Review: Queen of Sheba

If you’ve ever sat around a mesob and enjoyed your tibs wot with injera, chances are good that you’ll love Queen of Sheba, Clinton’s most sought-after Ethiopian cuisine. 

If you’ve never seen a mesob (a woven basket table), feasted on tibs wot (seared beef stew), or forgone your fork for injera (spongy sourdough bread used in lieu of silverware), don’t worry – you’ll probably love the restaurant, too.

Queen of Sheba, located on 10^th Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets, has mastered the Ethiopian meal. With scrumptious dishes and pounds upon pounds of injera available, the restaurant promises to fill your belly while satisfying your curiosity at the same time. The New York Times, The Village Voice, and even ABC rave about the place, dubbing it the best Ethiopian restaurant in the city and commending it on its stellar cuisine. I could not agree more.

Ethiopian meals are comprised mainly of chicken, lamb and beef stews served over a flatbed of injera with a side of, well, injera. Diners tear off small pieces of the bread and use it to pinch the stew and eat. Meals are communal, which means that, unlike the usual dinner, all dishes are shared, and diners are encouraged to order a wide array of meats and vegetables, as is Ethiopian custom.

Veterans of Ethiopian food will find that Queen of Sheba offers several delicious menu options unique to the location including kategna, an injera toast, and dabo, a leavened bread cake. The stews find the perfect balance of spice, and the restaurant is not stingy with its bread, a fact which in itself is enough to bring out the crowds.

For the majority, however, an Ethiopian meal will be a first-time experience, which means not only will you have no idea what good Ethiopian food tastes like, you probably won’t even know how to eat it. Fortunately, Queen of Sheba is ready for you, too.

Sheba’s menu is designed for the inexperienced, guiding diners through the meal with facts on the history and preparation of the food as well as directions on how to eat. The wait staff is also helpful, quick to suggest dishes if asked and to help you design the perfect dinner.

Selecting meals can be intimidating, so Sheba has two excellent sampler dishes available. Greenhorn diners should consider the taste of Sheba dish, a $19 sampler of the beef offerings. The Sheba vegetarian sampler is also reliable, dishing out small portions of lentils, cabbage, collard greens and split peas. Make sure to grab some chicken, too. Doro wot is an outstanding chicken stew, slow-cooked in a sea of onions and kibe, an Ethiopian spiced butter.

The food aside, however, Queen of Sheba is worth the hike to Midtown just for the ambiance. Patrons are invited to sit on small stools around the squat, basket-like mesob table. Artistic renderings of the original Queen of Sheba’s biblical visit to King Solomon are scattered throughout the restaurant, but the muted and utterly romantic lighting keep the focus on the table rather the décor. The restaurant is a dating haven, as there is little that can outdo the exoticism of a sharing a meal (literally) so close together.

If your main course doesn’t fill you enough, the desert menu offers baklava, the most delicious honey pastry on the market. With layers of pastry leaves doused in almond and honey, the dish is the perfect way to finish off a meal. Don’t forget to order the coffee, either. The beverage, now more readily available than water, actually originated in Ethiopia, which gives the Ethiopians several hundred more years of experience than the Italians can claim.

All in all, Queen of Sheba, a city-wide favorite, is an affordable alternative to the standards of pizza, sushi and cheeseburgers. It’s delicious, it’s exotic, and most importantly, it’s an excuse to eat with your hands without your mother calling you a pig. What more could you ask of a restaurant?

Queen of Sheba­: http://www.shebanyc.com/

Located in Clinton on 10th Ave. between 45th and 46^th streets.

Ratings:

Total: 4.5 Stars

Service: 4 Stars

Food: 5 Stars

Décor: 5 Stars