Disappointments of Addis

After finally trying Ethiopian mead at the Zigni House, and being very impressed I took the opportunity to seek out another Ethopian / East Africa restaurant in the quest for Tej.

As a restaurant Addis was fair enough, the waiting staff were pretty useless but inconceivably there was no mead on offer. Putting aside my British reserve I even asked and the waiter dismissed the ask, as either he didn’t understand me, wasn’t interested or the answer was no. There was nothing resembling Mead on the menu although there was a listing under the red wine section for an ‘Ethiopian wine’

In hindsight I suspect an Ethiopian wine may well be a mead, and the waiter may have just been stupid. A google search suggests there may well be an Ethiopian red wine, so I dunno maybe I should drop them an email.

However also in hindsight the food wasn’t that great, the Injura was ok but the lamb dish was more grey than tasty. There are undoubtedly many more Ethopian / East African restaurants to visit first.

A bit more research suggests:

Axum Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Blue Nile - 300 Clapham Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 9AE
Cafe Genet- Unit 7 Village Kitchen, Shepherd Bush Green, London W12 8PP
Damera Ethiopian Restaurant - 129 Askew Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W12
Fassika - 152 Seven Sisters Road, London, N7 7PL
Kokeb Ethiopian Cuisine - 45 Roman Way, Holloway, London, N7 8XF
Kokeb Ethiopian Restaurant - 45 Roman Way, London N7 8XF
Lalibela - 137 Fortess Road, Tufnell Park, London, NW5 2HR
Marathon Restaurant & Bar - 193a Caledonian Road, N1 0SL
Mekasha Ethiopian Restaurant - 75 Fairfax Road, London NW6 4EE
Menelik Ethiopian Restaurant - 42 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DT
Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant - 196 Caledonian Road, London N1 0SQ
Mosob - 339 Harrow Road, Maida Vale
Muna's - 599 Green Lanes, Hornsey
Nazereth Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant - 4 Walton Road, London N15 4PS
Nile Ethiopian Restaurant - 266 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 2JR
Pomi Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 157 Kentish Town Road, London NW1
Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant - 12 Fortess Road, London NW5 2EU
Roha Ethiopian Ethiopian Restaurant - 407 Lordship Lane, London N17 6AG
Sinke / Senke Cafe Ethiopian Restaurant- 1b - 1c, Rock Street, London N4 2DN
Sodere Ethiopian Restaurant - 143 Goldhawk Road - London, W12 8EN
St. Gebriel Deli Ethiopian Restaurant, 12 Blackstock Rd, London N4 2DW
The Peacock Ethiopian Restaurant - 107 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8NL
Tobia Ethiopian Restaurant - 2a Lithos Road, London NW3 6EF
Wabi Shebele Restaurant - 189-191 New Kent Road, London, SE1 4AG
Zeret Kitchen - 216 Camberwell Road, London, SE5 0ED

And a whole host of listings under African restaurants, which offers some promise too. Busy and interesting mead times ahead

All About Tej

While researching Tej and Ethopian meads I stumbled upon a particular good history of Tej and Ethopia which as a precaution I’ve posted below (things on the internet occasionally and inconveniently vanish.

However in the odd world of the internet, someone seems to have objected to me posting this here. Now if this was the original author than fair enough, but equally this is a blog about drinking mead. One would have thought that with all the credits I included, the thank you’s and the links that a sense of perspective might be possible.

In the cause of advancing human knowledge, and of raising the standards of knowledge about the history of Ethopia, this post is hereby censored by the internet police.

For the main text see here and many thanks to Harry Kloman for the original text. If you ever end up reading this my apologies for pinching your work. However as a precaution against loosing it {well we’re buggered now}

All About Tej



Off to my local book burning tonight, anyone care to join me……

Meyes Ethopian Mead (£4.50, 37.5cl?, ??)

Ah at last my first Ethopian mead and from a restaurant (Zigni House) just up the road from work, which I’ve been meaning to find an excuse to visit for some time.

I’ve been before but suffered a little from the menu which seemed to be very dish specific and the conflict between carnivores (like myself) and vegetarians (most of my friends). This time there was a fair posse and the meat dish (Zil-Zil) and Injera worked well for me.

The mead was served in an interesting bulbous bottle (perhaps a Berele) of indeterminate size and strength. I reckon 375-400ml in that it filled two small glasses of wine. The waitress suggested drinking straight from the bottle, and I tried but the narrow neck made it a bit weird.

From the bottle there was a sweetish honey smell, from the glass a much more bitter one, and the first taste reflected the bitter scent more.

This is definitely an interesting taste, not at all sweat like other meads, but still very pleasant. There’s quite a watery taste here, perhaps it’s not that strong or has been mixed, and the bitter taste may well represent what the honey has been fermented with.

The description of the brewing of Tej includes:

The powdered leaves and twigs of Gesho (Rhamnus prinoides, a hops like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn

And equally if I wasn;t so British I could have asked for more details.

Still an interesting diversion from sweater meads, something to repeat and an excuse to seek out Ethopian restaurants across London, which sounds like quite a fun expedition for the coming months.

Addis on Caledonian road was recommended by one of my eating companions and so more to follow.

Lyme Bay Christmas Mead (£11.50, 75cl, 14%)

Now I’ve never been a fan of Christmas, it seems to be a festival devoted to stress, family arguments, idiotic behavior and it has always brought the worse out of my parents sometimes with violent results.

So for the last couple of years I’ve been avoiding going home, although last year I seem to have been tricked into a) cooking Christmas dinner for friends and then b) visting family on Boxing day with the usual results.

After various excitements on the Rainbow Warrior this year I wanted to follow a friends advice and simply go to Quinns, his local Irish pub. I’d already planned an exciting new year with my sister on Knoydart, the UK’s last wilderness (well sort of) and so an especially grumpy Christmas seemed ideal.

Having enjoyed a few pints we headed back to his, where it turned out he’d cheated and laid on some festive cheer (bastard) in the form of a Turkey thing. I’d come prepared with a bottle of Lyme bay Christmas mead from the trip to Dorset.

As a new adventure, and perhaps a Christmas tradition we heated the mead, and what a delightful experience it was. Warm, sweet and full of spices. Similar to a mulled wine but much nicer and without the artifice of adding sugar to a cheap bottle of red plonk. Mead was clearly designed to be served hot to sooth the winters chill.

To be honest I can’t remember a huge amount of details regarding the precise taste and the spices may well have masked the subtly of the honey and bitters. Still I’ll very happily drink many more Lyme Bay meads and before the winter is out, I’d like to try a few more evenings of hot mead.

The only fly is the description on the website regarding the Christmas mead:

A rich, smooth honey Mead blended with festive spices.
Awarded One-star Gold at the 'Great Taste Awards' 2009

Which suggests I should be stockpiling more for Christmas 2011

Quest for Scandinavian Meads

So in the way strange opportunities that come together I’ve just spent 3 weeks (and a bit), sailing on the Rainbow Warrior on a wee trip around Scandinavia on the way to the climate summit at Copenhagen.

I’ve blogged elsewhere as to the highs and lows of the trip, from the peace price in Oslo, to the arrival in Copenhagen, to the final days, but somewhere in the mix the idea for a quest for Scandinavian mead evolved. Honest this wasn’t the only plan.

The bars in Oslo broke new boundaries, and I’ll never complain about the price of beer again. At £8.50 for a 33cl bottle of cider, I’m not surprised the natives went Viking. The cheapest beer I found at £4.50 in an Oslo metal bar, provided a pleasant end to the visit. Scouring the supermarkets and questioning the natives turned up nothing in the Mead. Maybe in the countryside or in medieval theme parks, there may be mead, but not in Oslo.

Copenhagen in comparison proved pleasantly cheap, or just bloody expensive and after a weeks searching of a great many more bars, tourist shops, deli’s and every plausible outlet I still turned up nothing in the way of Mead. I thought the Vikings were famous for the drink of the gods. Things must have badly declined in the last 1000 years.

So nothing this time, but I’m sworn to return, to see Copenhagen on a different day ( the bars were really nice, the police were bastards) and somewhere out in the countryside I’m certain the gods await.

Moniack Mead (£7.99, 75cl, 14.6%)

More than most Moniack is the mead I’ve drunk to the point I can recognise the taste.

From numerous bottles drunk while campaigning at Witchfest, to bottles bought in odd Delhi’s it seems surprisingly common for all it has travelled from the Castle at Inverness. The website reads thus:

Moniack Mead is made from honey and is a delicious well-balanced drink It is probably the oldest alcoholic drink in the world and has always been a wine for special occasions, especially during wedding celebrations, hence the name honeymoon. Nowadays we recommend you drink it as an aperitif. In Summer it may be chilled and in winter mulled.

And it’s a pleasant enough tipple, but perhaps it has grown a little routine.

Moniack is sweet but not too sweet, perhaps slightly too cloying but compared to the other common mead Lindisfarne it’s a blessing.

Still I’m confident it’s a Mead I’ll return to, and ideally I’ll do more than drive past the castle to visit the Meadery at some stage.

Witches Mead

So this blog has been bumbling along for a fair few months now, and I occasionally wonder why it started, and what it was that inspired my interest in Mead beyond the ennui of existence? So here’s an incident that perhaps contributed.

For the last couple of years I’ve been an occasional exhibitor at Witchfest international, which needless to say is held in the delights of Croydon town. I’m not quite sure how I started, something to do with Friends of the Earth campaigning at the Eastbourne Lammas fair, and an idea that pagans might be more receptive towards environmental issues.

Environmental campaigning aside, Pagans seemed to be more inclined towards the drinking of Mead, in the same slightly irrational way that re-enactors are. To this end the bar at Fairfield hall, serves Moniack Mead for Witchfest, and it’s a our favourite, economical way of staying slightly tiddly behind the Greenpeace stall.

The last couple of years there’s been an eccentric German Scot guy there selling his own mead which is kind of cool. I think he’s German but ridiculously proud of his Scots heritage in the way normally only North Americans touch.

Previously a friend had brought back a Catch the Bear fortified mead, which at the time tasted unpleasantly lethal. A return taste was much more pleasant, but not sufficient to buy any more, and the slogan ‘Catch the Bear-it works / Barenfang tasty honey liquor’ didn’t sway me, although it’s a cool name Barenfang.

Instead the choice of a sweet aged mead (3 years+) and a demi-sec mead provided irresistible. His publicity material continues:

Aengus MacLeod Met: Mead Delicious Honey Wine
Our delicious Mead has aged carefully for 3 years in oak barrels, former sherry caskets. That aging process makes the amber coloured honey wine sherry-flavoured and assures you will keep your head clear even on the next morning.

Selling for years on CoA Witchfest international and medieval markets in Germany we are well known for out top class Mead.

Our Mead tastes best with 10C to 19 C. Warmed up to 70C it is a delicious hot drink.

My beloved Lovis calls our mead “Sunshine in the Glass”

I’m also intrigued by the idea that he sells Mead by the can, although my feeling is he means that stone bottles, which you get with Dutch gin / Jenever.

Needless to say he also sells a range of drinking horns, well you would wouldn’t you. Although very tempted they kind of looked like they’d just fallen off the cow, and I’m afraid the taste of horn might corrupt my mead.

So onto the drinking of German mead.....