Safari Restaurant — Restaurant in Kaiserslautern

This was the best Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant that I have ever been to by far. I always got the lamb ribs plate which came with more than enough traditional Ethiopian injera bread and a fresh, green, nice side salad. The salad was always top with a sufficient amount of homemade Ethiopian vinaigrette dressing. I have gotten adjusted with the traditional practice of using the injera bread as a utensil. Essentially, you pick up the food using the bread in your hand. Injera bread is normally prepared soft, doughy with a slight taste of lemon. I always felt welcomed and comfortable eating here. It was authentic Ethiopian/Eritrean food. The lamb was deliciously flavorful delicately cooked/served to perfection. I loved the freshly make homemade lemonade which was make with real lemons and a certain type of sugar. I’d watch the bartenders make it and it takes quite a bit of effort. It was made manually. I give them their kudos for putting in the work to make sure that the drink was always hand made right and tasted good. Sometimes J would get samosas to start off with as an appetizer. Samosas are sort of like empanadas except they are made/prepared Ethiopian/Eritrean style. always looked forward to going here to eat a good Ethiopian meal. The entire ambiance was amazing and culturally decorated Ethiopian style. It was a nice atmosphere and they were always customer friendly. The quality of food exceeded my expectations. I believe it was the only Ethiopian restaurant in the city of Kaiserslautern. This was the last restaurant I went to before I left Germany. It’s funny because I’m not Ethiopian, but you would think I am as much as I have found myself looking for and eating Ethiopian cuisine. I noticed that I can always find an Ethiopian restaurant in almost every state I visited and even in some other countries I’ve visited as well. I didn’t give them full stars on the service because one of the servers didn’t seem to really appreciate tips. She literally gave me the impression that she didn’t appreciate my generous tips. I understand that in certain parts of Germany they don’t really tip because it’s looked upon as unnecessary. Tipping in Germany, is viewed as an American custom and associated with American culture. So, maybe the female server looked down on my tips because of the German culture which frowned upon tipping because they view their waiting/bartending services as a part of their job which they are already paid for by the business. However, she was one of the Eritrean/Ethiopian bartenders/servers so I really didn’t get why she acted like she didn’t appreciate my generosity. I did not mean to offend her with my tips to show appreciation for her service. I thought that was pretty interesting, but I really truly enjoyed the cultural experience and traditional East African cuisine. Thank you for having me.

Love, Light,Peace,...

Just a great place to go eat and experience something truly different. You have never eaten this food before unless you have actually been to Africa. If you are ever in Kaiserslautern, Germany this is one place you really need to visit. The food is more than enough to feed a group of whatever you bring, I would call ahead though if you have more than 4 people in your party. The first thing to not is the flavored beer. They are fun and interesting but they are not African. The banana beer is the best but I had the passion fruit beer just to try something different. The flavor was strong and very citric, so it didn't go well with the food but it was still interesting to drink it out of a bowl, which is the only beer that you drink out of a bowl the rest of the beers are served in a glass so you're good. On to the food...Everything is good! I arrived with a party of 16 and we tried so many different dishes that not one person had a complaint. The prices may seem high to you but these dishes are not made for one person and you're not getting one meat with every dish unless you specifically order one thing, but why would you do that here? Me and friend went half on combination plate #24 "Keren." This plate has item #6, #10, #12, and #9 in it which is amazing for about $24. The flavor of the rice was perfect, it was almost like curry rice. Then the meats, they were all tender and full of flavor. If you are worried about there being enough food on the plate, don't worry because the portion was like two full plates of food. The chicken was a little spice, the lamb was tender and almost tasted like ground beef, but extremely tender. You don’t use silver wear for this food, you have to eat with this wrap that looks like it would fill you up but it doesn’t. You get plenty of wraps to grab your food and eat with. The wraps are like eating with crepes, but it’s not sweet, its just like a plain crepe that allows you to eat the dishes. I can't explain exactly the flavors in words but your taste buds will not be disappointed if you like curry and slightly spicy food. One amazing thing that we were all surprised about is that the service was right on time and it didn’t take long for all our dishes to arrive. The atmosphere was like a safari (of course) and the people were very friendly and helpful to recommend dishes. They speak German and English so as Americans we felt welcomed. On the wall, they have a slide show of images from Africa which was very interesting to watch while we waited and it helped the time go by. I highly recommend this restaurant for the food and the experience because you really do get your money’s worth and you really do experience something different. Another thing that is great...NO CELL SERVICE. You really get to take a break from the outside world for moment and enjoy the meal. So go ahead and try it, just make sure to bring...

When my nephew suggested Safari Restaurant which primarily serves Ethiopian, and Eritrean food, I was eager and enthusiastic to visit it because the last time I tasted Ethiopian food during our Cape to Cairo road expedition, I liked had liked it. Of course, during that expedition, we were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to taste authentic Ethiopian food by the Ethiopian chefs in Ethiopia itself. One of the reasons I liked Ethiopian food could perhaps be that like Indians, Ethiopians also like it spicy. Though the spices they add in their preparations are different than the ones used by the Indians, the net result is the same, they make them taste mouth wateringly hot and spicy. Additionally, the Ethiopian bread called 'Injera' made from the teff flour (similar to a crêpe) is very similar to the bread prepared in Southern India called 'Dosa.'

We visited 'Safari Restaurant' on a weekday evening. It wasn't crowded at all. The interior was well lit, and decorated on the African theme. We were immediately seated at a table for two, and handed over two menu cards. Menu was nicely printed with local names of the dishes along with their respective ingredients and short descriptions, and photos. It helped a lot. I ordered "Tsebhi Derho with Alicha" for myself, whereas my nephew ordered "Zigni Denish with Shiro" for him. According to the menu, "Tsebhi Derho with Alicha" means Chicken drumstick and boiled egg slow cooked in a light spicy onion tomate sauce, seasoned and refined in the traditional way; it includes side salad and three Injeras, and "Zigni Denish with Shiro" means Beef and potato cubes slow cooked in a slightly spicy onion and tomato sauce, seasoned and refined in traditional way; it includes side salad and three Injeras. To drink, we also ordered beverages "Shirley Temple" (Ginger Ale, Sprite, grenadine, lemon) for me, and "Virgin Caipirinha" (Ginger Ale, lime, brown sugar) for my nephew to go with it.

Our orders were delivered without much wait. They looked appealing and appetizing. We ate our dishes with hands like we eat dosa. The food was good. We both enjoyed our respective...