Tyler, my mom, who was visiting from Portland, and I went to Nyala in Little Ethiopia after hiking around Griffith Park. We didn’t descend until dark and were pretty hungry upon finally arriving. For a Saturday night the place wasn’t packed, but we did have a hard time finding parking in the area. Thus, bare in mind the time you would have spent waiting for a table may very well be spent parallel parking.
Yelp is not a clear indicator on which Little Ethiopian restaurant is best – but I did recall general acclaim for Nyala (I did some research for some possible Tyler birthday plans a while back), so we labored past also highly rated Mesob and Merkato, until reaching Nyala.
My mom and Tyler each ordered beer and I decided that by not ordering my own I could just steal drinks from theirs. Your choices are these: Harrar, Hakim and Tusker. My Mom, Celia, ordered the Harrar, my favorite of the two. It was bitter with honey undertones and like nothing I have ever tried before or have had since. Really interested in beer? I found a great review of the Harrar on Beeradvocate.com (thanks dkachur) that I wanted to share for those into trying international beers
“Pale amber color with a thin head. The last pour from the bottle was brown and murky... odd for a pale lager. Aroma is strong honey notes with some raw barley notes. Taste is grain, honey, light bitterness and something stale and musty in the finish. Thin-medium bodied.”
I thought Tusker was a bit more mainstay, but also good. Click here for reviews.
Now for the food! Along with the beers came a breadbasket full of spongy sourdough crepe (aka Injera) cuts. The basket is mostly for scooping purposes (hopefully you go with mostly clean handed friends), but is also excellent to munch on – keep in mind that the food also comes on top of the crepe (kind of like separated toppings on a pizza), so hopefully you like sourdough!
We ordered the Meat Combination Plate and the Vegetarian Combination Plate; a brilliant plan for all hungry/adventurous eaters. There wasn’t really a dish that I didn’t like, the vegetable dishes are mainly different types of beans/lentils, but my favorite was the Yabesha Gommen Collard greens which were balanced with hints of ginger and garlic (see the other 5 samplers that came with the vegetarian combination plate here). On the meat dish front, there was lamb, beef and chicken. My favorite was the Yebeg or Yebere Wot (we ordered this as lamb, but you have your choice of lamb or beef - see other two sampler meat dishes here) because it was more on the spicy side and oh so good.
Towards the end, the crepes became so saturated with the juices that we had to give up on our scooping - which was good because the crepe kind of expands in your stomach and by the end of the meal we were really feeling it! A great adventure, I can’t wait until my plans take me back to Little Ethiopia!
For Next Time: I will have to try the honey wine – but I will certainly get the sampler plates again, that is the way to go!
Nyala Fork Rating:
hey Hannah! cool blog, yum! love ethiopian.. we've got an eritrean place here that is good :)
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