Gojo Little Africa Cafe

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Raul the other night to check out the new Ethiopian place on the Drive, Gojo Little Africa Cafe.

We ordered the doro alicha ($12.50) because the doro wat is only available on weekends, but the chicken and veggies in butter sauce flavoured with ginger, rosemary and jalapeno in the alicha were exquisite.

We also ordered the vegetarian combo ($11.95) which comes with cabbage, yatikilt wat (green beans, carrots, bell peppers and onions sauteed in garlic and tomoatos), spinach and miser wat (spicy red lentils) laid out on injera.

Everything was tasty. I would have preferred a but more spices in the doro alicha, but the inerja was perfectly soft and the journey from starving to very full of delicious bites of stew was pleasing in the extreme.

I also had honey wine (mead) to drink which was something new for me, and which I enjoyed thoroughly. Cloudy greeny-gold and somewhat foamy, it didn’t really look like wine (and technically it isn’t: no grapes), but it did taste like something resembling a sweet wine cooler and was the perfect accompaniment to washing down bits of inerja bread.

Gojo is such a cute little place. There is a traditional Ethiopian sitting area with rough-hewn wooden chairs and a thatched faux roof over the bar. The rest of decor is simple but appropriate; framed photographs of Ethiopia and t-shirts under glass for tablecloths. I liked it. It felt cosy and comfortable and the service was likewise warm and casual.

It was empty the whole time we were there (late-ish on a Thursday night) which I hope is not indicative of its popularity.

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Gojo Little Africa Cafe
2838 Commercial Drive (@12th Ave), Vancouver