Ethiopia is a very distinct country, and it’s only right that its cuisine is also unique. So where should someone in Houston go if they wanted to try Ethiopian food? You can’t go wrong with Blue Nile.
Named after the river that runs through Ethiopia, Blue Nile is the best place to go for Ethiopian food in Houston; the superb quality of the food combined with great location, 9400 Richmond Ave, make the restaurant a great choice.
The restaurant has a great environment to go with the authentic food. It features standard tables you’d find at any restaurant, as well as Ethiopian-style seating and tables that sit closer to the ground. Ethiopian music plays through the restaurant’s speakers, and freshly ground Ethiopian coffee, which features a distinct, strong scent, is brought out to diners for them to smell.
Of course, the most important thing at a restaurant is obviously the food, and Blue Nile delivers here as well. For someone who doesn’t know much about Ethiopian cuisine, one of the first things they should know is that the meal revolves around injera. This thin bread is made from the grain teff and is the first type of food put on any plate in Ethiopian cuisine. After a layer or two of injera are the beef, chicken and vegetables. When it comes to eating Ethiopian food, you don’t use utensils, you use injera to scoop the food and eat it.
Recommended for those who haven’t tried Ethiopian food is tibs. These chunks of beef seasoned with onions and spices are a tasty choice and also a Ethiopian cuisine staple. If one prefers chicken, the doro wot is an excellent alternative. The definition (doro, which means ‘chicken’ in Ethiopia’s language Amharic, and wot, which means ‘sauce’) gives a basic summary of what it is, but you have to taste it yourself to find out how great it is. The combination of chicken, eggs, ginger, peppers and other spices make for a delicious choice.
But meat dishes aren’t the only notable part of Ethiopian cuisine. To compliment the aforementioned dishes, diners should try the Ethiopian style salad that features tomatoes, onions, a special salad dressing, and sliced jalapenos. In addition to this salad, another great choice is gomen, steamed spinach. And to complete the veggies selection, you should have some lentils. There are both red lentils and yellow lentils to choose from, where the former is spicier. These are just some of the various Ethiopian cuisine staples.
Blue Nile boasts a great staff as well, and the restaurant also sells injera packaged individually for those who want to take the bread home. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursdays, and from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
