At Queen of Sheba, fingers, not forks, rule
Published: Apr 3, 2009
The Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant is more than a delight for your taste buds. It's also a culinary and cultural trip to Ethiopia, with an assortment of fragrant and delicately spiced dishes not to be found elsewhere.
For the full experience, sit in the carpeted front dining room replete with African tapestries, carved wooden stools and woven baskets that prop up large enameled trays of food. For less adventurous diners, there are traditional Western-style tables and chairs.
The menu is exotic, as befitting the Biblical story of the wealthy and beautiful Queen of Sheba. Dining with the Queen means eating with your fingers, a tradition dating back to 200 B.C. Ethiopians signify friendship by breaking off a piece of a soft, sourdough flatbread called injera, scooping up a mouthful of food and serving it to their friends. The practice of Gursha — feeding another mouth from your own hand — demonstrates affection and love.
All of the dishes on the menu are characterized by traditional Ethiopian herbs and spices of cardomon, pepper, onions, tomatoes. Beef, chicken, lamb and seafood take on an exotic bouquet and delicate taste ranging from mild to hot and spicy. Vegetarians will find much to enjoy, from fragrant lentils to peas, greens and other vegetables.
Ethiopian specialities include beef, chicken and salmon tibs (sautéed meat) and various wot (stew). Sheba’s kitfo is minced, lean beef season with spiced butter and mitmita, a specially spiced red pepper.
Vegetarian options include Yeekik Alitcha, chickpeas in a mild sauce of garlic, ginger and onion; Yegomen wot, chopped collard greens simmered with garlic, ginger, onion and green chiles; and Tikel Gomen, a stew of cabbage, potato and carrot simmered in milk sauce with garlic, ginger onion and green chilies.
Parties of five or more may want to splurge on a special combination of an array of fragrant and exotic specialties served in a round platter, available in meat and vegetarian varieties, for $45.99.
Finish your meal with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony, special honey wine or mango juice. The restaurant also serves imported and domestic beer and soft drinks.
Sheba has a popular lunch buffet Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Thursday nights, enjoy jazz with trumpeter Philip Harper, who has toured with Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers and Betty Carter.
- by Diane Loupe, Atlanta Reporter for HelloMetro
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