Dining at Addis Red Sea, Ethiopian cuisine

Well I wrote yesterday's blog as an intro to today's blog on Addis Red Sea, which is an Ethiopian restaurant in Boston's Southend. Now I have never eaten Ethipoian food before this visit last week and man I wish I had before because it was fun as well as tasty. Located at 544 Tremont Street in Boston, if you do not visit this place while in Boston you are doing yourself an injustice.

Well I have already premised that I love this place but let me tell you why. The location is set in a newish area of Boston known for food. I called up ahead of time looking to make a reservation, but they informed me that they do not take reservations for tables under six. As I was dining alone I asked if there was at least a chance of me getting a table within 30 minutes of my call which was at 7:00pm which the person who answered the phone told me I would. So I showed up to the location which is set slightly below street level and walked in the door just behind a group of four people. I was possibly missed when I walked in as they were noticed, but this is one of the few complaints I have about the restaurant. I was sorta ignored for about ten minutes until I became a bit pushy to tell a couple staff members that I was a one-top and needed a table. This time though at least gave me a chance to watch people eating and figure out how I was going to eat this cuisine.

The reason I bring up "How I was going to eat this cuisine" is that when you look into the dining room, there is no traditional tables. They are very low weaved tables with hardwood low set chairs, very close to the ground. There is a multitude of traditional masks and tapestries from Africa to set the mood as well. When I finally got my table I was escorted downstairs which made me extremely happy as it was such a comfy spot. The room was stark white on the walls, with a gray tile. The fun stuff was the hut to the back of the room as well as the ethnic paintings on the walls.

Now I will admit, I know nothing about Ethiopian cuisine so it is great to find a staff that is intimate with the menu. I started off with the Ayib Begomen which is in-house made cottage cheese mixed with mitmita and gomen for $5.95. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to try their version of steak tartar and as such I ended up ordering a combination with three vegetarian dishes, which is called Kitfo for $14.90. As I knew nothing about the vegetarian dishes, my waitress suggested three of the spicy veggie dishes which my goodness they were spicy, but heck so tasty. Do you like to eat with your hands by-the-way? All dishes are served with a spongy flavorful bread which is used to pick up the food, be careful not to eat too much of it in the first course as it is easy to do.

The wine list was extremely wonderful as well. They featured a honey wine as-well-as three red wines that were all from Ethiopia. I tried the honey wine and dry red Ethiopian wine which were good, but honestly I had to go for the South African Sauvignon blanc, they also had a number of other South African wines which I have had in the past which are great.

Feel free to avoid desert as it is obviously not a strong point of Ethiopian cuisine. There are many other places in the area to get a proper dessert and espresso. I highly suggest Addis Red Sea, I have no idea why it has taken so long for me to try this cuisine but I am so happy I finally did.




544 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02216

Phone- 617-426-8727