Bow to the Queen of Sheba

Eat with your hands and welcome close friends.

Gursha, the Ethiopian tradition of exchanging bites of food with a close friend or significant other, was common place when eating at Queen Sheba off Broadway. My boyfriend had requested we go to a place where we eat with our hands for Valentines Day, so it fit perfectly to grab some friends and head to Ethiopian food last Saturday. Only having been once before years ago, this was almost a new experience.

Queen Sheba is this awesome little restaurant off of Broadway and John in Capital Hill, and although you might miss it the first time, you definitely will remember it each time thereafter. The renovated house-turned-restaurant hosts a modest headcount of 55 guests, although the small foyer typically holds an additional 25 as they wait in the first come, first serve line against the wall. Ethiopian food is served "family style", given in a large, flat wicker basket, lined with injeret, the traditional unlevened bread that one uses to eat the food with. As mentioned above, this is a sans-fork restaurant, where one must throw off the cloak of germaphobic-American and join in the sharing of communal food. My favorite is the description on the first page of the menu in which the tradition of gursha is described. Since the food was prepared for shared eating, one must trust those surrounding you in order to truly enjoy the meal. Gursha is simply taking a biteful in one hand and feeding that close one next to you.

Our palate-tempter consisted of veggie roles to start, and followed by a four-some treat of misser wot, the red lentil concoction, filled with spices; the chicken and spinach, sauteed with onions and fresh olive oil; the lamb and spinach, copying the chicken aforementioned, and the tasty beef dish, remnant of Mom's pot roast but with a whole new meaning. All this is consumed by utilizing pieces of your individual injeret, the spongy-Naan like bread given to scoop up the yummy goodness with. Of course no good meal is complete without drinks and accoutrements, so we finished ours off with ginger ale (in case the stomach needed a little calming) and the homemade baklava, piled high with the famous phyllo dough and brown sugar mixture.

Overall, this packed little house was filled with tantilizing scents, stomach-filling tastes and a line to prove your good choice. Next time your standard list of restaurants needs a break, make sure that you take time to court the Queen Sheba.