Had a wonderful Ethiopian meal a few years back with Ayalew Mesfin in Denver. Riesling and Champagne paired well. I remember being slightly shocked when the host welcomed us by inserting food directly into our mouths. I now understand it is a tradition to welcome guests.
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Curious to hear more! Got it on my list for our Feb/March trip. Everyone I know in Paris seem to have been by already.
Ethiopian and champagne is an awesome pairing.
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Lots of great meals this year:
Sushi Yoshizumi: been here several times, but I had my best meal here back in July. Yoshizumi-san offered jabara (a very fatty otoro cut) which was the best piece of tuna Iāve ever had at the shop. Shima aji, masuko, tokishirazu, and shinko were some other outstanding cuts, though one of the best bites was the unagi served as an otsumami. Exceptional.
Bridges: this truly exceeded expectations. The mackerel toast was just the perfect opening bite of tart, savory, and slightly sweet. The comte tart was as good as advertised. But, what was especially surprising was how delicious the main course was ā dover sole with clams and spinach I usually find mains a touch boring at these type of small plate restaurants, but the execution here was on another level. Wow-level food. Tete de Cochon, bread and butter, celery root with puntarelle, and vin jaune ice cream were also excellent. Consistent excellence. Thank you @Robert_Dentice for the recommendation.
Kabawa: The shrimp with pepper was delicious. The red royal shrimp kind of reminded me of ama-ebi with its creamy and sweet flesh. But, what impressed me the most was the combination of the roti, the sweet chutneys, and the savory chickpeas with the dish. Whenever the scotch bonnet from the pepper shrimp became too overwhelming, a hit of the sweet chutneys provided needed relief. Just a really thoughtful combination. Similarly the spicy goat paired so well with the sweetness of the sweet potato side. While each individual plate of food was really good, what I appreciated was the thoughtfulness of the sequencing and pairing of the dishes together which really became more than the sum of their parts. Awesome meal. Again, thank you Robert for recommending this place.
Noreetuh: what a gift to New York wine lovers. The duck with calamansi is just terrific and works so well with a wide variety of wines. I really liked the noodles, dumplings, poke and fried chicken as well. Also, it was great to reconnect with (and meet for the first time IRL) with a bunch of fellow wine nerds who Iāve corresponded with over the years. Super fun time.
Happy Crane: this was really good and deserves the hype. Has that very precise and technical craftsmanship you find at Benu and other restaurants with a connection to Corey Lee. But, it also doesnāt sacrifice on flavor and deliciousness. A really refined take on Chinese food.
Also, since I didnāt see a thread on this from 2024, some great meals in late December 2024 when I was in Japan:
Sushi Namba Hibiya: really great sushi from a master sushi chef. The jabara here was the best otoro Iāve ever had in my life. Also, really interesting, modernist take on much of the food, like an uni maki and a pureed shirako pudding. Kujira is wonderful here. Temperature control is meticulous here (the menu they give you for the nigiri sequence lists the serving temperature for each piece).
Other exceptional sushi spots: Sushi Inomata; Sushi Yuki; Sushi Suzuki; Sushi Keita.
Numata: A tempura shop I went to in Osaka. Numata-san was probably the friendliest chef I met during my trip in Japan and he just exudes passion for his craft. He fries all of the food, and his cooks all reached perfect doneness, while nothing he served was greasy or heavy in any way. He also constructs his omakase in a thoughtful way; he has a parsley tempura dish in the middle of the tasting menu to provide some lightness and freshness, for example. Really exceptional and he fully deserves his two Michelin stars and Tabelog silver status (right now only three other tempura restaurants are rated higher than him on Tabelog in Japan).
Kuishinbo Yamanaka: one of the best steaks in my life at this teppanyaki restaurant. Despite being rich Omi wagyu sirloin, it wasnāt overwhelmingly fatty or buttery. It struck a nice balance of meatiness and richness.
Other exceptional wagyu restaurants: Setsugekka (yakiniku)
Akagakiya: an old-school izakaya that feels like a time capsule to the post-war Showa era. Unbelievably great vibes here, and the chef handling the sashimi and fish courses is just a really caring and considerate man. You feel like you are being taken care of by your grandfather. Signature dish here is the shime-saba (a must have dish if you are in Kyoto generally). Sashimi, udon, basashi, and beef with asparagus are also great. I just wish they had not run out of the duck breast. Always next time.
Other exceptional izakayas: Gion Rohan; Washoku Haru
Kiyama: I didnāt do too many kaiseki restaurants, but this one was really good and the lunch is very good value. The dashi is very much on point here, and the food wasnāt overly delicate or restrained. The chef is also a very nice man who speaks great English, and being able to discuss his vision with him added to the experience.
Kuroki: best bowl of ramen in my time in Japan. I also discovered that for me, shio > shoyu. And the chef is just a fun, easy-going guy.
Other exceptional ramen restaurants: Men-Mitsui
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Thatās a lot of cool in one post Robert!
The musicians from that era in Ethiopia are/were terrific. Heard an interview about the recordings and IIRC more or less all were done in one take. A boom of creativityā¦ First time I heard a The Weeknd song (didnāt know anything about him) I heard the Ethiopian tonality in singing at certain parts of his songs.
The feeding really meant you had hosts that cared about your company, Iāll share something about it in a moment.
You are right that wine can work with certain dishes but it will depend on the dishes (and depth and/or strength of the spices). Though not for the most āimportantā red stews in my experience.
The flavor depth (and sometimes spicy levels), depending on who cooked it gets too intense for wines. I have tried different Riesling with varied sugar levels with little success, only a couple of champagnes though, which was kind of ok at best. Iām willing to give it a few more tries if there was something you or @gavin.f felt was particularly successful!
In US I think you have quite some good places with the large diaspora there. I guess DC should be the hotspot but I had a great doro wat (red chicken stew) in Dallas in the late 90s when I was just a teen. Super tender chicken, I think it was Kosher/Halal slaughtered if that matters (not available in Sweden around that time).
Did you get any difference in the taste of the food with the host feeding you vs when you did it yourself?
I love that they did it even if it was a real surprised to you. Not something that usually do in a restaurant, but at friends it used to be common.
Itās normally done at the end of a meal to make sure you are well feed - One feed for each of a motherās breasts.
Traditionally if you finished all on your plate you were always served moreā¦ thereafter the feeding, be aware! Maybe they wanted both show how to pinch the food as well as give you the taste it has when experienced hands does it?
Depending on how the injara and sauces are pinched and one handed wrapt up, the taste sensation becomes quite different. While I knew how to do it from early on the food always tasted much better when getting the feeding from an adult. At some age, I guess in early teens I mastered it well enough to get the same taste.
You got the whole treat with the coffee and full on eating together! The injara looks good with fin craters as well. It takes a fermentation champ to make it really well, the best is flown in from Ethiopia despite teff being available to be bought these days - it has something to do with the water, yeast and ambient.
I donāt know if you see the difference in the red lentils stew, but in restaurants that extra nonstop steering around and extraction of onion and spice flavors is hard to come by.
The meal was at a restaurant but it was a private event for Ayalew to welcome Madlib to Denver and as you can imagine Ayalew is royalty amongst the Denver Ethiopian community. I would love to learn more about Ethiopian cuisine, there are a couple of good options in LA. Seems like a good 26 resolution!
If you like the music you might enjoy this video. The videos were shot as a pilot for a potential vice show based on music and wine. Sadly it never got off the ground.
The next night Ayalew was supposed to perform and he got on stage and only did one song in protest of strife in his country.
Then Yasiin Bey showed up and jumped on stage for a few songs!
The night ended in his hotel room followed by getting busted trying to bring a bottle of Selosse into the Denver Diner at 4 a.m.!
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Thanks for sharing Robert! Thatās really cool, the video, stories as well as even Yasiin Bay getting up on stage + AP.
With the different regime shifts itās been many things to protest about unfortunately.
I canāt wait to hear more about the exploration in 26! Sounds like you know of quite a few spots but if you are going out in Cali then let me know if you want me to ask for a place or two that my cousin living there could recommend.
The pinch technique elevates the taste experience, accept all gursha (the feedings) you are offered 
Forgot to mention it but in Stockholm we were very lucky to have a click of music loving Ethiopians who arranged for all the greats to come and play in the 90s/00s. Usually they came alone, played with local musicians. The venues were rocking!
My mom saw and knew many/most of the musicians live in Addis, so she was never really that impressed when I mentioned who we went to see 
Like Ayalew our family lost quite a bit of land and property along with the community taking the power. As a youngish girl she remembers Haile Selassie visiting as her grandpa looked after his property.
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We are booked for our first visit to Harbor House in July 2026. I have heard more about the breakfast eggs than the actual dinner itself 
So excited to try!!!
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I would love recommendations! Meals by Genet is the one that it is high on my list.
Thank you.
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Is a large component of the food at harbor house raw seafood?
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Seafood absolutely. But most of it is cooked of some sort.
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I ate there in Dec of 24 and there was a raw fish dish, but the rest of the seafood was cooked. The meal is very seafood heavy though so I think the chances of getting multiple raw preparations are pretty high.
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She quickly recommended Messob.
Havenāt eaten with her in perhaps 20 years but she grew up both in Ethiopia and Sweden before moving to US many years ago.
Personally I always keep focus on the Ethiopian part of the meal which excludes starters (Samosa - filling and happy to save it for an Indian occasion) and dessert. For the latter even if I have a sweet tooth that I do my best to surpress, desserts just doesnāt sit well after the food. Other than terrific fruits or honey, there are no āEthiopianā desserts or sweets.
If they have injara made out of teff grain, ideally made in Ethiopia, thatās the best. It has a bit different taste and consistency, perhaps a bit more citrusy (and very health).
Homemade honey wine could be something fun to try (if you didnāt have it in Denver already). Especially if you go for doro wat (chicken), meat or lentils with the darker red sauce (Berber spice based). Doro wat is the festive dish, a must serve for a host.
The more yellowish stews (meat/veggies) as well red meat fried or cooked in clarified and spiced butter are easier with wines.
If you go, hope itās a good recommendation!
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This is an amazing thread, as it made me think about this past year of eating out. Iāve had a bunch of 1-3 Michelin star meals, but none were actually that memorable. Iāve eaten at some of the top 10 Steakhouses in the world, but I couldnāt really tell much about those experiences either.
Iāve spent 5 figures on experiences and I canāt even tell whether they were that special or not.
And thatās pretty damn eye opening. The ones I DO remember were street food in Hanoi, or some lamb dishes in Baku. Things that cost $5, not $500 tasting menus. I went back and realized Iāve had tasting menus that cost almost $1k (with all the add-ons), yet I only remembered them because of pics I took, not because of the experience itself.
Iām pledging to spend a lot less on food this year. I just canceled 2 reservations because of this thread. Awesome!
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Yeah weāve sorta given up on the Big Experiences ā between the unnecessary expense, the hassle of planning it because of competition for seats (sorry, I donāt plan dinner 2 months in advance) and the attitude once you get there, itās just not worth it.
However thereās a positive side: rather than dwelling just on the downside of the Big Experiences, we prefer to note that this also means there is a ton of less recognized local talent ā sometimes street vendors ā doing amazing things just for love of the craft. On balance weād prefer to support them with our time (never mind our wallets).
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I feel generally the same with some exceptions. I would not include Omakases in this and some tasting menu restaurants still work for me.
One of my most boring meals was a 3 star in the U.S. They had four different add on options plus two levels of wine pairings with add on Champagne cart pairing. I watched a table do all of them which took their bill to well over $2k per person. The food was not inspiring.
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Ah cāmon Robert, donāt leave us hanging! Where was that?
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Some places have āitā and others donāt, regardless of price point, cuisine, etc. Iāve been trying to figure out what exactly āitā is, but for me, it comes down to whether or not everyone cares about the best product/food/flavor possible. The other night out I had an arugula and radicchio salad which I would normally love for the strong flavors, but both of them tasted like nothing! Just because a restaurant sources organic/locally/specialty ingredients does not mean that the farmer or purveyor was caring about flavor in a way that would translate to a better bite.
Iāve found that the beverage direction (wine list or otherwise) is often a better proxy for the quality of the food than looking at the menu. If what you drink is an afterthought to the restaurant, why would you expect them to care about everything they put on your plate?
If you dont mind sharing, can you give an example of this? Iām having trouble thinking of a meal experience that would cost this much. Does this include things like Paulee?
Edited to clarify: there is no judgement in my question, im just curious what kind of thing 5 figures gets in a meal!