Shewhat
| Cuisine | African |
|---|---|
| Price | $$ (16-30) |
| Rating | 6/10 |
| Last Visit | May 31, 2023 |
| Location | SFBA: Berkeley + Oakland |
General Notes
My first time trying Ethiopian / Eritrean food, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's structurally somewhat similar to Indian food -- various saucy dishes are eaten with injera (a fermented flatbread) with your hands. A novel experience for sure; I've never had anything quite like this. I really enjoyed how well balanced the spices and flavors for each dish was. My one more general complaint (not about this restaurant specifically) is that I found the acidic flavor of injera to be overpowering, when combined with all the other vibrant saucy dishes. Overall though, great food, good vibes, and a delightful experience.
Positives
> lovely outdoor seating area with great vibes!
> unrolling the injera and eating with your hands is a really satisfying experience -- not quite like anything else but I enjoy eating with my hands quite a bit
Negatives
> more generally ... based on my limited experience I'm not a huge fan of injera. I find the acidity to be a bit overpowering when combined with other saucy dishes, and I do prefer a slightly more "crisp" texture in my flatbreads. But that could very well be my biases speaking.
Dishes Tasted
- ★★★☆ Shewhat Special -- Meat combo (chicken, meat, side salad) + veggie combo (red lentil, yellow lentil, greens, alachi house salad) in one. Served atop injera and with injera on the side. Each individual component was quite nice. I especially enjoyed the lentil dishes. Well balanced and vibrant flavors.
- ★★★☆ Sambusa -- similar to a samosa, except with a lentil filling. I like the lentil filling quite a bit -- I find that the samosa filling is sometimes too drying b/c of the potato, but this was a nice balance. The sauce was sweet, tangy, and lightly spicy, and was the perfect complement.
Shewhat Special
Injera
