Ethiopian in Tanzania

From a distance, Dar Es Salaam is a giant, impenetrable gridlock. A sea of utter chaos. Our first encounter with this sprawling city was not one we look back on with a smile. Helplessly suffocated by the humidity and heat with nine bodies plus baggage in a minivan, we were pressed against each other clinging on to the hope that we wouldn’t have to wait long for air conditioning. Once we stepped through the hotel doors, everything seemed to pass in a blur. The next thing I knew, I was waking up and getting back in the car to go to the airport. So it could’ve been our comatose state or Dar Es Salaam really was crazy… we were sure it was a little bit of both. In all, we had spent less than 24 hours there—most of it in a hotel—so when multiple people exclaimed that they loved the city we were more than dubious.

 

When we returned to Dar a month later, we were prepared for the worst. Of course we were also anxious to see the side of Dar that, like everyone else, would win us over. Breaking through the surface of the dirt and grime, we looked closer and sure enough we found some amazing spots with the help of our friends Nayay and Erin. Having lived in Dar for 3 years, they knew all the cool places to hangout and see.  So on our last night, we headed out to Erin’s favorite (and #2 on TripAdvisor) restaurant: Addis.

 

I had never had Ethiopian cuisine before. I was expecting spices though… a ton of spices. Exotic flavors, and really good coffee. All were true and then some. The restaurant was outside overlooking a lawn that was nothing truly special to look at, but that didn’t matter since night was fast approaching. By the time we got our food, we could barely see anything! We were huddled around two tables that were each about the size of a night stand and sitting on small wooden chairs. Terri (from the Boabab home) had joined us that night to see us one last time before we left so we were able to share in the experience of our blind feast. When the food came it was on two big trays that were exactly the same size as the tables.  With one graceful move, the waiter placed the tray down and took off the lid making our eyes widen as we stared at the platter. We were given baskets of some type of sourdough bread that had kind of a pancake-y feel to it, but tasted nothing like pancakes or sourdough.  Unrolling the bread, we ripped a piece off and scooped up our food. Not easily being able to see what everything was let us better enjoy the rich and colorful flavors.  The entire meal definitely got our surprised taste buds singing, thus making it one of the better highlights of Dar 😉