Corarima — Restaurant in Wakefield

I have heard a lot about Corarima and thought it was about time to try it for myself. Warm welcome from the owners and made to feel very comfortable from the start. The restaurant is cosy and spotlessly clean with a minimal feel despite plenty of traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean decorations around the room. It really is very nice. Having never tried food from this part of the world, we decided to put our trust in the chef and ordered a sharing dish for three with a starter of hummus (made in house), flatbread made from chickpea flour and potato wedges spiced with berbere. All incredibly delicious and the softness of the flatbread was a welcome change from pitta. The main arrived with some theatre, presented on a slate with a selection of main dishes spooned on top of a large piece of injera, a flatbread made from teff flour - a grain native to Ethiopia and Eritrea. Encouraged to eat using the injera to scoop up the vegetable based dishes in front of us. Everything was beautifully flavoured with numerous spices (in some dishes as many 18). The meal was completed with a pot of coffee, poured for us from a beautiful jebena into tiny decorated cups. The flavour of the coffee was intense with the beans roasted and ground in house before being flavoured with ginger, cardamom, anise and presumably various other spices. The saltiness of the popcorn, traditionally served with coffee in Ethiopia, really added something to the coffee. Wonderful restaurant, lovely warm and hospitable hosts and exceptionally flavoursome food. It was a pleasure to be served a meal which came with a little insight into the traditions and culture of what I am sure is a fascinating country. Looking forward to returning to try...

My wife and I had dinner at Coraima this evening whilst staying in Wakefield and what a delightful restaurant it is. The simple and authentically decor provides an instant relaxed atmosphere. We started with drinks. I had a Telba (a cold drink made with ground flax seeds) and my wife had a Beso (a cold, slightly sweet roasted barley drink). Both were delicious. For starters we shared a Beetroot Salad. It was very fresh with a delicately flavoured vinegar type dressing. As neither of us had had Abyssinian cuisine before, we decided to go for the 'Combination dish for two' to give us an overall taster of their menu. A large round slate plate arrived with nine perfectly neat individual dishes sat on an injera (a slightly sour flat bread made from teff flour) with a further six neatly rolled injeras and four small chickpea flat breads. Every dish was very well spiced and made with care. Delightful and moreish. By the time we had eaten the whole plate we were nicely full but it did not feel heavy. We rounded the evening with hot drinks of a Shay (a North African spiced tea) and an Abyssinian coffee. The coffee (and popcorn) is not cheep at £9.95, however, this is by far the best coffee I've ever tasted and a must for any coffee lover. We were informed that they roast the beans with spices in-house. Another sign of their dedication to present an authentic experience delivered with passion. Thoroughly recommended.

Some additional information:

The restaurant is vegetarian and gluten free.

We had to pay a £20 no-show deposit when making the online table booking the day before, although, this has become, understandably, quite common for independent...

I found this little gem of a restaurant via the often-fails method of clicking ‘restaurants’ around my location on Google maps when staying in Wakefield for a night. Its 5 star rating made me click, wanting to prove my assumption that it had been open 5 minutes and had about 2 reviews. Discovering I was wrong and it had over 400 I decided I had to see whether it was really that great. You can believe the hype, it’s worth every single good review. I’m glad I knew it was open from the Google review because when I approached it looked quite dark and I potentially would have assumed it was closed. When I went in I found it to be cosy and beautiful decorated, with just the right number of covers for the space creating a wonderfully relaxed and homey atmosphere. I was warmly welcomed by the ‘host’ - I don’t use that word lightly, he absolutely earned it, being friendly, attentive and informative all evening. I had the mushroom stew which was glorious and a delicious fresh ginger and lemon tea. Food was spicy, which I love, but if it’s not your thing then best to ask - the menu didn’t really indicate it would be quite so hot. Menus posted on Google are clearly old ones and, just like everywhere, prices have risen so be prepared for this. Still worth every penny...