Ethiopian Diamond
6120 N Broadway St
Chicago

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

The Victims: Many

The Damage: $25

The Background: Ethiopian Diamond is one of those places I’ve been dying to try since moving back to Chicago. I’ve always loved Ethiopian food and I was looking forward–if you can believe it–to heading so far north for a change.

Now if only it weren’t so freaking cold. Like really cold. Like take-a-taxi-cold because I couldn’t deal with walking to the bus stop and waiting for the bus to get me to the El.

Sambusas

The great thing about Ethiopian food is that there aren’t that many pictures because a lot of it is served together. (Sorry…have been doing this too long.) To start, we had sambusas, which are like samosas but different. (The shells seem crispier somehow.) Two different types: minced meat and spinach. I think I preferred the spinach, but neither, unfortunately, were very good. I mean, they were good in a “I’m hungry so give me something to eat as soon as possible” kind of way, but they weren’t much better than that.

This was followed by a bit of a lackluster salad. I appreciated the beets though.

Ethiopian Diamond Entree Plate

This probably isn’t the most flattering picture I’ve taken of food now, is it? That’s the beef upfront (good, but not memorable, cooked in the mysteriously named “Diamond Sauce”) and that’s the lamb at 10 pm. The lamb was GREAT. Spicy with a deep, rich flavor. I gladly polished this off. Less satisfying dishes included the chicken–which was just so very bland–and the equally bland cabbage and carrots. The lentils were good but served in such a tiny portion there wasn’t enough to come to a conclusion and I was left fighting my fellow diners for my fair share. On the second platter we shared (not pictured), there were some collard greens in a “mild sauce” that were quite nice and, well, mild, but again not enough to go around. Strange given that we received so much meat! But maybe I was just hungry. It’s also possible that I was talking too much and my tablemates got to the food before I did.

Ethiopian Diamond Dessert, My Happiness

Last up was dessert…pastry shells stuffed with dried red and white raisins, pistachios, split almonds, shredded coconut and cardamom powder. Although I am a sucker for cardamon, the problem here was the pastry. Have you ever had those crunchy noodles in Chinese restaurants? That’s what this tasted of. I was confused. This was not a Chinese restaurant but an Ethiopian one…

The Verdict: I wanted to love Ethiopian Diamond. But I didn’t. Strangely, I feel like it still deserves a second chance. I’d get the lamb again. And more lentils. And more vegetables. Oh, I’d also make sure to sit close to a space heater because the night we were there, it was FREEZING. (I believe this was a temporary glitch. But still. Freezing! Who wants to eat with their coat on?)

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Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 29th

The Victims: Al, Louise

The Damage: £30 each

The Background: No, I didn't eat Ethiopian food two nights in a row. Actually , it was about two weeks apart. See, in the middle there, something happened.

My rent went up. A lot.

But I did a cost/benefit analysis and it makes much more sense for me to stay where I am than to pay to move somewhere else (I have a lot of stuff) and then have to pay for all the incidentals that moving in can cause.

So I decided to cut back on going out to eat. We'll see how long that lasts. But by my estimates, I probably saved £120 over a two week period.

Anyhow, it was back up to Fortess (Not Fortress–thanks ChrisC) Road for dinner with Al & Louise at the Queen of Sheba.

The Entrance: It's small and cute and cozy. It's a bit more upmarket almost than Lalibela across the street. This is more definitely a date place.

The Service: Is smart and friendly and informative. The only downer was the LOOONNNGGG wait for the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I nearly fell asleep at the table. But it was SO worth it. More in a bit.

The Food: More injera. More chicken with hard boiled egg. Those were both winners. The spinach was not so great. It was really bland. Because we ordered one of those "combo" platters instead of ordering dishes individually, I'm not entirely sure what else we had! I am sure there were chickpeas in there somewhere.

That being said, on a comparative basis, I liked the food at Lalibela better.

The Coffee Ceremony: They came to our table with a platter of roasting coffee beans. Like live roasting. They shook them up in front of us, which smelled absolutely fantastic. Then they brought back a pot of coffee about 20 minutes later which was really great. And it was like a bottomless pot. I must have had four cups, sitting there. Which was good, because between the white wine earlier in the day (barbecue in Essex) and the beer with dinner, I was dragging. Oh yes, and there was more frankincense!

The Verdict: Food was better at Lalibela, but the Queen of Sheba has its own appeal. The shaper service and the intimate atmosphere make it a nice choice.

The post More Ethiopian: Queen of Sheba first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, September 29th

The Victims: Al, Louise

The Damage: £30 each

The Background: No, I didn't eat Ethiopian food two nights in a row. Actually , it was about two weeks apart. See, in the middle there, something happened.

My rent went up. A lot.

But I did a cost/benefit analysis and it makes much more sense for me to stay where I am than to pay to move somewhere else (I have a lot of stuff) and then have to pay for all the incidentals that moving in can cause.

So I decided to cut back on going out to eat. We'll see how long that lasts. But by my estimates, I probably saved £120 over a two week period.

Anyhow, it was back up to Fortess (Not Fortress–thanks ChrisC) Road for dinner with Al & Louise at the Queen of Sheba.

The Entrance: It's small and cute and cozy. It's a bit more upmarket almost than Lalibela across the street. This is more definitely a date place.

The Service: Is smart and friendly and informative. The only downer was the LOOONNNGGG wait for the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I nearly fell asleep at the table. But it was SO worth it. More in a bit.

The Food: More injera. More chicken with hard boiled egg. Those were both winners. The spinach was not so great. It was really bland. Because we ordered one of those "combo" platters instead of ordering dishes individually, I'm not entirely sure what else we had! I am sure there were chickpeas in there somewhere.

That being said, on a comparative basis, I liked the food at Lalibela better.

The Coffee Ceremony: They came to our table with a platter of roasting coffee beans. Like live roasting. They shook them up in front of us, which smelled absolutely fantastic. Then they brought back a pot of coffee about 20 minutes later which was really great. And it was like a bottomless pot. I must have had four cups, sitting there. Which was good, because between the white wine earlier in the day (barbecue in Essex) and the beer with dinner, I was dragging. Oh yes, and there was more frankincense!

The Verdict: Food was better at Lalibela, but the Queen of Sheba has its own appeal. The shaper service and the intimate atmosphere make it a nice choice.

The post More Ethiopian: Queen of Sheba first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, September 16th

The Victims: Gerry, Ben, Matt

The Damage: I want to say that it was about £15 a head. Maybe £20. But no more.

The Background: So you know that the other night, I took the bus to Tufnell park. I liked Fortress Rd so much that I was determined to go back.

Enter Gerry and Ben and their new flat in Holloway. After checking out the digs, we enjoyed a pint at their new local, The Swimmer. Love it.

So the topic of dinner arose. You might know that I have this thing for Ethiopian food. I suppose I like eating with my hands. And on Fortress Rd, what do you know…there's a cool looking Ethiopian spot. (Two, as I would find out a few weekends laster.) I suggest it as our ultimate destination.

The Entrance: Suggestion accepted. We hop the bus down Tufnell Park Rd and there we are. I love it immediately. Seriously oozing in atmosphere. Whoever designed this place was a very interesting person -in a good way. The only miss decor-wise us the strange mannequin on the 2nd floor. I could have lived without that.

The Ordering: Service was sweet but confused. It was almost like it was her first night waiting tables. We very clearly…I think…ordered a vegetarian dish for the vegetarian. We had a long discussion with the server about the size and the type of the dish because we are sensitive to Gerry's veggie needs.

Well, we get lamb. And a long discussion on how we had definitely ordered the lamb, when we are sure we did not.

But that was the only glitch in what was otherwise a lovely meal in lovely surroundings.

Okay…two other glitches…

The spongey lemon-y Ethiopian bread. (Injera.) We ordered too much. And this was on the advice of our server.

The height of the table. It was knee high. This was fun at first but not really.

So About the Food: Loved the traditional chicken dish with the hard boiled egg. So spicy in an edible way. Loved the two salads that we started out with–avocado with tomatoes and chick peas and tomatoes. They were light and summery. Really, the chicken dish was the stand-out. We had a fish dish that was only okay, and I am back to being terrible and totally drawing a blank on what it was. Oh, we had some rice that turned out to be a nice surprise–but I think we may have imbibed a few too many St. George's (Ethiopian beer) by that point to remember.

What Matt Says: Tricky. Ok we had two appetizers. One was seafood, I think prawns. The other I'm blanking on. Our mains were lamb, lentils, chickpeas and a chicken dish. All I remember now was that the chicken and chickpea dishes were quite good. I don't know what they used for flavouring the chicken dish and I wasn't expecting much but we were licking it off the bread and bowl. And we had waaaay too much bread.

Was Jealous Of: The Ethiopian Coffee ceremony that went down at the table by the window. Now that was cool. Although the frankincense thing threw me back to 3rd grade in Catholic school.

The Verdict: I liked it. I really liked the atmosphere. I love that chicken dish with the egg. Love the bread. Love communal dining. Service was a bit off, but not bad. Just spacey.

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