Blue Nile Restaurant – 1260 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J 1M6
Country: Ethiopia
Seating: There are a couple of seats out front under an awning and indoor seating. 
Must-try dish: Doro Wat
Dinner guests: Nickel-Plate & Pornstar Sam 
The high: Someone who believed that they didn’t like Ethiopian food was converted to loving the cuisine in only a couple of bites. 
The low: The restaurant turns into a club on weekends, and we sadly missed the party as we ate on a Wednesday night. 

Have you ever been to Toronto’s Little Ethiopia neighbourhood? It’s beyond Greektown on the Danforth, and it’s the place to go for injera and all its accompaniments. For several blocks, you can smell the grilled meats and spices wafting from the many restaurants that make up the majority of the storefronts in the area. If you’re hungry, or even just not full, you’ll certainly be tempted to duck into one of these dining spots for a bite to eat. 

There are three or four Ethiopian restaurants that dominante the lists as the best in the city, one of which is Blue Nile Restaurant. It’s located in the heart of Little Ethiopia and acts as a restaurant all day with tons of people coming in for food and to socialize, then it turns into a busy nightclub in the evening on weekends after the kitchen closes at ten at night. Despite all the competition on the street, Blue Nile Restaurant always seems to be thriving during the hours its open. 

With limited knowledge of Ethiopian dishes, we let our guests and our server make the important decisions on what to order, and how much of it we would need. Not surprisingly, there was a little bit left but all the meat had quickly disappeared. 

The dishes come served on a massive plate on top of Injera, which is a fermented flatbread native to Ethiopia that acts as the utensils for the meal. There are additional pieces served on the side, but the main event is the large one covered with all the saucy meats, legumes, and vegetables that marinates the flatbread over the course of the meal to be eaten at the very end. 

Our injera was covered in four dishes from the extensive menu. The Nile Vegan Platter (#1) was spread across the flatbread and was made up of split peas, lentils, chickpeas, collard greens, cabbage, green beans, and salad. These ingredients added colour, and if nothing else, lightness to the otherwise heavy meat meal. 

The Doro Wat (#10) was the favourite of the night – not only is it the most delicious, but it’s also the most traditional. It consists of tender chicken slices slow-cooked in a spice-rich sauce and topped with a hard-boiled egg. As it was a stew, delicate movements were required in order to get it into your mouth without any drops falling out of the inhera. 

Another classic dish is the Beef Tibs (#17), which is a staple when creating your injera platter. There are various meat options, all of which are cooked in a special house sauce that varies from chef to chef, with an option for mild or spicy. Although Ethiopian food tends to rely more on flavour than on heat, the spicy Tibs have a kick that might be too hot for most people. 

Finally, the Goden Tibs (#19) came recommended by our server Boni, who says it’s her favourite dish on the menu. The chunks of beef short-ribs were barbecued and seasoned before being placed on to the injera. It made for an excellent contrast to the rest of the meal that were sauce-based, while these delicious pieces of meat were dry and soft to bite into. It became clear quickly that this would also be a staple on future injeras. 

Ethiopian food allows for the diner to make their own adventure by choosing the meats they want, or keeping it vegan. Other than pork, the majority of mainstream meats are represented with chicken, beef, lamb, and goat. Fish options are also available. It’s the ideal meal to create what you’re feeling like eating and build it all on top of the inhera. The best part of it is that it’ll be unique every time depending on the dish, the recipe, and the injera itself as there can be variation. In case anyone is worried about the injera not being gluten free, there’s an option for that too!   

Eat with you soon, 

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)