Foods from Blue Nile
Comments
2011 Feb 22
I was taken here for my birthday. It was my first time ever trying Ethiopian food, so I was pretty excited. Ambiance was nice and server was friendly and attentive, and food came out fast.
We each ordered a glass of their honey wine to start. It was more expensive than a glass of regular wine, but it was worth it. While delicious, one glass was definitely enough. Very sweet with an obvious honey flavour, not super boozy tasting, and definitely different. I encourage everyone to try a glassful, but that's probably all you'll need.
We ordered their appetizers, sort of Samosa-like... I forget the name. I had the beef one. It was essentially a triangle of delicious flaky pastry filled with spiced beef. Yum. For only 1.99, this appetizer can't be beat - though very filling, so be warned.
For our main we ordered two combo platters to share: one vegetarian, one Blue Nile. The Blue Nile one specializes in lamb and chicken. It was all very good, though the bread you eat it with was not my favourite - more a texture thing. Very spongy, whereas I suppose I wanted naan instead. Probably just personal preference.
For dessert I had the mango ice cream, made in house. It was too icy, but the flavour was there. The non-in-house vanilla and chocolate were both fine.
So overall, an interesting experience with a type of cuisine I'd never tried before.
We each ordered a glass of their honey wine to start. It was more expensive than a glass of regular wine, but it was worth it. While delicious, one glass was definitely enough. Very sweet with an obvious honey flavour, not super boozy tasting, and definitely different. I encourage everyone to try a glassful, but that's probably all you'll need.
We ordered their appetizers, sort of Samosa-like... I forget the name. I had the beef one. It was essentially a triangle of delicious flaky pastry filled with spiced beef. Yum. For only 1.99, this appetizer can't be beat - though very filling, so be warned.
For our main we ordered two combo platters to share: one vegetarian, one Blue Nile. The Blue Nile one specializes in lamb and chicken. It was all very good, though the bread you eat it with was not my favourite - more a texture thing. Very spongy, whereas I suppose I wanted naan instead. Probably just personal preference.
For dessert I had the mango ice cream, made in house. It was too icy, but the flavour was there. The non-in-house vanilla and chocolate were both fine.
So overall, an interesting experience with a type of cuisine I'd never tried before.
2009 Sep 12
I got take out for lunch from the Blue Nile yesterday.
The food was quite good - not the best Ethiopian I've had overall, but some of the dishes were phenomenal.
I ended up ordering the veg platter and the kitfo, served raw. The Yemisir Wot (red lentils) were easily the highlight of the meal and the best version of this dish that I've ever come across. I devoured them in about three minutes and next time will definitely order a full order of this dish. (I dreamed about it all night long, so I suspect that time will be coming sooner rather than later, too.) The Shuro Wot was my second place winner, with lovely spicing and a nice, full flavour. I'm always amazed at Ethiopian food's ability to make me appreciate legumes, which I usually don't particularly care for very much. The other offerings on the veg platter were okay, but nothing particularly exciting and after eating about half of them, I didn't feel compelled to finish them.
The kitfo was quite good, but not as good as I had at Dukem in Toronto. The texture was a bit of a deterrent: at Dukem, the beef was "fluffed" in such a way that it felt like a big pillow of raw beef served just warm. Here it was sort of packed in, and it felt like I was eating a big, dense piece of marinating flank steak. The texture was also a bit grainy... I'm not sure, but I suspect that it was caused by one of the spices. It was the exact right amount for two fairly hungry and adventurous people. Overall, the kitfo was not bad, and I would get it again, but probably not right away. I think I'll vie for tibbs next time and see what I think of Blue Nile's version of that.
Service was funny... I called and the order taker answered with an abrupt "Hello," making me wonder if I'd dialed the right number :-). It was difficult to get my order across properly but when I arrived, everything checked out perfectly. Also worth mentioning that the dining room looks quite cute and I don't know what the lighting is like at night, but with the proper lighting it could be quite romantic.
I was very pleased, especially with the spice level, which was warm and pleasant without being abrasively hot and nearly inedible like I've had at some other places. The injera was milder than other Ethiopian restaurants I've been to - I find it can be quite tangy - but that was neither here nor there. It was nice and fluffy and tasty.
I will definitely be back, although I think I'm going to try Horn of Africa again first for comparison purposes.
Thanks to chimichimi for the recommendation!
The food was quite good - not the best Ethiopian I've had overall, but some of the dishes were phenomenal.
I ended up ordering the veg platter and the kitfo, served raw. The Yemisir Wot (red lentils) were easily the highlight of the meal and the best version of this dish that I've ever come across. I devoured them in about three minutes and next time will definitely order a full order of this dish. (I dreamed about it all night long, so I suspect that time will be coming sooner rather than later, too.) The Shuro Wot was my second place winner, with lovely spicing and a nice, full flavour. I'm always amazed at Ethiopian food's ability to make me appreciate legumes, which I usually don't particularly care for very much. The other offerings on the veg platter were okay, but nothing particularly exciting and after eating about half of them, I didn't feel compelled to finish them.
The kitfo was quite good, but not as good as I had at Dukem in Toronto. The texture was a bit of a deterrent: at Dukem, the beef was "fluffed" in such a way that it felt like a big pillow of raw beef served just warm. Here it was sort of packed in, and it felt like I was eating a big, dense piece of marinating flank steak. The texture was also a bit grainy... I'm not sure, but I suspect that it was caused by one of the spices. It was the exact right amount for two fairly hungry and adventurous people. Overall, the kitfo was not bad, and I would get it again, but probably not right away. I think I'll vie for tibbs next time and see what I think of Blue Nile's version of that.
Service was funny... I called and the order taker answered with an abrupt "Hello," making me wonder if I'd dialed the right number :-). It was difficult to get my order across properly but when I arrived, everything checked out perfectly. Also worth mentioning that the dining room looks quite cute and I don't know what the lighting is like at night, but with the proper lighting it could be quite romantic.
I was very pleased, especially with the spice level, which was warm and pleasant without being abrasively hot and nearly inedible like I've had at some other places. The injera was milder than other Ethiopian restaurants I've been to - I find it can be quite tangy - but that was neither here nor there. It was nice and fluffy and tasty.
I will definitely be back, although I think I'm going to try Horn of Africa again first for comparison purposes.
Thanks to chimichimi for the recommendation!
2009 Mar 17
I took BF here for his birthday tonight since it's in our neighbourhood. When we arrived, there were only two other patrons although I was glad to see that when we were leaving, the place was close to half full.
We started with two beef sambussas which BF described as "beef meat pie samosas type things" which is fairly accurate. They arrived piping hot and were very mildly spiced. I would have liked spicier but no matter since I sprinkled on some of the very hot spice they have in little dishes on the table.
With our meal, we had a bottle of honey wine. One bottle is WAY too much for two people. Try as we might, we could not finish it. It does do a great job of taking the burn out of some of the spicier dishes, though. I would order by the glass next time so as not to waste it or tire of its super sweet taste.
For our main we had a Blue Nile Combination which was an assortment of chickpeas (mild), lentils (mild), cabbage/potato/carrot (garlic), ye doro wat (the chicken and hard boiled egg) and a few beef dishes I don't feel able to identify correctly. We also ordered Zilzzl Tibbs which was excellent. It was a huge portion and had a very delicious buttery type sauce.
We weren't crazy about the lentils and chickpeas, but that may be because we prefer things to be very spicy. Next time, I would skip the appetizer but I enjoyed ordered the combo with something a la carte. Normally I am not a fan of ye-doro wat but here I found it to be excellent. I would happily return. Oh and we couldn't finish all of our food so our server packed it up for us with some extra enjera.
We started with two beef sambussas which BF described as "beef meat pie samosas type things" which is fairly accurate. They arrived piping hot and were very mildly spiced. I would have liked spicier but no matter since I sprinkled on some of the very hot spice they have in little dishes on the table.
With our meal, we had a bottle of honey wine. One bottle is WAY too much for two people. Try as we might, we could not finish it. It does do a great job of taking the burn out of some of the spicier dishes, though. I would order by the glass next time so as not to waste it or tire of its super sweet taste.
For our main we had a Blue Nile Combination which was an assortment of chickpeas (mild), lentils (mild), cabbage/potato/carrot (garlic), ye doro wat (the chicken and hard boiled egg) and a few beef dishes I don't feel able to identify correctly. We also ordered Zilzzl Tibbs which was excellent. It was a huge portion and had a very delicious buttery type sauce.
We weren't crazy about the lentils and chickpeas, but that may be because we prefer things to be very spicy. Next time, I would skip the appetizer but I enjoyed ordered the combo with something a la carte. Normally I am not a fan of ye-doro wat but here I found it to be excellent. I would happily return. Oh and we couldn't finish all of our food so our server packed it up for us with some extra enjera.
2009 Feb 20
If I was in her position of being paid to do a job, I'd want to do it right; I have never come across any other spelling of the word lamb other than "yebeg" (she also seemingly is referencing experience in other Ethiopian restaurants with some familiarity given her incorrect claim they don't serve tej so why can't she catch an unintentional hyphenated word?)
Both by my personal experience having seen it served in the past at the two other restaurants I mentioned or even a cursory 'google' produce evidence it is served elsewhere.
But really we are talking about a newspaper that lost a great publisher over attempts from head office to interfere with editorial content (namely writing it back in Calgary and presenting it to him).
And later when confronted with an editor member of its board being caught for multiple instances of plagiarism couldn't even bear to dismiss him so he had to write an 'apology' and lost his seat on the editorial board. Real newspapers fire people for that, but not Ottawa's hometown favourites.
Pizza:
With respect to that they didn't have it on their menu or website to my recollection.
Both by my personal experience having seen it served in the past at the two other restaurants I mentioned or even a cursory 'google' produce evidence it is served elsewhere.
But really we are talking about a newspaper that lost a great publisher over attempts from head office to interfere with editorial content (namely writing it back in Calgary and presenting it to him).
And later when confronted with an editor member of its board being caught for multiple instances of plagiarism couldn't even bear to dismiss him so he had to write an 'apology' and lost his seat on the editorial board. Real newspapers fire people for that, but not Ottawa's hometown favourites.
Pizza:
With respect to that they didn't have it on their menu or website to my recollection.
2009 Feb 19
Anne DesBrisay may have gone more than once and may have sent the photographer at another time.
However this 'professional' in one review manages to display a disregard for the correct spelling of a dish by relying on the restaurant's spelling and is in complete la la land with this;
"Not many Ethiopian restaurants in this city serve the traditional Ethiopian honey wine called tej."
That is totally inaccurate.
I wrote this review and have defended it because better food can be had for less at Horn of Africa or East African that is the long and the short of it.
Like I said in reference to portion, you're only going to get one chance to serve me THAT poorly when I'm paying more for the same meal available elsewhere in the city that is more than double the serving size.
I live around the corner to this place and I go to the convenience store right next door that they also own, the Blue Nile is consistently less than full and I think I know why.
re: Tusks
I'm more than aware there are severe restrictions on elephant tusks I can probably recite for you parts of the convention on endangered species that Canada is a signatory to.
I referenced the tusks simply to point out the decor is chintzy not to imply that 'real tusks' were necessary.
However this 'professional' in one review manages to display a disregard for the correct spelling of a dish by relying on the restaurant's spelling and is in complete la la land with this;
"Not many Ethiopian restaurants in this city serve the traditional Ethiopian honey wine called tej."
That is totally inaccurate.
I wrote this review and have defended it because better food can be had for less at Horn of Africa or East African that is the long and the short of it.
Like I said in reference to portion, you're only going to get one chance to serve me THAT poorly when I'm paying more for the same meal available elsewhere in the city that is more than double the serving size.
I live around the corner to this place and I go to the convenience store right next door that they also own, the Blue Nile is consistently less than full and I think I know why.
re: Tusks
I'm more than aware there are severe restrictions on elephant tusks I can probably recite for you parts of the convention on endangered species that Canada is a signatory to.
I referenced the tusks simply to point out the decor is chintzy not to imply that 'real tusks' were necessary.
2009 Feb 19
Fair enough, Golden Turtle. I have two comments though: first, professional reviewers (Anne DesBrisay included) usually pay multiple visits to a restaurant at different times of the day and on different days of the week. The photos are taken during a later session, likely without the reviewer even present. It is only for that last session that the restaurant is made aware they are being reviewed.
Second, how are plastic tusks a bad thing? The importation of elephant ivory has been illegal in Canada for a long time. I consider the use of plastic tusks to be a plus for Blue Nile.
Second, how are plastic tusks a bad thing? The importation of elephant ivory has been illegal in Canada for a long time. I consider the use of plastic tusks to be a plus for Blue Nile.
2009 Feb 19
Just because Anne DesBrisay likes something doesn't have quite the same force and effect as the word of God, she has written some terrible reviews in the past in my opinion and given that there were photos taken with the review I hardly think they were unaware a review was being made of their food. (I noticed as well that her review contains a misspelling of the dish my companion ordered that echoes their mispelling on the Blue Nile website.)
My portions were literally a quarter of what is shown on her platter.
That said, "The Blue Nile is a fairly generic-looking restaurant. The tourism posters, a flag, wooden giraffes, some tusks, and a traditional costume hanging on a wall are the clues this is an Ethiopian restaurant" more than echoes in a politer fashion my description of the place as Mel's Diner with some added 'africana'.
The giraffes look like they came from 10,000 villages and the tusks are clearly plastic, the place reeks of tchotchke.
For the record Doro Wat is a chicken dish, my companion ordered Yebeg Tibbs which is NOT a stew which I hinted at before pretty clearly.
I'm not holding myself out as the greatest reviewer of all time but I think it's important that on this page which had uniformly positive reviews previously that my voice be clearly shown to disagree, this is actually the first negative review I've written out of many many positive ones on restaurantica.
I don't go out of my way to diss restaurants but I feel like either the people who wrote these reviews have never eaten in an Ethiopian restaurant before or are the type of person that don't like writing something negative.
The food we received places this restaurant in the very small category in my mind of "places I will never go again"
There was no excuse for the terrible portions I received and her lamb was both poorly presented and clearly overcooked.
My portions were literally a quarter of what is shown on her platter.
That said, "The Blue Nile is a fairly generic-looking restaurant. The tourism posters, a flag, wooden giraffes, some tusks, and a traditional costume hanging on a wall are the clues this is an Ethiopian restaurant" more than echoes in a politer fashion my description of the place as Mel's Diner with some added 'africana'.
The giraffes look like they came from 10,000 villages and the tusks are clearly plastic, the place reeks of tchotchke.
For the record Doro Wat is a chicken dish, my companion ordered Yebeg Tibbs which is NOT a stew which I hinted at before pretty clearly.
I'm not holding myself out as the greatest reviewer of all time but I think it's important that on this page which had uniformly positive reviews previously that my voice be clearly shown to disagree, this is actually the first negative review I've written out of many many positive ones on restaurantica.
I don't go out of my way to diss restaurants but I feel like either the people who wrote these reviews have never eaten in an Ethiopian restaurant before or are the type of person that don't like writing something negative.
The food we received places this restaurant in the very small category in my mind of "places I will never go again"
There was no excuse for the terrible portions I received and her lamb was both poorly presented and clearly overcooked.
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