i have been dying to try emanu for months. it seemed that everyone had been there but me and they were all raving about it. i felt left out and ornery. luckily, beth t. and mick are doing this game called the alphabet of restaurants or something like that. here are the rules: every time they go out to dinner, they have to eat at a restaurant that starts with the next sequential letter of the alphabet. the first restaurant was... i have no idea. c was chalk. f was fatburger. anyway beth invited laura and me when they were on e, which meant emanu, which meant i got my wish to eat there!
the interior of the restaurant. it's kind of boring but you won't care.
emanu is ethiopian and served in the traditional way. if you have never had ethiopian, what this means is that you are served a variety of stews and vegetable dishes on a large platter covered in injera.
liz: wikipedia, what's injera?
wikipedia:
Injera (
Ge'ez እንጀራ, pronounced
[ɨndʒǝra], sometimes transliterated
enjera) or
taita is a
pancake-like
bread made out of
teff flour.
[1] It is traditionally eaten in
Ethiopia,
Eritrea,
Somalia (where it is also called
laxoox and
canjeero),
Yemen, Northern
Kenya and by the
Nuer people of
Sudan. In making injera, flour is mixed with water and allowed to
ferment for several days, as with
sourdough starter. Because of this process, injera has a slight sour taste. The injera is then ready to
bake into large flat pancakes, done either on a specialized electric stove or more commonly, on a clay plate (
mogogo) placed over a fire. In terms of shape, Injera compares to the French
crepe and the South Indian
dosa as a
flatbread cooked in a circle and used as a base for other foods. The taste and texture however, are quite unique and unlike the crepe and dosa.
liz: thanks wikipedia!
i am a huge fan of ethiopian food, but it is not for everyone. for example, it is not for people who don't like delicious food. it is also not for people who are silverware junkies. you eat it with your hands by wrapping up bits of stew in the injera.
insanely wonderful spread of amazing deliciousness
we basically wanted everything on the menu so we asked our server for a recommendation. she suggested that we get the combo platter and then add a vegetable dish. we did this. i wish i could tell you exactly what we got but i forgot to take a photo of the menu and it is not listed on their website. i do know that we got a chicken and egg dish, a beef dish, a veggie dish, and a lentil dish. included with every platter are several sides, including cabbage, peppers, and greens. it was all damn tasty.
note to vegetarians: probably a third of the dishes on the menu are sans meat!
service was excellent. our server was super nice and answered all our questions. the atmosphere is kind of strip mall-ish, but the food is so good that you will not even care. parking is sketchy, we just parked in the bank lot across the street and it was fine.
i am now going to let you in on the absolute best part about emanu (other than the deliciousness of the food): it is insanely cheap. i am talking rock bottom, 6 year olds who sew gap clothes for 18 hours a day in cambodia get paid more than this cheap. cheap cheap cheap.
wait, exactly how cheap? well first of all it is byob. i brought a 6 pack of beer so that was like maybe $7 total for drinks for everyone. we ordered an appetizer and four entrees and this came to, i am not making this up,
$12 per person including tax and tip. please note that i put that in bold and i hate putting things in bold. it's like a permanent recession special. buy now! everything must go!
beth, etc. demonstrate the proper way to eat ethiopian food... or they are just devouring it and ignoring my pleas to "hang on a second you guys while i get some pictures!"
emanu's food is cheap, delicious, and very filling. we could not finish everything. on top of this, everyone who works there seems to actually really love their job and their customers. it's amazing. i can count on one hand the number of places like that in cincinnati, and none of them are this cheap.
stop whatever you are doing right now and run to emanu. if they are closed, camp outside until they are open. i am serious, this place is truly a find. you cannot let another day pass without doing your part to make sure emanu stays in business for a very long time.
