethroned. For almost 30 years Adulis has quietly served up tender and well cooked meats, huge kirchat platters, zingy stews, great service, and all the wait staff have great hair. And they were serving tasty vegetarian fare long before it was cool. And we’re loving the slightly kitsch retro design aesthetic.

If Eritrean food is new to you, or even if it isn’t, the best launching point at Adulis is the sampler plate  called ‘Kirchat’ (there’s a vegetarian version as well). It is fundamentally a selection of their best meat and veg dishes served on a platter usually featuring Kifto, which is tender meat cooked in ‘we know its bad for you but we cant help it’ ghee and its to die for. All of the dishes have have a sweet and sour, almost vinegary tinge to them. They gladly pimped our 2 person serving up to 3 as we had a third diner, and the pic is below.  Please don’t let our bad photo below put you off, as Eritrean dishes don’t in reality look like cat food.

The dish above is served on a platter with a base of bread called ‘injera’, which is a leavened pancake made with sourdough (and if you run out you can get more for free). Almost all meals here are served with it and the whole shebang is to be eaten with your good hands (or cutlery for the timid). We also recommend the chicken stew ‘dorho’ with loads of herbs and further recommend the prawns. They also have some fine looking vegan options.

On the drinks front, we usually have the Kenyan beer ‘Tusker’ or a South African white. Having said that, the speciality of the house is their Adulis honey wine. We’ve had this previously and let’s just place it in the category of ‘experimental’. The staff are very friendly and a good chunk of the punters are (tick!) Eritrean themselves. The place also wafts with the aroma of their coffee and popcorn ceremony.

ርሑስ መመገቢ!