Tag Archives: African food

Baden-Württemberg

Dinner at Afrika Bar und Restaurant– African food in Tübingen

I had every intention of getting out yesterday, but the depressing weather and my natural tendency toward being lazy kept me at home.  Bill decided that come hell or high water, today we were going to have lunch or dinner somewhere.  He decided he wanted to try the Africa Bar and Restaurant in Tübingen, mainly because he’d seen them at the Afrika Fest in years past and enjoyed their food.  Although I tend to be lazy this time of year, I couldn’t resist the promise of good food in a different setting.  Africa Bar and Restaurant, which has a focus on Ethiopian and Eritrean food, opened at 2:00pm today, so we decided to pay them a visit.

A familiar scene in the Catholic areas near where we lived.  The town we lived in when we lived here the first time was very Catholic and we saw lots of Fasching activities.  Where we are now is more Protestant, so there are no banners in our neighborhood.

We are about to hit prime time Fasching season here in Germany, so I took note of the typical decorations.  Indeed, in Tübingen today, we saw lots of young people decked out in costumes.  It’s their time to have a little fun before Lent starts.  Africa Bar and Restaurant is located near the university in Tübingen and it’s obviously a restaurant that is popular with the students.  We found street parking near the entrance, along with the charming graffiti noted below…

Yep, it’s a college town.

The outside of Africa Bar and Restaurant.  

We were invited to take any free table we wanted, so we picked a four top near the front door.  The menu was in German and Ethiopian and included South African wines and African specialties such as ostrich.

Bill checks out the menu.

 

All of the tables included information on the Injeera bread served with the dishes and how one is to use it while eating.  Also, there was information about the cuisine.

 

Bill and I decided to share a bottle of South African shiraz.  They also had a couple of other red varieties, white wines and blushes, as well as the usual beers and non alcoholic beverages.

This shiraz was very drinkable.  I would order it again.

I have had ostrich meat before and enjoyed it, but to me it’s the kind of thing that has to be done right.  I have had ostrich that I’ve loved and some that has almost made me puke.  So I decided to play it safe and have chicken.  I went with the Doro Wat, which was a very tender chicken leg and thigh with mildly spicy sauce, vegetables, a peeled, hard boiled egg, and very mild white cheese called Ayibe (cottage cheese that is mild and crumbly, kind of with the texture feta, used to soften the spiciness of the stew).

Doro Wat– basically chicken stew.  It was at about the time we got our food that they turned on the African music, which really added to the ambiance.  

Injeera bread.  You’re supposed to use the bread to pick up the food.  It’s kind of moist and tastes a little like sourdough.

Bill went with the ostrich, which was very good.  He had a choice of mild, medium spice, or spicy.  He had the medium spice and said next time, he’d try the spicy.  Bear in mind that Bill is from Texas and likes spicy food.  I don’t like it that much and was fine with the mild heat in my chicken dish.

 

If he hadn’t ordered the ostrich, Bill says he would have tried the vegetarian sampler, which is supposed to be very good.  It comes with lentils, spicy potatoes, and African vegetables.  There are also lamb and beef dishes available.  Most dishes were priced at about 12 euros and were very generously proportioned.  I saw some salads going for about six euros or thereabouts.

We were pretty full after we ate, so we decided to end with some Ethiopian coffee.  We had ourselves a little ceremony, of which I videoed.  See below.

See the steam coming out?  When that stops, the coffee is ready.

 

If you like coffee and don’t mind waiting for it, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is an experience well worth enjoying.  First and foremost is the delightful aroma that comes from the coffee brewing.  It smells like chocolate and coffee and is just heavenly.  Then there’s the ritual of making the coffee and waiting for it to get to the right strength.  There’s popcorn for that.

Waiting… waiting… eating popcorn… and waiting…

 

There’s enough coffee for two cups each.  It’s served black and strong, with optional sugar if you want it.  I usually like a little cream in my coffee, but this was a pleasure to taste black with some sugar.  It was a great way to cap off a delicious and interesting meal.

All told, our bill came to about 57 euros.  Bill tipped generously, which earned a hearty thank you from our server.  We will definitely be back to try more of the East African delights at the Africa Bar and Restaurant.  In the warmer months, a terrace is available.  It’s also near a jazz club, which I know I would enjoy.

If you’re tired of the usual food in Stuttgart and don’t mind a trip to Tübingen, I would highly recommend a visit to the Africa Bar und Restaurant.  We found the food and service warm and the prices very agreeable… better yet, they had everything advertised on their menu, which is not always the case in some of the more exotic restaurants we’ve tried.  Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday (with a pause from 2-5pm) and from 2:00pm until 11:00pm on Sundays.  Monday is their Ruhetag.  Thumbs up from us!

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Uncategorized

The 2016 Afrika Fest in Tübingen…

Somehow, I managed to get wind of the Afrika Fest in Tübingen this year.  I think I read about it on Facebook.  Having done last year’s Afrika Fest in Stuttgart, I didn’t have especially high hopes.  But, in all honesty, Bill and I really enjoyed ourselves at the larger festival in Tübingen.  We had a blast.  In fact, it was so much fun that, as we were winding down our visit, I was actually talking about joining the Peace Corps for a second tour.  My time in the Peace Corps changed my life, but I didn’t leave it thinking I’d want to do it again.  If I go through an experience making me consider a second go at life in an exotic place, you know it must have been something special.

We decided to go to the festival this morning after determining that there wouldn’t be too much rain.  Although we usually drive to Tübingen, today we decided to take the train from Herrenberg.  When we lived in Germany the first time, we got pretty familiar with the Ammertalbahn, though now that we live closer to Herrenberg, we don’t use it.  Bill wanted to be able to drink more.  As it turned out, driving would have been better.  The Afrika Fest is being held at the Festplatz, which has plenty of easy parking.

As it was, we spent five euros apiece each way to ride the train to Tübingen, then walked at least a mile from the train station.  That wasn’t a huge deal, except we weren’t quite sure where we were going, so it was more nervewracking than it might have been otherwise.  It cost six euros per adult for admission; we got our hands stamped.  Had we wanted to visit all four days of the fest, we could have gotten a slight break by buying a four day ticket.

The Afrika Fest in Tübingen was offering a lot and was well worth the price of admission.  Bill and I ended up having a blast.  There was plenty of seating.  We never had any worries about having a rest when we wanted it.  There was plenty of good African food; although the focus was on Burundi, lots of different countries were represented, including an Ethiopian restaurant in Tübingen that Bill and I had been wanting to try.  There was also Senegalese food and Ghanian food, plus plenty of clothing, art, and food dealers.  We came home with a pound of coffee beans from Burundi and mango coconut candy, as well as several CDs from African musicians.

Speaking of music, that was probably my favorite part about today.  There were DJs playing some great music, but as far as I’m concerned, the African drummers who performed this afternoon stole the show.  I got some raw footage that I hope to turn into a YouTube video very soon.  They were awesome!  People were really getting into it!  But then a DJ rudely cut in with some rather funny but inferior performances.  Bill and I were joined at our table by a couple of young ladies who pretty much confirmed our impressions.  Anyway… here are some photos from today.  Stay tuned for a video that will probably show up tomorrow.  ETA:  Here’s the video!

Note the tip bowl on the lady’s head!  These folks were awesome and I did get some footage that I’ll need to put into a video when I’m sober.

 

Originally, Bill thought the fest was taking place in that building…

The sign…  You can still visit tomorrow if you want to.

Lots of tents with lots of vendors.

Obligatory shot of Bill.

Awesome drummers.  A couple of these guys later spent some time totally entertaining the crowd until they were rudely usurped.

I have read great things about this restaurant in Tübingen, which was catering at the Afrika Fest today.  We decided to eat lunch there…

Lovely South African red wine.

Chicken with injeera, carrots, eggplant, and zucchini all cooked together…

 

Bill’s version was prepared with beef.  It was delicious.  8 euros per person and more than either of us could eat.

German collaboration with Burundi.

Coffee from Burundi.  We bought some after tasting it in another tent, where we got to chat with a couple of very nice German ladies.

Nigerian beer.  It was somewhat better than I expected and very refreshing.

Lots of flyers.

And some angelic childlike fliers…  These girls were a joy to watch.  They were obviously very good friends and were doing cartwheels in tandem, as if they were performing.  And they were also cooperating with the hardworking German D.J. who was trying to pump everyone up.

This guy was very funny…  we bought his CDs.

Bill obviously having fun.

This guy was also pretty awesome.  He was on the stage rapping, dancing, and motivating the crowd. More people seemed into his music than the guy before him.

After a couple of beers and several hours, we headed back for the train station.  We passed this place and I couldn’t resist taking a picture, despite the threatening dog.

Once we got to the train station, we decided to eat there.  We both had schnitzels which came with the above salad.

The main course… way too much to eat.

And a very animated stag party going on in second class on the way to Stuttgart.

Weird action shot…

Yeah… the video will do it better justice.  The drummers were the highlight of the day, as far as I’m concerned.  Anytime I start talking about rejoining the Peace Corps, you know I was moved…

 

We really had a great time at the Afrika Fest in Tübingen.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in visiting tomorrow.  There’s lots of parking, good food, good music, and stuff for kids, including games and a bouncy house.  Also, the toilets are clean and not heavily guarded by a Klofrau.  In all seriousness, if we get bored tomorrow, we may even go back for more.  It runs tomorrow night until 8:00pm and tonight until 11:00pm.

If we’re here next year when they do the Afrika Fest in Tübingen, we’ll definitely be back.  It was probably one of the best fests I’ve ever been to.  What I liked about this fest was the emphasis on peace and the fact that everyone there was there to have fun and let their hair down.  The vibe was different than it was in Esslingen a couple of weeks ago… much less formal and more people just enjoying music, food, dancing, and drinking…  I liked that one of the DJs specifically addressed terrorism and how it had no place at the fest.  We were all there to have a good time.  It was a real win.

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Ludwigsburg

Another delightful African meal at Jambo

Last August, Bill and I visited Jambo African Restaurant in Ludwigsburg for the very first time.  The place was recommended by my Facebook friend, Jennifer, who raved about how good the food is.  We did indeed enjoy a great meal last year and I reviewed it on this blog.  Unfortunately, that particular post did not get much exposure because I wrote it during my infamous Facebook Stuttgart groups hiatus.  Since I really believe Jambo is a great place to try something different, I am going to write about it again.  This time, I hope I can give it more exposure.

Our visit to Jambo was brought on because I wanted to visit Heinrich’s drink market to get rid of some empty bottles that had been taking up space in our pantry for months.  We usually visit Ludwigsburg early in the day, but because the weather was so yucky yesterday morning, we put off going until late afternoon.  That worked out great for us; on Saturdays, Jambo doesn’t open until five o’clock.

Bill tried to use the online reservation application, but his query was never answered.  It was no big deal, though, because he called the restaurant after we finished our beer run and reserved a table that way.  Then we spent some time trying to find parking.  Ordinarily, there’s plenty of street parking near the restaurant, but there was some kind of carnival going on in Ludwigsburg.  I actually felt like checking it out myself; it looked like a great opportunity to people watch.

On the way to Ludwigsburg, I had to take a photo of the beautiful valley.  The weather was so odd yesterday.  On Bill’s side of the car, there were heavy, low hanging, dark grey clouds.

 

We arrived at the restaurant a bit early for our 6:30 reservation.  I could see that several tables were reserved, but quite a few weren’t.  We would have been okay simply showing up last night.  As it was, there was only one other party when we arrived.  They were a group of Germans and they had a baby with them.

Bill strikes a pose in the doorway at Jambo.

 

We checked out the menu, still all in German like it was last time!  I wouldn’t mention that the menu is entirely in German, except that there are a few items on the menu that might seem exotic to some American diners.  On occasion, Jambo serves springbok.  Both times we’ve visited, they’ve had ostrich.  If your German isn’t up to snuff or you are concerned about trying something outside your comfort zone, you might want to check out the menu ahead of time.  The music was very festive and fun and the dining room smelled wonderful, like exotic spices and savory meats.

Obligatory shot of Bill.  They have pretty embroidered tablecloths on the tables, covered in plastic. 

 

I really wanted to try something new last night, but ended up going with the Sierra Leone platter again.  It was a very good choice.  

The Sierra Leone platter is chicken served with a mildly spicy peanut sauce, spinach, plantains, vegetables, and rice.  This was really delicious, but quite rich.  I couldn’t finish it.  

Once again, Bill went with ostrich (Strauß).  It’s served with injeera, a spongy bread you tear off and use to pick up the meat and vegetables.  Last time we visited Jambo, Bill didn’t get the concept.  The proprietor came out and explained it to him in German.  For the especially aware, there’s also a pictorial at the front of the menu!

 

We enjoyed this meal over a bottle of South African Syrah, specifically Golden Kaan, which Bill tells me is available at the Real.  I think we may need to get some of that for our house.  It’s a very nice South African table wine with bold spicy flavors.  I am partial to spicy reds.

I was going to try one of the African beers advertised on the table.  Last time we visited, I noticed them and wanted to give them a shot.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have any available last night.  I got the sense that some items at Jambo are very hit or miss and may not be available frequently.

I settled for a hefeweizen as I watched the restaurant start to fill up.  I noticed several parties ordering the platters offered at Jambo.  Basically, they’re big family sized dishes meant for the whole table to share.  Maybe next time, Bill and I will go for that.

We finished up with a house shot.  Bill had grappa and I had a Williams pear digestive.  All told, the bill before the tip was under fifty euros.  Jambo is a kid friendly restaurant.  They have a children’s menu and besides the baby who was doing a fair amount of shrieking, I noticed a family with several children enjoying a nice meal.  They also offer options for vegetarians.  The proprietor also told us that the small outdoor biergarten opens on Monday.

Next time, I think I’ll venture outside my comfort zone and try something different.  Maybe I’ll even have ostrich.

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