Monday, October 20, 2008

Dinner In Djibouti

Ok... So a week ago, I went into Djibouti with some co-workers to experience eating an Ethiopian dinner. Can't say it's my favorite, but it was worth the experience. It cost me 5000 Djibouti Franc (which equals about $30). A once in a lifetime experience :)

This is the front of the restaurant. The place is called Restaurant L'etoile (Kokeb). It's a family owned restaurant and it's been around since the late 70's


Just me chillin' waiting for the chow. One does not sit at a regular table, per se, but a basket type stand where they have 4 or 5 sit around and eat from a common area. First they have you wash your hands.They bring out a flat pan, like the size of a large pizza, with a pancake-like bread lined on the bottom. It kind of looks like a pancake, but does not taste like a pancake. It has a very strong vinegar taste that makes you pucker just a little.
They give you a plate of the same pancake-like bread that you use to eat with. You tear up the bread and use it grab the various foods they place in front of you on the main platter.
They come around with several bowls of different foods, beef, pork, lentils, chicken, boiled eggs, cheese, all prepared in differnet sauces and place a portion in front of each guest.
You then take the bread and eat the portions from the main area. There is no silverware. You keep a napkin at the ready to make sure you don't make any major messes. Some of it was quite tasty, some of it, not so much. Again, it was mainly for the experience.

After we ate, a couple performs a number of dances from the various regions of Ethiopia. It was quite entertaining.
After the dancing is done they invite those from the group to come up and dance a little. I was one of the lucky ones. I have video, but I'll have to wait until I have a more reliable connection to upload and share.

So that was my evening in Djibouti. We walked around downtown Djibouti just a bit, but none of my pics turned out very good. I do have some video, but, again, I'll have to wait until I get home with a faster upload to get it out.

We are planning another trip into town next week for pizza. I'll try for some other pics.

Until then..... crd

7 comments:

Tom and Lou said...

looks like a great experience. I wish I could experience something besides something in USA, but my time will come when we try to go to Tahiti...

Stefanie said...

Chuck the lengths you go to to keep us this charade!! :)

And are you really sure of what you were eating....? You are really brave! What a great experience you are having. Can't wait to see the video of you dancing.

Scott said...

That food looked....uh....different. So tell us a little about the grub. Spicy? Flavorful? Bland? Hoofed?
Not that there's anything wrong with that...yada, yada.

Just curious.

Thanks for the entertainment.

Unknown said...

You're so brave!! Well, I guess as long as it didn't jump off your piece of bread just as you went to put it in your mouth, it's ok. Makes chow hall food look good.

Bekah said...

hey daddy i luv u and thanks for keeping us posted, this is such an awesome experience for u!
LUV YA!

Anonymous said...

Greetings from... 11 Degrees North.

MWR is hanging up the Halloween decorations.

Did you float away this morning after the rain?

Skookumchuk in the F-Block CLUs.

(apologies if this is a double post... interent has been pretty up and down today)

Cristina said...

There are lots of good Ehtiopian restaurants back in the states. All will serve you injera (the spongy bread) but not all will serve it on the cool tables. It's good stuff!