Merkato — Restaurant in London

Since none of my partner and I’s favourite Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurants reopened after the lifting of lockdown restrictions in July, we decided to try out a new place and gave Merkato a chance. After finding Merkato on Google, I decided to book a slot based on the high rating of reviews. Sadly, our experience was far from our expectations.

The first thing that put me off was the booking system, which is done on their website and doesn't provide instant confirmation/rejection.

Anyway, the day arrives and when we got we were greeted by a man who was only half interested in serving us as he seemed busy with the redecoration/fixing of some bits and pieces on the terrace outside. We were sat down and a nice lady brought us the menus. Much to my dismay, there wasn’t much choice for chicken dishes. Also there wasn’t a detailed enough description of the menu, nor were we explained what the dishes are, so we went by instinct.

The dishes arrived. The first thing I noticed is how pale they looked, in comparison to how I’m used to seeing them in other restaurants. The chicken dish was very small, and consisted only of a tiny piece of chicken drumstick, covered in a black sauce, with an egg on the side. Then I took a bite of the diced beef (or at least I tried). It was so dry that it felt akin to chewing on a rubber tyre. I couldn’t chew it at all, so I had to spit it out. I decided to try another piece. Same issue. It was a shame, because we wasted a dish. My partner didn’t eat his portion of beef either.

After what felt like an unsatisfying meal, my partner and I decided to end our meal and ask for the bill. One eternity later we get our bill. After another (wasted) 5 minutes the man asks us how we would like to pay. I said I want to pay by card. Complete silence for another few minutes. We were finally being told that the card machine doesn’t work. Since the closest relatively safe cash point was about 10-12 minutes walk from the restaurant my partner suggested that I just do a bank transfer instead.

So I asked the man (again) if I could do a bank transfer because I don’t carry cash with me and I don’t feel confident withdrawing money from a random cash point. His response surprised me, and not in a good way. I heard him scoff and then on an obviously annoyed tone he asked me how long it would take for the money to show up, then he mumbled something under his breath which I couldn’t comprehend, and ultimately decided to write down the bank details on a piece of paper. His demeanor changed completely once we paid, but I was having none of it and just wanted to leave at that point.

Needless to say, I think neither my partner nor I looked like the kind of people to leave without paying for our meals, which we paid for in the end.

That being said, I don’t mind the hassle of paying, but I do care about the attitude, and what I have noticed was a lack of involvement and interest in serving customers. A general advice is to take a more proactive/organized role in running the business.

TL;DR PROS: • Nice lady server • Decent quantity

CONS: • The booking system • The attitude of the other server, the man – unfriendly and uncommunicative • Pretty much the service in general – or lack thereof • Not related to the food but the lady server seemed to do all of the work, or at least 99% of it. I’m inclined to believe that apart from tending the bar, taking orders and delivering the dishes from the kitchen, she was also cooking. While I intended to rate this place only 1 star I decided to go for 2 because that lady is a star herself given her hard work. • The beef was inedible. Very hard to chew. Better yet, not chewable at all. • The pricing of the chicken was weird - £10.50 for one very skinny chicken drumstick with an egg, yes just 1 piece, while we got 6 assortments of vegetables for about the same price? • Too much injera • A lot of the dishes tasted bland. Just because we ordered the midly spiced food it doesn’t mean that it has to have no taste at all. • Card machine not working

P.S.: NOT going...

Merkato is a cosy little Ethiopian restaurant tucked away in the forbidden lands north of Kings Cross. This was my first time up this far North and I can't say I would have ventured there if not for it being one of the best Ethiopian restaurants on Yelp. If you are waiting for friends or dining companions, there is a pretty cool pub just down the road called The Driver, but more on that in another post.

We started off with a round of beers and, in order to stay true to form, asked for typical Ethiopian beers. Merkato had two on offer: Castel & St. George. Naturally, we couldn't decide and ordered both. Despite all my years of beer drinking experience, I have to admit that I couldn't tell much difference between the two (and thankfully neither could the bartenders in our group). The Castel was slightly hoppier and the St. G slightly sweeter but both are light lagers that go down quite easily. We also chose a bottle of Tej which is like a slightly alcoholic (3-4%) tropical fruit juice. It's a refreshing beverage but don't expect it to get all by the lightest of weights drunk.

We kept with the game plan and ordered 5 of the 6 starters (we opted to avoid the salad) which consisted of samosas, spring rolls, a spinach and cottage cheese dip, and, my personal favourite, bits of the typical sour bread fried in a spicy butter. The samosas were fairly tasteless and the spring rolls unmemorable so I'd advise giving those a miss and looking to your nearest Indian and Chinese takeaway to satisfy your craving. The spinach and cottage cheese dish (apologies as I couldn't spell the actual names without a menu in front of me) was tasty even though I'm not the biggest fan of cottage cheese. The spicy bread bits I could easily snack on at any time. For those that are a bit worried, they aren't very hot but rather with a good mix of spices that give a good depth of flavour.

When in came to mains, we asked for a selection of traditional dishes and ended up with a variety of meat tibs (dry stir fried style) and w'et (curry style), a trio of lentils (think dal), and a minced beef that reminded me of a keema curry. My favourites were the house special tibs which had a delicious chargrilled crust containing tender juicy meat with a robust seasoning and the minced beef dish which had a rich meatiness although it was a tad oily. Definitely get the extra bread but make sure to save room to eat all the bread in the main dish that will be soaked with the juices and sauces of each dish as you eat. It's by far the best part of the mopping up segment of your meal.

By this point, we were far too stuffed to even consider dessert and the 30 min bike ride home was a daunting challenge. The food coma was quickly setting in and for once I was damn happy it was freezing cold outside.

Overall, it was a tasty meal with great company so a definite win. I would note that the bathrooms are pretty dodgy and dirty but it kinda adds to the authenticity of the whole thing. Price wise, it's damn cheap with what was essentially an all you can eat and drink (we must have had 3-4 rounds of beer) for...

My very first time trying Ethiopian food and I really liked it!

I know there are a few Ethiopian spots around Kings Cross and after doing a random Google Maps search I came across this one that had a really good rating and reviews so I suggested to my friends who were visiting in town that we should give this a go.

I had made a reservation prior but upon arrival on a Monday evening I was surprised to see that it was basically empty so reservations aren't needed on week days although weekends could be totally different.

I was greeted by this very nice lady and I chose a table inside since it was rainy earlier that day and a bit chilly. Between my friends and I we ordered one vegan combo and one meat (combo 2) to share and it's safe to say that we had way too much food.

I personally really liked the injera - interesting texture and taste which I suppose could be off-putting to some people as it's made with a special flour so tasted a bit sour but together with the veggies and meat it was such a nice complimentary bread. I really enjoyed both combos but gotta say my personal favourite was the meaty one because of the spices and the range of proteins we had - beef stew, spicy chicken stew and lamb. Everything was genuinely so tasty and the flavours were stimulating my appetite as I ate. I liked the lentils and Dahl (I presume?) a lot, they were such nice pairings with injera and I simply couldn't stop eating! With that all being said, I did expect some of the meat dishes to be much spicier given they were named "spicy beef and chicken stews" but I suppose as an Asian with a high spice tolerance I was expecting a lot from a place that's obviously adapted to the local bland British palatte. In total, we paid around £20 per person excluding the beer and wine and an extra chicken dish that my friends had ordered which was a great price considering how big the portions were.

Service was great, the lady was so smiley and friendly the whole time giving us recommendations. The interior design felt very homely with the decorations on the walls, making you feel like you were really in Ethiopia for a true local dining experience. I would love to come back and try other...