Meskerem Ethiopian Food on South Grand 3-23-2022

 This is a place Anna and I have been wanting to try.  So, we talked Laurie and Vickie into going out for lunch with us.  They were up for an adventure.

It was a rainy Wednesday but there were several other diners in this small restaurant and people were constantly coming and going while we were there.  It is a busy place.

It seems to be run by a husband/wife team.  He is the chef and she does all the front of the house stuff.

We knew we wanted to do some sampling, and I had looks at reviews and photos online, so we got the Meskerem and Vegetarian Sampler for 4 people.  

Imagine a very large Pizza Hut Pan Pizza pan (with the sides).  That comes with this very thin, very spongy twangy tasting bread in the bottom.  On top of it all all these plops of what kind of looks like different baby foods in a variety of colors.  You are each given your own huge circle of the spongy bread (folded).  You are to tear off some bread and use it to pick up some of the colored stuff and put it all in your mouth.  

Let me see if I can tell you all the things we tried...In order from 12:00 (if this pan were a clock)...curried chickpea mash, green beans and tomatoes, a different tasting curried lentils, roast beef in a beefy sauce (tasted like Sunday roast), spicy red lentils, cabbage and carrots in a twangy (vinegar) curry, brown/tan chickpeas...kind of spicy, beef that tasted like sloppy joes/bbq, collard greens, in the center was very tender chicken in a spicy kind of Indian food tasting sauce, with a hard boiled egg on top.

Many things reminded me of the spices of Indian food.  After about once around the clock you felt kind of full.  Laurie said, she wished we had forks so we were filling up so much on the bread and could just eat the stuff in the clock.  I agree, but I understand why they do this.  It is just like when Mollie was in Malawi in Africa.  They use the cheapest thing as a filler.  The whole family would maybe have one or two of these things in this clock and they need everyone to fill up on the bread.  I remember that when Mollie was living with her family the Peace Corps provided the family with a chicken once every few weeks.  That was a huge treat, as they don't have meat/chicken that often.  So, I know this clock of items was typical of the kinds of food they'd have in Ethiopia.  It just was not typical of what Ethiopians would eat at one meal!!