Injera-licious!

Ethiopian Cottage Restaurant
1824 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee, WI
Cuisine Type: Ethiopian/African
Price: $-$$

ATMOSPHERE: Located across the street from a little pizzeria and an arcade and amongst a row of ethnic restaurants on the street, Ethiopian Cottage makes itself at home. When you walk in, the inside is warm and colorful... the walls are a warm yellow color and african art featuring many reds and greens adorn the walls. In the middle, you can find very colorful wicker tables designed to hold a tray of food for all to share. In the back is a small, well stocked bar.

DRINKS: You can find a nice selection of beer and wine here. (I'm not 100% sure what their hard alcohol selections are). I got the Tusker beer from Kenya and Jon got the St. George Ethiopian beer. They were both very nice light lagers. After we finished our beers, I also tried some of the Tej (Ethiopian Honey Wine) which was very sweet and reminiscent of Mead. Delicious!



















FOOD: The food was awesome and what a cool dining experience it was!! I ordered the Doro Wat which was a slow stewed chicken drumstick with 2 hard boiled eggs simmered in a Berbere sauce (dark red spicy sauce). Jon got the Ybeg Alicha, which was lamb simmered with Onions and ginger. Both were served on a giant shared plate on a oversized piece of Injera (ethiopian yeast risen flat bread) along with Red Lentils and yellow split peas as a side dish. It was also served with an extra basket of Injera. You do not use your hands when you eat Ethiopian, so you scoop up your food with the thin, pancake like bread and use it to soak up the sauces. Everything was phenominal, succulent, spiced just right and we ate everything on our plate.



















SERVICE: Seeing as though it was Friday night in the dead of winter in Milwaukee, we were the only ones dining in the restaurant. Another woman did come in while we were there, but needless to say, the service was great because we were (practically) the only ones there! The waitress was very friendly, willing to answer questions and attentive to our needs.

OVERALL: I highly recommend coming to dine here just to experience a new kind of food and dining experience. The prices are very reasonable and the food is delicious and wonderfully different.

WOULD WE GO BACK: Most definately!!

- Review by Theresa

Indian home cooking... cooked by... the whole family.

India Curry House
1332 E Algonquin Rd., Algonquin, IL
Cuisine Type: Indian
Price: $$

ATMOSPHERE: India curry house is located in a strip mall, right next to a liquor store and looks a tad disheveled and unimpressive from the outside. Inside, there aren't many frills either. Several booths line the walls with several more small tables in the middle and the decor consists of a faux red brick covering at the bottom half of the wall. It didn't really bother us though, because most of the ethnic restaurants seem to concentrate more on the food than the decor.

DRINKS: Alcoholic drinks, unfortunately, were not served here. I was disappointed that I could not order a glass of chardonnay with our meal. So, I stuck with diet coke. Jon, being adventurous, decided to order the Masala tea. It had a very unusual flavor & spice to it, one that really did not sit well with the stomach. The other drink options consisted of Mango Lassi's (smoothies), Tea & Coffee.

SERVICE: This restaurant was being run single-handedly by a small family. The mother and (possibly brother) were cooking the food and the 2 middle school aged daughters were waiting tables. The service was EXTREMELY slow for a Friday night. We must have come in right after a big rush of people because it took about an hour to get our food to our table after we ordered it. I got a laugh out of the older daughter waiting tables whose soles of her gym shoes were detached and flopping off of her feet every time she walked. She made a comment about how she probably should invest in a new pair of shoes, but how comfortable the ones she had on were. The younger daughter was eating rice in a booth next to us between waiting tables and was on her laptop. It was a very laid back setting, almost as if you were eating right in the family's living room.

FOOD: The food was delicious. I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala (my favorite) and Jon had the Saag Lamb with Basmati Rice and a side order of Naan. The food made the whole trip worth it to the restaurant. The Chicken Tikka Masala was thick, rich & creamy and the chicken was tender and juicy. Jon's Lamb was also very tender and mixed perfectly with spices and spinach. We came away very full and happy from our meal.

OVERALL: I recommend the food, but it's not really ideal as a dine in location. Instead, I would recommend ordering as take out, which they do offer. If you are around the area for lunch, it looks like they do have a lunch buffet that would be quicker and offer many different dishes for you to try. I would avoid going on a busy night like Friday or Saturday.

WOULD WE GO BACK? We would probably go there just to pick up take out or if we happened to be in the area for their lunch buffet... but I wouldn't want to experience the hour wait time for my food again.

-Review by Theresa