Ethiopia - Zeret Kitchen

Restaurant:  Zeret Kitchen

Location:  216-218 Camberwell Road, London, SE5 0ED

Date of visit:  12 August 2018

Time of visit:  6pm

Long before this project began I had been looking forward to dining in an Ethiopian restaurant. We used to live in Reading, and there was a cafe/restaurant which specialised in Ethiopian food one night a week. We didn't get the chance to go. Ten years after leaving Reading, we finally visited an Ethiopian restaurant.

And we had a choice to make, from at least a dozen Ethiopian restaurants in London. But we had to use caution. A handful of those restaurants actually advertised themselves as Eritrean. Now, from what I can gather, and for fairly obviously reasons, the cuisine of both countries is pretty much identical. But for the purposes of this project, and ticking off the countries one by one, we had to visit a restaurant which advertised as "Ethiopian". It's that kind of thing that helps me sleep at night.

We ended up going for what was the top rated Ethiopian restaurant in London on Tripadvisor (currently 2nd at time of writing). Not only that, but it was rated as the 42nd best restaurant in London, out of nearly 19,000 restaurants.

This is quite an incredible feat for a restaurant that is essentially in a housing estate between Walworth and Camberwell, not close enough to either area's main street to claim that it's centrally located. The restaurant itself is set off the main road, within a 60s or 70s built shopping parade. Definitely easy to miss if just passing by. And in fact even as we got to the outside of the restaurant, it didn't look particularly open. The door was open, but the lights were off. I could see people inside, but I was worried they'd had a power cut.

Regardless, we went in. I had booked a table for two, but the restaurant was so quiet I decided it would be pointless to mention that, and just asked for a table for two. The waitress sat us by the window, which was the only source of light into the restaurant. All of a sudden the lack of artificial light didn't seem so strange. It almost created a pleasant atmosphere, which was later accentuated by the appearance of candles on the tables.

Menus arrived rather promptly - two printed sheets each, one with the food menu, and one with the drinks. The menus differed in places compared to the rather dated sample menu on the website, but that was still helpful as a preview before arriving at the restaurant. There was a small selection of side and vegan dishes, and various meat dishes - mostly lamb and beef. The food menu was rounded off with details of their combination offers. The drinks menu offered a selection of beers (some Ethiopian), soft drinks, hot drinks and wine (including tej - Ethiopian wine). And, of course, Ethiopian coffee.

During research before the visit I discovered that some dishes, particularly gored gored, and kitfo dishes, were traditionally prepared with raw minced beef. I wasn't sure if that was how it would be prepared here, especially as there was no mention of this hardly small detail on the menu. But I had already decided, mostly to save my own embarrassment, that I was going to go for something else. I suggested Elle did the same. With hindsight I'm a little disappointed in myself for that. Why didn't I just go for it? Or at least ask for more details?!

Anyway, we both ended up going for the same dish - beef wot: a rich, spicy beef and onion stew. Having visited an Eritrean restaurant very recently, we both knew what to expect with regards to the format of this meal, specifically the fact it would be served on injera - a thick, light, spongy sourdough bread. The waitress asked if we were going to share the bread, which definitely seems like the thing to do.

To drink, we both went for a bottle of Meta lager, brewed and bottled in Addis Ababa.

As we waited, we began to enjoy the dark but pleasant atmosphere, and the music which was a mix of traditional Ethiopian folk music and Ethiopian jazz; a style for which the country is very well known. The scent of incense started wafting in from somewhere. Later, this was mixed with the familiar aroma of roasting coffee beans, something I remembered from the Eritrean restaurant. You suddenly forget you're in a parade of shops in South London. You've been transported.

I'm not sure how long it took before the food came out, but I certainly didn't think at any point that it was taking a while. And when it came, it really was a sight to behold. It really is like nothing else. And this is where comparisons to the Eritrean restaurant continued, as - of course - both dishes were served on injera. As you can tell from the picture above, only a little of the main dish was served atop the bread. As seen in the middle. Either side of that was the spicy lentil side dish and, 90 degrees away, a couple of bunches of fresh, crisp side salad. 

The rest of the beef wot came in two separate bowls, from which we would later spoon more on to the bread. The second bread was rolled into several rolls, and presented in a small basket. And this was the big difference compared to the Eritrean restaurant. It might have been an oversight, but sharing the injera last time meant we were only served one bread. If we had somehow insisted we were not sharing, we would have been served two injera. At the same cost. Surely an oversight?

Here, however, we had one injera already presented, and the other one rolled up and ready to go. We were not going to leave here hungry.

The beef wot was fantastic. Very oily, as is the style. But so rich, with a real deep spice. Initially subtle, but it grows and grows. The beef was so soft and tender, and full of flavour. The side salad was very fresh and very welcoming, as was the sweet spiciness of the lentil puree. 

The bread to meat/sauce ratio was starting to become very imbalanced. But before Elle and I even had the chance to vocalise that point to each other, the waitress came with another basket full of rolled injera. That was the moment this already great experience became fantastic. Superb, attentive service. Straight away we knew we weren't going to be able to finish all the bread, but I'd much rather leave some of that than struggle to finish a spicy meat stew without any bread or cutlery!

One thing that really stood out was the beer. I'm not a huge believer in food-drinks pairing, especially when it comes to beer. But the Meta lager we chose complimented the food so well. I really mean that. I guess it makes sense for a lager brewed in the capital city of a country to go down well with one of that country's national dishes! But it is definitely a point worth noting.

As is the fact that this style of eating is tremendously messy, especially for the first time. No cutlery in sight. You're using the bread to pick up and scoop up the meat and sauce. Lots of sauce. We were more prepared for it this time, after the visit to the Eritrean restaurant, but I think it would take several more visits to develop any kind of a successful graceful technique. Thankfully, the waitress kept us supplied with wads of tissues!

By the time the meal was done, we were both absolutely stuffed. Another comparison made to the Eritrean restaurant; after that we effectively had another meal later that evening. No chance of that this time around! 

It did take a little bit of time for us to get the chance to ask for the bill, but by this time the restaurant had filled out quite a bit. This wasn't a problem as we didn't really feel like moving any time soon anyway.

It's quite an understated restaurant - inside and out - but the quality of the food and the service might explain why the restaurant rates as one of London's finest.