Assimba Ethiopian Cuisine Review

Jason here. Kayleigh kindly maintains a list of all the gluten free restaurants in the area, which we have yet to try. This week we could not decide where to go and opted to roll a dice and choose at random. This landed on Assimba, an Ethiopian restaurant in Seattle.

Driving there we passed by many Ethiopian restaurants nearby, but what made this one in particular special is it specifically advertises to be gluten free.  Neither Kayleigh nor I had ever had Ethiopian food before, so we were in for a surprise. We did some research ahead of time, so luckily we did not embarrass ourselves.

We were seated by a window in this nice little restaurant, and provided menus. The back of the menu had a little story about Ethiopian chefs and the meaning cooking holds in their culture. I don’t want poorly retell the story, so I will just say I recommend anyone give a read if you eat there.

Unfortunately, writing this review up after the fact we cannot remember with certainty, what the various items we ordered were called. The online menu lists there base items, but their in house menu has some family style combo dishes. Kayleigh and I, opted for a combo platter so we could really get a try for the different styles. If you have never had Ethiopian food I highly recommend you get a combo platter so you can try out different items. Otherwise, you could end up getting stuck with a large plate of something not to your taste.

Our combo plate came with 6 items. I actually ended up liking them all, but 2 really stood out for me. When you order a combo plate it comes in a very large deep dish. It must have been at least 12 inches in diameter. Lining the bowl was injera, a spongy flatbread made from teff flour. Unlike many types of bread, the injera had a taste on its own which was almost sour, with just a hint of sweetness. I enjoyed the injera, but it definitely compliments some meals more than others. I found I enjoyed the taste a bit more with the spicy dishes.

Before I get into the actual dishes, I want to take a moment to explain how to eat Ethiopian food. I’m not an expert by any means, and all of this comes from some brief internet research. It’s simple to explain really. First you break off a bit of the injera with your right hand. Then you create a scoop shape and gather some of your main dish onto it. Then you eat it bread and all. I found it easier to tear off a few inch long strips of injera and then pinch the food with it. The bread is quite soft, so using it purely as a scooper you can end up just sliding food around and making a mess.

On top of our injera lined dish was the 6 items. The first of which was a regular salad made of greens, tomatoes, and a lemon dressing. It was a good salad, and made a nice complement to the spicier dishes.

The second dish is a bit hard to describe, and we cannot find it on the online menu. It reminded me of butternut squash, with large stewed carrots. It tasted sweet, and like the salad made an excellent complement to the spicier dishes. We tried looking into it once we got home, and believe it was Atakilt Wot.

The third dish was the Gomen Wot, a collard green cooked with onions, garlic, and ginger. This was my favorite out of the vegetarian sides, and tasted like rich buttered spinach.

The fourth dish we are pretty sure was the Gored-Gored. It tasted like diced barbequed steak, with a hint of chili powder. It had a lot of flavor, but not spicy. I enjoyed this dish, but less so on the injera. The sour taste from the injera detracted from the dish a bit for me. Despite that, it was still my third favorite dish of the night.

The fifth dish, and by far my second favorite was the Lega Tibis. It was really well cooked steak, green pepper, onion, garlic, and ginger. All of these flavors blended seamlessly with the injera, and reminded me a bit of a steak sandwich. I really must emphasize how tasty the steak was.

The final dish, and my personal favorite, was the Lega Tibis. This dish was finely cut beef seasoned in niter kibbeh, and mitmita. It reminded me a bit of pulled chicken, cooked with chilli powder and curry, but oh so much better. It was very spicy, but not hot sort of way. The sour in the injera really complimented the spices in this dish. The sponginess of the injera also added to the texture of the more chewy steak. I even used the salad, and other sweeter sides to cleanse my pallet just to experience this dish fresh each time.  Next time I go to Assimba, I will definitely be ordering a full meal of this.

Kayleigh here. The simple presentation of this platter was a genius way of forming a balanced meal, with all the delicious spiced juices soaking the injera below. No need to lick the plate clean, and believe me- you will want to get every last bit. My personal favorites were the garlicky Gomen Wot and the Lega Tibis, which had almost a cinnamon-esque taste to me. It was complimented well by the house tea I ordered, which had such a delightfully spicy aroma that I almost preferred sniffing it to drinking it!

Overall, Assimba made for a fantastically unique experience for us, having never tried anything quite like what we were served before. This review cannot do it enough justice, since we had a hard time coming up with words for spice blends and flavor combinations we had never tasted before in other cuisines. Unfortunately, they do not have a website to peruse, but if you are on the search for an adventure one evening, then give this place a try!