I love trying new places. I suppose that all started for me back when I ate Indian food for the first time several years ago. It definitely got my feet wet and made me (slowly) opened to trying food that was outside of my comfort zone. And I think seeing shows like No Reservation, Bizarre Foods and even Man Vs. Food has made me more opened to trying cuisine's I'm unfamiliar with.Granted, I have no intention of eating eyeballs, brains, scrotum's, maggots or anything else that might be on the menu in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But I'm a lot less close minded about those things than I was in my 20's.
A couple days ago Sydney asked me if I wanted to go to Boston for the day with her. She was from that area and went to college there. So, she wanted to show me around some of the places she liked going to when she's out that way.
One of which was Asmara Restaurant in Cambridge. Which serves Ethiopian cuisine.
I've never had Ethiopian food before. I don't know if there are any places that serve Ethiopian food in Worcester. There are a lot of Chinese Restaurants. Several Thai Restaurants. A few Japanese Restaurants. Three Lebanese Restaurants (two of the same places but in different locations). And a few Vietnamese places.
But no Ethiopian restaurants.
Well, I was all up for that. So after a great late breakfast/early lunch sandwich at the Parrish Cafe (and by the way Elephant Walking on Eggs “Sandwich from the Mountain” is amazing!! Especially when you put your side veggies in the sandwich) we walked around Boston for several hours checking out many of her favorite shops and stores.
I had kind of a flashback when we went to the Garage in Cambridge. I haven't been to that shop since 1995. I didn't realize it until I was walking up the ramp. There used to be a great Science-Fiction bookstore that is no long there. But for a moment I felt like I went back in time.
Flash forward to 2010. At around 5pm we finally made our way to Asmara's. It wasn't too crowded when we got there. It was still early and the dinner crowd really didn't start arriving until we left. But Sydney warned me that you eat with your hands there.
They do have seating where you can sit at a table and eat with silverware. But we wanted the traditional experience so we ate at one of the tables as seen in the photo above.
Our server recommended us getting one of the samplers. Which gives us both an opportunity to have a small sample of each of the dishes. Sydney is a vegetarian so I decided to get the Ahimilti Bebaynetu Vegetable Combination which consists of Cabbage, yellow split peas, spinach, chick peas, lentils, and tomtato salad.
Even though I don't hide the fact I enjoy my burgers, chicken and steak (not at the same time, mind you) I was vegetarian for seven years until about 2004 when I fell of the wagon. However, I still happen to enjoy vegetarian food as well. You need to keep an opened mind about things or you can miss out on a lot.
And I'm glad I got this dish because I would have missed out!!
After having a really nice Ethiopian Light Lager, we were served the dinner. And it was excellent!! We both agreed the spinach was our favorite part of the dish. And I loved the bread they served with it. Both on the side and under the food itself.
Much like Indian Beer, the light lager I was served really complimented the spices. Definitely helped put out a little of the fire of the spicier food we were served.
Ironically, the label had a picture of St. George on it. Which was fitting because it certainly helped put out the fire of the spices ;-)
I definitely had some Anthony Bourdain moments while I was eating the food. Although, I'm not trotting the globe traveling from country to country like Mr. Bourdain. I'm just taking a train trip into Boston for the day.
And I didn't leave feeling empty. I don't think we finished it all but I left feeling very satisfied.
Well then!! If you happen to be in the Cambridge area, be sure to check out Asmara Restaurant. You can click on the link below to check out their menu and get driving directions:
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