Bayaaynatu – A Vegetarian Feast at Ethiopian House

Ethiopian food blossomed on the Toronto scene back in the early '80s, especially with the 1983 opening of the Queen of Sheba (1051 Bloor West, 416-536-4162). All the impoverished, hungry students like me soon grew enamoured of these tasty – and frequently vegetarian – meals, served up on an edible plate of cool, spongy injera, the bread made of fermented teff flour.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to visiting Ethiopian House (4 Irwin Street, just east of Yonge between Bloor and Wellesley, 416-923-5438). Now I've been there, I see why so very many people have told me it's great. My friend Robyn and I ordered their vegetarian bayaaynatu – which seems to translate as "a little bit of everything" – for two. We ate on the cheerfully bustling patio. We stayed and chatted for four hours, with no pressure to hurry along.

Seen in the picture above are (starting from the noon position and moving clockwise, if I've got this right): tikil goman (cabbage, potato and carrot with turmeric), sherro wot (chickpeas with a subtly spiced berbere sauce), yekik alicha (yellow split peas with turmeric), kik wot (split peas with more berbere sauce), misir wot (lentils, also with berbere sauce), misir alicha (split lentil stew), atakelt wot (string beans, carrots and potatoes in a tomato sauce) and goman wot (collard greens). They're ranged around a simple green salad.

To the lower left of the image, you can see a plate of extra injera. You rip a little bit off and fold a mouthful of food into it; no knives, forks or spoons. We were foolhardy and ordered an appetizer called senig karia, a whole crisp jalapeño pepper split and stuffed with finely chopped tomatoes and onion. It was right at the top of my fire-tolerance range. Thank goodness for the beer, a sweet and malty – almost molasses-flavoured – Ethiopian brew called, pleasingly, Meta Beer.

These distinct and distinctive tastes were accentuated occasionally by a heady swirl of frankincense smoke as someone ordered the Ethiopian coffee, which takes half an hour to prepare: a delightfully sensual combination of impressions. By the end of the meal, between the pleasure of the mingled tastes and the rows of painted angels that embellish the patio walls, I was thinking that Ethiopian House is one version of Food Heaven. All in, we paid about $25 each.