It’s been a while since there has been a kosher Ethiopian restaurant in Jerusalem, and entering the small area of Haset on the edge of Mahaneh Yehuda is like entering a home in Ethiopia. Everything, from the artificial grass on the floor to the baskets on the tables, is from Ethiopia.
Haset, which opened in August, is a welcome place for anyone who has wanted to try Ethiopian food. The restaurant is owned and run by Abarash Minale, 33, who came from Ethiopia when she was eight years old and is a self-taught chef.
“My mother would never let me in the kitchen because she was afraid I would hurt myself,” she told me on a recent visit. “But I used to watch her and cook when she wasn’t around. I always loved feeding people.”
Restaurant is gluten-free except for Havash beer
The most famous component of Ethiopian food is injera, the bread that doubles as a plate (hence the Willy Wonka reference in the title). It is made of teff, a gluten-free flour that is said to have many health benefits. The whole restaurant, in fact, is gluten-free, except for the Havash beer, manufactured in Ethiopia and imported by a family member.
The menu changes according to what Minale cooks that day. There are always several vegetarian dishes, usually made from lentils, hummus, and beets. The food is served directly onto the injera and is eaten using your hands. You tear off a piece of the injera and use it to scoop up the vegetables.
A vegetarian meal costs NIS 65. A meal that includes doro watt, an Ethiopian chicken stew, costs NIS 95. The stir-fried beef meal costs NIS 80, and a combination including everything costs NIS 140.
We asked Minale to moderate the level of spice, which she did; there was just enough spice to make the food interesting without it being overwhelming.
My husband and I shared one combination dish. Although it didn’t look like a lot of food, the injera was filling, and we couldn’t even finish the portion.
Haset
6 Hadekel St.
Jerusalem
Tel: 053-306-2134
Hours: Sunday-Thursday,
noon-11 p.m.;
Saturday after Shabbat
Kashrut: Tzohar