Sahara - Eritrean Restaurant (ROME)

Sahara - Eritrean Restaurant

43, Viale Ippocrate

Rome 00161

tel: +39 06 4424 2583

Rome boasts a fair number of Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurants, but this one has both the better interior (and exterior terrace) and spicier, better presented food. Run by an Italian and his Eritrean wife, this bright and sunny restaurant offers diners a choice between elegant seated area or more traditional wicker basket tables and low pouf seats, and, in the summer under a lantern-lit canopy on the terrace. 

The waitresses all wear traditional white linen robes with colourful headresses and, dazzling smiles aside, are polite and efficient the service is speedy. There are plenty of vegetarian options, including a tasty, if slightly sweet couscous and spicy hot lentil or chickpea purèes. Meat abounds, mincet abish is tender ground beef very lightly cooked in butter and simmered in ginger, cardamom and white pepper. Zighini, Francesco's favourite is a stew made either with beef or lamb and its pungeant sauce has a spicy start but a rich sweet finish, the name itself is that of the particular spice mix of about 25 different spices used to rub and stew the meat in. 

Most of the dishes are served on injera a sort of light, fluffy very wide pancake made of tef, a grain similar to millet, and you scoop the food up by tearing off a piece of injera and dipping it or wrapping it around the various tidbits on your injera. Its fun, and feels good to dispense with the niceties of (and unnecessary) cutlery. Only word of warning is it's very filling, so unless you're into eating loads of bread with every meal or are absolutely ravenous, don't order a starchy starter, or dip into the breadbasket before your mains!

There are South Africa wines on the menu, nothing dazzling, but perfectly suited to the hot, spicy dishes on offer and just what you'd expect from a decent, budget ethnic restaurant. It is possibly in the Eritrean food department that Rome offers its best shot at ethnic cuisine, because frankly, the other imports are sorely lacking in quality!