Assab Eritrean Restaurant, SF

One night, Curiosity led me and 4 others to an Eritrean restaurant called Assab to try some East African cuisine (located in the Sunset district at Geary & Collins Street). It is a family-owned restaurant that had been getting rave reviews...

Eritrean food is very unique--the dishes are similar to stews where things are cooked down to a flavorful mess and then poured over Injera which is a flat, chewy bread made from a fermented wheat or teff dough. Eritrean dishes commonly use a lot of lentils, onion, bell pepper, and spices such as Berbere (a dried chili pepper). The dishes all come out on one big platter and, instead of utensils, you use the Injera to scoop up the food.

I am generally not a big fan of spicy food, but this place was delicious and a unique experience that is well suited for a larger group of people. I really enjoyed the red and brown lentils with a little bit of yogurt...and the okra was really good. I also tried Tej (honey wine), which was very sweet and similar to reisling...

yum.