An Ethiopian Supperclub

The menu for Earth Shop and Cafe's Ethiopian Supperclub looked fairly interesting and we decided to pop by. Held at Crane Joo Chiat, Chef Shweta helmed the kitchen for this dinner. We don't get to taste African food much. Most of our recent African food experiences were had in Seattle and London. I don't know much about the differences in African cuisines. I can't tell what's the highlights of food from each area. Needless to say, I had to google about Ethiopian food too. 

Happy to check out the menu of this Ethiopian Supperclub in Singapore. The hosts said that this was the eighth iteration of their Ethiopian menu, and the flavors and all had been fine-tuned. Well, this isn't a restaurant in that sense. It's a homey supperclub. It's pretty much your friend's home kitchen, albeit a slightly bigger version that could serve about 40 guests. 

The meal was served on a communal plate, like it is traditionally done. On that giant plate, there were potato samosa, Ethiopia's national dish of doro wat — spicy chicken stew with eggs, fish goulash, lentil stew (misr wot), spiced carrot and cabbage stir-fry (tickel gomen), and mixed salad. All these were served on Ethiopian flatbread (injera). The injera was difficult to make because of the teff required, and fermentation needed to give it those bubbles. This gluten-free base went so well with the food. No further carbs needed. 

I was really looking forward to tasting the doro wat. It was supposed to be fiery spicy. In this version, the chilli had been toned down. I only had one piece of chicken. Left the rest to the man for his protein intake. The man loved the lentil stew so much that he asked for a third serving. The potato samosa was spicier, I thought. The samosa was FANTASTIC. It was a big samosa and I simply loved it. Each diner was allocate ONE. This was the one item that the kitchen didn't allocate seconds, but they found an extra for me. Yayyyy! I loved that fish goulash. Noms. Asked for seconds of that. They used snapper, which was tasty in the marinade. The Ethiopian berbere spice blend is delightful. 

I had to hurry up to finish the prosecco before the after-dinner coffee arrived. Those flavors would clash. It was an Ethiopian cold brew with popcorn. As much as I enjoy Ethiopian beans, I was a tad frightened of drinking more than three sips. Caffeine still has an effect on me. BUT. I drank it all. It was delicious. (I went to bed at midnight, but couldn't fall asleep till 3am.)