Salama INTL BAAZAR — Restaurant in Portland

This is the second non-standard-Ethiopian East African restaurant I have been to (the other one is just west of 82nd and Powell). They were both unusual experiences but then again they felt more like gathering places for diaspora Somalis and other East Africans than restaurants for westerners.

We sat ourselves and were served by a mumbly man who was neither friendly nor unfriendly, helpful nor unhelpful. He took our order, came back and asked for our order again, and then later one woman and two different children came at different times to recheck our order.

The other time I ate East African food there was a buffet, but after getting plates of buffet food we were then brought an enormous pile of meat, bread, and a pitcher of watered-down fruit nectar. We got a pitcher of juice again but no surprise food this time. If you have never had this style of food, it's somewhat similar to Ethiopian food but with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern / Indian influences. Think injera, spaghetti, rice, and chapatis living harmoniously in the same dishes.

I can't find the same spellings on Google, but we got beef suqooz with anjeera and kaykay with beef and chapatis. The suqooz was a plate of lean steak and peppers in a brothy sauce, served with hot fresh chili paste and anjeera on the side. It seemed like the difference between their anjeera and your typical injera is the latter is made with sour teff flour and this seemed to be made from regular wheat flour. This dish was pretty bad for $12. The beef was that leanest, cheapest kind of steak you got when you were younger and wanted to eat steak but didn't realize good steak is expensive for a reason. The bread was fine. With the hot sauce, all together, it tasted fine, it was just more like bad home cooking.

The kaykay was chapati sliced up and tossed with green peppers in a spiced tomato sauce. This was really good, similar in flavor and texture to a thick pasta in a spiced red sauce. At $10, it was far superior in taste and value.

The service / milieu was hecka odd and by the time we were ready to leave everyone in the whole place had disappeared into the back room to pray so we just put some cash on the table and left.

Overall, it was okay? I'm surprised by how much I like watered-down fruit nectar. I really enjoyed one of the dishes. I'm more intrigued than offended by weird service, but this is not a place to take the picky or uptight. I would probably come back to try their breakfast menu (before 11AM), but I'm not sure this is a...

The food is beyond delicious. If you want a white-washed ethnic food experience, visit taco bell. The people here respect your space and privacy. If you want something, you have to speak to them. This is not an american eagle or buckle where its impossible to reach the back of the store without three people stopping to help you. That being said, you can wander the store in peace without feeling like you need to explain yourself. If you wander past the restaurant and the burgeoning grocery section into the clothing section, you will find amazing dresses and the kindest people. Again, they will not approach you. I walked into the clothing area, as the only white person there, and asked if I could look at a dress. The woman running the shop not only helped me find the right size, she walked me to the bathroom to try it on, offered advice on the size, translated a conversation with the tailor to get the proper fit, and measured me as the tailor is male. Side note, the tailor is knowledgeable and friendly but didn't touch me due to cultural and religious differences and is nice for those who feel uncomfortable being measured by a man. Anyway, the woman who helped me with my dress was amazing. As for the food, it is super flavorful and the hot tea is crave-able. As mentioned earlier, this restaurant is not white washed. They have a prayer room and no utensils. Do yourself a favor and eat with your hands. It gives you a connection to the food that you cannot get with a fork. If you are unsure how, ask anyone hanging out in the restaurant. Even if you think they don't work there, they most likely know someone who does or would be happy to help you or teach you. This was the case when we needed a to-go container and the gentleman who had just finished eating got to-go boxes for us. This is some of the best food I have had in a long time, but if you are looking to be treated like a special person to be waited upon, you will need to ask for it. The people here let you eat in peace. Speak up if you need something and I encourage you to visit here to get out of your comfort zone. You will...

I know this is a new business so they should be trying extra hard if there were be zero Stars I would give them that. My ex-husband and I had a restaurant, actually Middle Eastern one, but when we opened it was a real restaurant not with doors to an empty room with a few shelves that are started to be filled with packages and items for a new store. Very unprofessional.

I walked into the counter the man turned around and walked into the kitchen not even the hi or hello or nothing!

The servers don't have a uniform.

The samosa, even though it is in a glass case, is noto kept warm, so it is cold and dry. I couldn't taste the onion. The dough of the samosas was tough-- NOT what it's supposed to be. I sold samosas at some point and usually have a choice not just one that is filled with some sort of mixture that is very hard to recognize what is in there.

I ordered the KayKay. It was mostly the chapati cut into little squares that was in a sauce so of course they were soggy. Cheap lettuce on the side. The little hot sauce to go container didn't even have a lid. No cutlery, not even a napkin. He asked me if I wanted a bag. I would have preferred all these other things and no bag. A very little amount of onion and green bell pepper and beef. I told the man that I am not estate person and if I eat beef I prefer it to be tender and he said oh no it said into little pieces and it's tender it is not tender it is chewy, you been chopped up into little pieces. The whole dish did not have any taste, not even salt! I suppose if I would have put the hot sauce on it, it would have been so spicy that I couldn't even tell if it's tasty or not. Anyone can cook like this and cover it up with hot sauce!

I was very hungry so I picked out the onion the bell pepper and the meat and I threw the rest away.

The whole thing cost me $11 so I would have preferred to have gone to another restaurant even a fast-food one of better...