Real Habesha, Gloucester Road: ‘We were left clamouring over the last lentil’ – restaurant review

When you walk through the doorway at Real Habesha, you are greeted with the smell of roasted coffee, incense and east African spices.

It’s a lovely welcome to an unassuming and perhaps easily overlooked new Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant on Gloucester Road sandwiched between La Fiorentina and Bargain World.

Real Habesha is run by husband and wife Solomon and Seniit who migrated from east Africa to Bristol almost a decade ago.

Their new Bishopston restaurant with Marigold-coloured walls is the second from the duo, who opened Real Habesha on Stapleton Road back in 2018.

On a recent Monday evening, the venue offered a warm respite from the rush of evening traffic and winter downpour that was soaking cyclists and pedestrians braving the outside world.

We chose to have a combination meal of different stews and curries

The menu is refreshingly basic with mains split into just two pages: one for vegan dishes and one meat. Diners can choose between shiro (£13), a chickpea stew in onion and tomato sauce, brown lentils (£9), xaeda tshebi (£14), beef cubes in a tomato sauce with onion and garlic, dorho wot (£16), chicken leg stew cooked in bebere served with boiled eggs among others.

We opted for a ‘medium combination’ (£28.50), after being kindly recommended it by a smiling waitress. Traditionally known as beyaynetu, these dishes consist of ‘a bit of everything’ and reflect the collective eating experience of mealtimes in Ethiopia.

I have to admit, I have no names for the dishes I was tasting. This was my first dip into Ethiopian/ Eritrean food so I’m not giving an opinion based on other tastings of east African food.

But I can tell you this: each pocket of curry and stew perfectly complemented the other and we were left clamouring over the last lentil.

Served an enormous platter, there is a moist sauté of cabbage, green bean and tomato and a separate pile of kale, onion and tomato. Something a bit like a yellow lentil dhal sits next to a bed of fluffy and well-seasoned white rice. There are two more vegetarian stews, one a deep burgundy made with puy lentils and another an orange-coloured dollop that was lighter and sweeter than the rest of the plate. All flavoursome and tasty in their own right.

The curls of bread served with all food at Real Habesha are called injera

There’s no cutlery served with our food. That’s because there is injera, or curls of spongy bread, which act as both a plate and a tool to scoop up spicy morsels.

Injera is the backbone of Ethiopian and Eritrean eating and at Real Habesha it is served in a pretty woven basket. It’s a kind of pancake traditionally made with teff flour. They look like flattened crumpets, have an almost rubbery texture and are a slightly disconcerting shade of grey.

They are delicious though, their sour flavour pairing beautifully with an aromatic beef stew in the middle of our dish.

Choose between a range of cakes from the counter for dessert as well as delicious strong coffee

With yellow-stained fingers and just enough room for a sweet treat, we shared a slice of pistachio and chocolate cake accompanied with espressos.

It is the perfect end to a meal at a homely restaurant with very reasonable prices and kind staff.

Real Habesha, 163 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8BE 
 www.instagram.com/real_habesha_restaurantt/?hl=en-gb

All photos: Betty Woolerton

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