Review: Queen of Sheba

The gored-gored entrée at Queen of Sheba featured lean cubes of beef sautéed in awaze, a piquant blend of Ethiopian spices. (Credit: Mary Ann Gerth)

When your party orders dinner at the Queen of Sheba, every entree arrives on a common straw platter, called a mesob. That's the traditional Ethiopian way of serving food. If you are dining with someone you've just met, or having to share a meal with someone who may not be your favorite dining companion, you might be pleasantly surprised by the ice-breaking, bridge-building power of the mesob. (Note to any/all governments/political factions: Perhaps you should try having a peace conference in Ethiopia.)

he congeniality of the exercise of dining Ethiopian-style is furthered by the fact that there are no utensils, at least not of the fork or spoon or chopstick variety. Instead, roll-ups of a tangy, springy flatbread called injera are provided. You tear off a piece of bread and use it to pinch and scoop bites of the wots (stews), tips (sautés) and vegetables.

A very good way to begin a meal at Queen of Sheba, housed in a wing of the Airport Inn on Bardstown Road near the Watterson Expressway, is with the beyaynetu ($7), an appetizer sampler platter. That will get you warmed up to the Ethiopian spices, which aren't quite Asian and certainly are not European.

The kosta wrap contains ground beef. The fossolia wrap has green beans, onions and carrots. Pieces of shredded injera are mixed with the tabbouleh-like timatim fit-fit, a diced salad of tomatoes, green peppers, onions and lemon dressing. And you may become hooked on the sambussa, deep-fried triangles of flaky pastry stuffed with a choice of chicken, beef or lentils.

At a recent dinner, three entrees got along famously together on the mesob. In doro tips ($9), lean chicken was mildly flavored with green pepper and garlic. The gomen wot ($8) was a savory stew of collard greens and potatoes. And gored-gored ($11) featured lean cubes of beef sautéed in awaze, a piquant blend of Ethiopian spices.

Stewed lentils and green salad filled the spaces between each main dish. A bottle of 2003 Gold Kaan merlot ($24) from South Africa was an able accompaniment.

A perfect meal's end came in tiny cups of cardamom-laced Ethiopian coffee ($1.50) poured from a clay pot and sweet triangles of honey-drenched baklava ($3).

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