I was chatting with a colleague who recommended this restaurant in Camperdown, on Parramatta Road. I had never heard of it before and was told it was casual, cheerful and did amazing food. I checked it out online and made a booking for a group of 5.
It is an Ethiopian restaurant and I’d only tried this cuisine once before, in Newcastle and that one is certainly one to live up to. Whilst Ethiopian typically includes meat, Alem’s house is Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten Free. This didn’t bother us at all as we like to vary our diet.
The mainstay is the Injera, a fermented flatbread (similar to a crepe or savoury pancake) which is made with teff (whole grain flour). A great dietary option for not only is it gluten free, it’s also high in protein, iron and magnesium.
You then select a variety of wat or desired fillings. We ordered the banquet, at $30 pp. which is good value, it’s a lot cheaper than ordering smaller dishes when sharing. This is what it came with:
• Berbere spiced red lentils, garlic onion and spiced oil
• Misr Alicha – yellow lentil stew
• Atkilt Walt – beans, carrot, potato, turmeric, garlic and onion
• Shiro – creamy chickpea stew
• Gomen – sautéed spinach and onions with ginger and garlic
• Roasted baby beetroot and potato salad
• Tibs – made with thinly sliced mushrooms, and sizzled with green chilli, fennel seeds and garlic. This was the favourite.
We also got a bowl of delicious Suf FitFit – roasted sunflower and flax seed sauce, tomato, green chilli, onion, lemon with pieces of injera soaked in the sauce. This was super delicious. It was also served with a single tomato stuffed long green chilli, and this was HOT.
Basically the wat was atop the injera, which served as an edible plate. Whilst you can be traditional and eat the food with your right hand, mopping up the toppings with the bread, there are cutlery here. You also get extra injera bread for your meal.
The food here isn’t spicy but you can order some spicy sauces such as mitmita (a smoked chilli powder made with chili peppers, cardamom, cloves and salt) or dileh (a chilli paste made with olive oil and red wine).
We also tried some Ethiopian coffee, which is made with beans roasted in-house, and whilst it is certainly strong, it has a good kick of flavour to it.
The restaurant is casual and has friendly staff. We love the wall mural by Camila Carmody, who painted an image of a colourful lady and native flowers.
We enjoyed our meal here a lot!
132-134 Parramatta Road, Camperdown, NSW
(02) 8957 4328
Hours
Wed-Fri 7 am – 3 pm
Thu 6 pm – 10 pm
Sat 8 am – 3pm, Sat 6 pm – 10 pm
Sun 10 am – 3 pm