Restaurant Reviews and Food Musings

Restaurant

Abyssinia
Vanadisvagen 20
11346 Stockholm
Sweden

Phone:- 08 330840

Overview

Eva and I were in Stockholm for a mid-summer party last weekend. The night before the party, in order to “ring the changes”, we decided to try out an Abyssinian restaurant. This was located within 20 minutes walking distance of the centre of Stockholm.

Ambience

Abyssinia was a small, cheerful cosy African styled café. The walls were painted a cheery sun yellow, and were decorated with African artefacts and animal skins.

There was not that much space available for covers in the restaurant, therefore the tables were packed quite closely together to maximise yield to the owners.

That being said, it was the night before mid-summer and so was very quiet. On busy nights you may have to “hunker down” with your neighbours.

Menu

The menu (in Swedish and Abyssinian) offered a variety of Abyssinian dishes including lamb, beef, chicken and vegetables. There appeared to be no specific appetisers, I dare say the chef would accommodate you if you asked.

Service

The service was friendly and polite. Although the menu wasn’t in English, the waiter did speak English; and so communication was not an issue.

Food

Given the fact that neither of us had ever eaten Abyssinian food before, we opted for the most sensible dish to have under these circumstances; the house special.

This was an excellent way to sample a variety of the cuisine on offer.

The dish was served on a humungous plate, which was presented in a covered basket (to keep the heat in). Our meal included; chick peas, lentils, chicken in a spicy sauce, spiced minced lamb, spiced minced beef, hard boiled eggs, cabbage and carrots (rather similar to sauerkraut), spinach and cottage cheese.

These were served on a large piece of flat bread (with a consistency and taste similar to blini), which covered the plate.

Additional bread, folded like napkins, was provided to accompany the meal.

Incidentally, I should point out that you don’t use cutlery; but instead eat with your fingers. All good fun!

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal; each of the dishes had a special flavour which complemented the others.

As the meal was very filling, we had no need of starters or deserts.

Our meal, which included a robust bottle of Ethiopian wine, came to 510SEK before service.

Overall Opinion

A pleasant, unpretentious meal and restaurant; worth a visit if you want to try something different.