エチオピアと日本の為に・・・ : De Afrique

June 30, 2012...A restaurant specializing in African Cuisine has opened in Jiyugaoka. This is "de' Afrique". The owner, Jonas, works hard every day to build a bridge between Ethiopia and Japan. This ambitious young man, Jonas, has an unexpected background...he was a representative player for the Ethiopian national soccer team. Not only that, I was surprised by Jonas' fluent Japanese. It's been 10 years since I came to Japan, but I have a suspicion that I was born there. On this day, Jonas was managing the lunch time by himself, but normally he is working with another person, Eddie, who has been in Japan for 14 years. The store's name means "of Africa" in French, but the owner, Jonas, wants it to be interpreted broadly as "African continent." Anyway, I am deeply impressed by Jonas's nice young man. After understanding Japanese culture, I hope that people will learn more about Ethiopian culture. That's the way I think. He has an outstanding African style and is the type of handsome guy that even Asians like! ^^ They only gave explanations about the shop owner and didn't give any important explanations about the shop. (sweat) This restaurant specializes in African Cuisine, which is still rare even in central Tokyo, and serves continental cuisine, mainly Ethiopia. They also offer a rare ``Ethiopian coffee.'' They not only offer food and drinks, but also the culture of the African continent. What I mean by that is... They will tell you when the locals eat that food and how they make that drink. You can truly say that it is a bridge between Ethiopia and Japan. Ethiopia and Japan are said to have very similar cultures and languages, and you can experience it firsthand. The official language is Amharic, but I didn't even know that. Furthermore, there is a language called Amaric, but of course I have never seen or heard of it. It really made me realize that I only knew the name of the country. Also, I only knew about Abebe, the gold medalist in the men's marathon at the Tokyo Olympics. When Abebe ran a marathon barefoot...I wasn't even born yet, but he was so famous...(^^;) I feel like I'm going off track again. (^^;) Well, let me explain about the "Draw Watt" I received this time. ``Drawat'' is a stew dish that is representative of Ethiopia. It is an elaborate dish that is simmered for 6 hours with 12 types of spices. Although it is a stew dish that represents Ethiopia, it is a valuable dish that can only be eaten at celebratory occasions such as weddings and New Year's. You can enjoy such precious dishes here every day. (^^) As for the taste, it is far more delicious than I imagined, and it is characterized by a refreshing spiciness. African spices might suit my taste! I like spicy food, but I felt that they might be more delicious than the spices from India and Nepal. The dressing for the "salad" is also spicy and I feel like I'll get addicted to it. It looks like a Thousand Island dressing, but it's also spicy and delicious! You can choose ``bread'' or ``rice'' for your ``Draw Wat'' accompaniment. As you can see, the "rice" was yellow rice, but is it really saffron rice? This comes with "Ethiopian coffee" and 900 yen is cheap! I also heard about this "Ethiopian coffee" from the owner, Jonas. Not only did he explain the process very thoroughly, he also gave me a flyer on how to enjoy Ethiopian coffee. First of all, Ethiopian coffee is a ceremony. It starts with roasting Ethiopian mocha green beans in a cast iron frying pan. Rather than grinding the roasted beans in a mill, it is a daunting task to grind them into a powder using a wooden mortar and iron rod. Even up to this point, it's quite a difficult task... The boiling process, which is also the final step, requires a great deal of skill. It is boiled using a unique pottery, but since you can't see inside, you can use your senses to prevent it from spilling over. Now, lastly, how to drink it... In Ethiopia, they drink it with salt or butter. ``Salt'' is ``salt'', but...(^^;) ``Butter'' is said to be processed for coffee. Well, here they serve sugar and milk, but I don't think sugar is necessary because it's boiled down, so it doesn't have a sour taste. It doesn't have any sourness, making it hard to believe that the original mocha is Mocha. Instead, it is deep and rich, so it goes perfectly with milk. You can feel the sweetness just by adding milk. This is exactly what we say, ``If the place changes, the product changes.'' Next time I'm thinking of having ``crocodile shish kebab'' during bar time... I'm sure you'll be happy to be able to experience a foreign culture so easily, right? The owner, Jonas, is someone you'll want to talk to forever. I hope I can tell you something about Japanese culture next time. Lastly, on a personal note...I am happy to have met a restaurant with a "red star" rating for the first time in a long time, and at the same time, I would like to thank the customers who happened to be with me.