The Horn of Africa
Foods from The Horn of Africa

Comments

2010 Feb 11
I find the veggie combo platter is my comfort food. Lentals and spice are not for everyone's palate, but this has to be better than a McCombo, and at 7.50$ for the platter, I'm pretty happy.
Sure, the surroundings could be better, but I'm more interested in the food!

2009 Jul 16
That is what I thought, but I compared it to Habesha where the egg in bebere sauce was prepared in the same fashion without only a slight tint and with no gastronomical distress.

Odds are it was just an off night here at the Horn and they probably just overcooked a bit too much or it might just be their particular spice combination.

2009 Jul 16
the green tint around the yolk is a result of the hardboiled egg being slightly overcooked. it has nothing to do with the sauce or the african food itself. it is really easy to slightly overcook hardboiled eggs (i do it all the time, the eggs are done but i am in the other room and the 2 minutes it takes to get to the stove and they are overcooked). it also is no indication that there is anything wrong with the egg. i just don't want people worrying if they notice a greenish tint around the yolk - it is totally normal!

there are so many sauces and spices used in africa food, i would guess that anyone of them could have upset your stomach.

2009 Jul 16
Unfortunatly I tried this and I found the food didn't quite jive with my system, though most of it was tasty. My one complaint was the boiled egg whcih had a very noticible green tint around the yolk. I know that the method of producing the berbere-coated boiled egg causes this tint to some extent, but the egg upset my system.

The lentils were generally decent and I found that I prefered the vegetarian dishes to the meat options when we ordered the mixed platter. There was also insufficient injera bread in my opinion.

2006 Dec 16
Wrote comments; cat decided to unplug computer just as I was finishing.

In scattershot mode:

-- cheap
-- not at all bad
-- nicely seasoned
-- still, a more interesting mix of flavours and textures was wanting

The picture is of a vegetarian platter for one, with a meat dish thrown on the side at the rear of the photo. The entirety of that veg platter -- and it's a very large plate -- was $7.50. The place is nothing great; extremely dusty plastic flowers, etc. But, so much good for so little I'm thinking a tag for "cheap" is called for.

Too much emphasis on lentils, beans; starchy. (I had been hoping for collard greens or similar, which have been in every other Ethiopian place outside of Ottawa I've been to.) The multicoloured veg assortment pictured on the plate was excellent, though, and the salad I ordered (on the side, not pictured) was good but completely superfluous.

Salad: great. Romaine fresh and crisp and good. Tomatoes not bad for December in Ottawa, and not stingy. Onions not of the cooking variety -- it suffered none of the usual disappointments of salads in cheap places.

Beer: cold. No glass provided. Service slow; friendly slow, though -- very casual rather than indifferent or rude.

We sat near a table of pleasant teen-agers, who reminded me no end of myself some years back. Exactly the sort of place I loved at 15!

2006 Dec 10
I pride myself on having a stomach of steel but I must say the food did not quite jive with my system. Service was good though.

2006 Dec 8
I also enjoy the Horn, but it is the only Ethiopian I have tried. I love the platters, so good. And eating with your hands is always fun when socially acceptable! The service has been slow for me, but I don't mind sitting and enjoying being out. I hate restaurants that rush you. Only thing I find strange is the hard boiled egg....

2006 Dec 5
When I ate here I hadn't tried much Ethiopian or East African food. As I had little to compare it to, I can't give the most useful objective perspective.

I was, however, impressed with the flavourful spiciness of the beef curry. The spongy sourdough flatbread (injera) was also a pleasant surprise.

I do remember the service to be very friendly, polite and demure - African ladies in traditional dress.

The decor is kind of trippy with low lighting and fish tanks. A couple of tables at the back seemed to be a hangout for young (Somali?) men who were either keeping an eye on their girlfriend servers, or trying to score with their compatriots. Regardless of their intentions, they were eating the food!