Bonna Anne in Deira is a true little gem for those seeking to eat authentic Ethiopian cuisine. I first embraced this cuisine back in 2008 for the first time in Djibouti, then in Ethiopia in 2016, and then again on my second trip to Djibouti in 2017. It’s a cuisine you won’t easily forget, and when our friends said they knew a really good place to get their fix here in Dubai, we jumped in on the band wagon!
Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine, as well as some Somali cuisine, is centred on ‘injera’, which is a sour fermented flatbread (looks like a giant soft pancake) with a spongy texture which is traditionally made with teff flour. Several kinds of ‘wat’ (stew) are served on top of the injera. If you’re going to eat it in the true Ethiopian manner, you do so with your hands, using your injera to scoop up your wat. This little restaurant has two sinks and soap to wash your hands before and after, but it lacks the essential toilet facilities you might expect, so consider yourselves forewarned…
We ordered the following selection:
Doro Wat – A fiery Chicken Stew with finely diced onion, tomato, a touch of garlic, mixed with Ethiopian chili powder and Ethiopian spiced butter.
Special Tibs – Slowly fried tender beef strips sautéed in special Bonna Anne house sauce with onion, pepper, tomato, a touch of garlic and rosemary.
Special Shiro – Ground chickpeas simmered in special Bonna Anne house sauce and spiced with Ethiopian butter with garlic, tomato and onion.
Kitfo – Ethiopian style steak tartar of freshly minced extra lean beef, seasoned with mitmita (special chili powder) and Ethiopian spiced butter and served with a side of Ethiopian cottage cheese.
We ordered our meal twice (we’re gluttons), and this amount of food easily feeds 6 people for around AED300, adding salad and drinks, which is superb value.
We can’t recommend this treat enough. You know it’s good when there’s a steady bustle of Ethiopians dining throughout the evening. They’re the experts after all…
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