Blue Nile Cafe — Restaurant in Kansas City

Located by the Market area in the fun downtown Kansas City this is an exotic option for lunch.

The parking around the area is not difficult, although street parking can be a bit difficult, there is plenty of metered lots around and when we came for lunch over the weekend it was not difficult at all to get the car parked.

They have a very rustic looking and the eating experience is fun and very easy. they also have plenty of seating and a great service.

Our waiter was pretty attentive and fast to explain how the lunch experience worked.

Here you have a cafeteria style all you can eat.

The waiter serves the drinks, but keep in mind that on weekends they seemed not to be able to serve alcohol, he told me why but I forgot right now the reason.

So when you ready to eat you just go to the window where the food is displayed and tell the server what you want in your plate, they serve you and you eat, you are allowed to come back as many times as you wish and eat as much as you can.

Here was my combo.

RICE- pretty good as rice is expected

BEEF CHILI- I was expecting it to be super spicy but the truth was that is was not, I was glad cause I like to taste my food and not burn inside (if you like spicy this might be too mild for you and you should ask for some spicy sauce cause there was nothing spicy in the meal)

CABBAGE- this was some amazing cabbage I can safely say, I am not a super fan of it, but this one was perfect and the seasoning was pretty amazing.

MUSHROOM GRAVY- it was some sort of paste but it was pretty nice to try.

COLLARD GREENS- since I am not a super fan of that, I could have gone without it, but it was tasty and if you like your greens you should definitely go for it.

LENTIL MASH- it was pretty nice and tasty, again the seasoning here was the rockstar making the side amazing in taste and blending well with the rest of the meal

LENTIL SOUP- very nice as well, but I would not go for it as the lentil mash was more than enough I felt, but if you are a lentil lover, you will have an amazing time here.

INJERA- this is like a traditional tortilla, it has a spongy texture and taste a bit sour and bitter at the same time, this is a very nice little tortilla when eaten with the meal while warm.

I just want to point out here for the people who are watching their figure that the meals from that part of the world, specially the INJERA is SUPER high on calories and such, so if you come here make sure to do a super tourist walk after cause the calories you will have here are going to be off the charts.

since they were not serving alcohol we only had water, we did not have dessert cause we went for it elsewhere just for the experience, but I can tell you that the meal was pretty good and it is not the first time I come here, you definitely should give it a try not only for the food but also for the experience of having a meal from another part...

If you like fermented food, I highly recommend having a meal here! Their Vegetarian sampler platter is huge and very filling with potato, lentil, and chickpea dishes, and you get to enjoy eating with your hands as you scoop up the various dishes with the injera (teff flatbread). It's a great day when you don't feel bloated or ill after eating out in this country!

The injera flatbread is soft, chewy, has many small bubbles, and is quite tart from the fermentation of the teff flour. They did seemed to be more sour and saltier than when I came a year or two ago. They also have a brown teff injera option for those who want it gluten free.

Gomen, their collard green dish, and fosolia, their green bean dish, had some hard fibers from not preparing them properly, but overall it was an enjoyable experience. My favorite vegetarian dishes were Atikeltt (cabbage and potato), Shimbera watt (chickpeas and green peas), and Inguday watt (mushrooms and onions). None of the dishes stood out to me as being particularly strong in spices, so the flavors tended to blend from one dish to the next, especially when eaten with the sour and salty injera.

Since this meal uses your hands to scoop up the dishes with the injera, and no wet towels are given to wipe off your hands prior to eating, I recommend using the restrooms in the center of the building to wash hands, heading left from the east door of the restaurant, and using the handicap push button to open the restroom door when coming out to avoid touching it directly.

The last time I came here, their Ethiopian coffee tasted like it was made from a strong dose of instant coffee crystals, so I wouldn't recommend getting it unless they show that they brew actual coffee beans. I had their homemade mead at that time which was lightly fermented and still quite sweet, but I don't remember seeing it on the menu this time. I saw instead they now serve chai.

If you want to take advantage of their lower price options, I recommend coming between 11-3pm during their lunch buffet and lunch pricing. I thought their lunch pricing continued in until 4pm, so I was surprised to see that the bill came out to be $5 more than expected. Will now know...

So I've never had Ethiopian food before. I've always been interested in trying it and today became that day. I will admit I did some studying on wikipedia before hand so see what I was getting in to.

I chose Blue Nile Cafe because of it's proximity to the KC Street Car line. I work downtown so being able to hop the Street Car and get somewhere quickly for lunch is important. Secondly I noted that Blue Nile has a reasonably priced lunch buffet. This sounded perfect for someone like me that was going to be jumping in with both feet.

Upon arriving I was quickly greeted and immediately sat. My hostess told me where the buffet was and to go up when I was ready. Well I was ready. I walked up and noted that I was going to have about 8-10 choices, along with a few soups. I decided I would attempt to try as much as I could until I was full (looks like I'm eating salad for dinner!).

I started off with a plate of Doro Watt (this wound up being my favorite), some Yekik Watt, and some sour, cabbage dish whose name eludes me. I was blown away. The spices were rich and offered the heat I was looking for. The textures and flavors were absolutely delicious. I struck up a conversation with an employee named Roe/Ro sp?. He was super kind and was interested in my tattoos. So we discussed them for a bit and I was impressed at his knowledge as to who the various comic characters on my sleeve were.

I went up for another round, this time going for some Misir Watt, Gomen, and another dish I can't recall, as well as a delicious butternut squash and lentil soup. Again the food was delicious (though my first plate was still my favorite). I polished it off with a couple glasses of water and was too full to enjoy the rice pudding (something I absolutely love) that was offered to me.

In the end I walked out only $12 lighter, a few lbs heavier, and much happier. Blue Nile has earned a repeat customer out of me and I highly recommend you visit if you are in the River Market area.

Thanks for the wonderful...