Afro-Canadian Restaurant

6/4/2015

Ethiopian food, one man show, amazingly affordable

I had planned a birthday dinner for my close friend at the Afro Canadian restaurant. After arriving at the place, we rearranged the chairs and joined tables to make a giant table that could cater to our merry group of 17! There was just one person, Mr Menasbo, serving the tables, preparing the food and manning the cash counter. I have to admit that he did a pretty good job at multi-tasking, all the while being super nice and friendly.

We opted for the Ethiopian platters, which were large enough for 4 people to share. (You can also opt for individual sized versions of the platters, but we decided to go for the real deal! ) Each platter came with Ethiopian bread, saffron rice, chicken, beef and salad, and a couple of vegetarian items (one of them lentil based), all of them laid on a layer of bread. We had both vegetarians and non-vegetarians amongst us, and the wide variety on offer in a platter was just perfect. The chicken (7/10) was tasty, slightly lacking in salt. The beef (8/10) was the best, soft and flavorful. The lentil based dish made a good combo with the bread and salad.

So, there we are, hungrily gorging on the lovely food, when Mr Menasbo comes up to us, and asks if we would like seconds on any of the items! Mind b-l-o-w-n. At end of a grand feast, we paid about $12 per head, inclusive of tax!

N.B: 1) This place also has a licensed mini bar.

2) If you plan to come in a huge group, call up the place a day in advance, and Mr Menasbo gets a helping hand for the occasion.

Someone mentioned this place is closing? That is a really bad news for food lovers in Vancouver.  :(

5/31/2015

After 25 years, the Afro-Canadian Restaurant will close its doors. The friendly and down-to-earth owner/chef is headed back to Ethiopia.

I was there a couple of years ago and it still had the same cheap decent eats value, though tonight's food looked more fusion than strictly Ethiopian. Three large platters and some dessert worked out to $12.53 per person (including tax, but before tip). Plus we had three take out boxes worth of food -- that's like three leftover meals. Bonus point for that.

The beef was tasty and tender and that was probably the stand-out of the mixed meat-and-veggie platter. Not the tastiest fare, but decent and very cheap eats.

But tonight is their last night, we were told. As of tomorrow it's gone.

5/24/2015

Nope - this is not Ethiopian food.  Nice try but - such a disappointment.  Vancouver is really missing out if this is their only "Ethiopian Restaurant".
I don't think the Injera even had teff in it - Sorry, but in my book that is not injera.
Spices were nothing like Ethiopian.  

Service was slow but super polite.

1/8/2015

Delicious with an air of fantastic.

After reading a Yelp! review for Afro-Canadian Restaurant earlier this week, I recided that I needed to eat there.  I hadn't had Ethiopian food in far too long and this needed to be remedied.

So I made the trek to 324 Cambie (between Water and Hastings) from work (Burrard and Pender) for a quick lunch, and I'm glad I did.

Afro-Canadian Restaurant (from here on referred to as ACR) seems to achieve the  project manager's ideal: Fast, Good, and Cheap, who said that you can't have it all.  

I ventured to ACR with a colleague and we shared the Meat Platter and it was an ideal portion for two, with the right amount of meat (lots), well complimented by salad and rice, served on Injara.   When seeing that we were tearing through our Injara, Mr. Menasbo (the owner, chef, waiter, dishwasher, busser and host) came to the table with a basket of bread. How attentive.

A word of caution, Injara is traditionally gluten free, however, this isn't the case for ACR, so beware if you have a gluten intolerance, have an allergy, are a hipster or suffer from Celiac disease.

I made for a nice change from the usual lunch spots, which typically consist of sushi, burgers, tacos or sandwiches.

Would I go again? Likely.

Would I go again in the next 5 days? Likely, as well.

5/4/2015

This is the third Ethiopian place I've ever been to (and the third Ethiopian meal I've ever had), and it was okay compared to the other two places I went (in San Jose, CA). We ordered the meat combo, and we got chicken, beef, and lamb. The beef was really good and flavorful, as was the lamb. I liked the beef more though because the flavor was stronger. The chicken didn't have a lot of flavor next to the beef and lamb. All the meats were pretty tender though. The hot sauce they gave me complemented the food well; it didn't have some weird flavor that changed the flavor of the food. On the platter was rice and salad too, but the salad had the normal Ranch dressing I think? But there wasn't too much of it which was good. This is the first Ethiopian place that I've been that gives rice, which I thought was interesting. Their injera is pretty thin and not too sour, but it's also not that flavorful. I think it could do with more flavor. The owner was really nice though, although service was petty nonexistent. It's not a bad place to try, but I don't think I'd be back regularly.

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  Meat combo: chicken, beef, lamb

  Meat combo: chicken, beef, lamb
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  Meat combo: chicken, beef, lamb

  Meat combo: chicken, beef, lamb

4/16/2015

Decent place in gastown, not overtly expensive. Food is about what I'd expect for Ethiopian food, good Injera. A bit of a hole in the wall image though, but super friendly one man shop cook/owner(?)

6/8/2014

There are a few times any establishment will earn the coveted 5 stars in all areas.

This is one of them.

You will get private, genuine and top notch service on par with the finest restaurant in the world but for a price comparable to McDonalds.

The portions are large enough to feed a small village and presentation is unique, colorful and logistically practical.

And the food.

I can write a review about what I had and what you should try, but I wont.

Next time your in the area just give it a try.  Ask the owner what kind of platter you should get and he will find what's right for you.

Go there.... Now.

3/26/2015

I've walked by Afro-Canadian Restaurant what I'm sure is hundreds of times; always too intimidated by my lack of knowledge of Ethiopian food to go in. Today for lunch I finally made the leap and decided to check it out.

Mr. Menasbo (the proprietor) was so friendly! This shop seems to be a one man show, I walked in and was cheerfully welcomed by Mr. Menasbo from the kitchen. He could tell I was a bit bewildered by the choices, so he asked me if I wanted meat or vegetables, what meat I wanted, what spice I wanted and then recommended the East African Lamb dish, and went off to the kitchen.

He came out no longer than 10 minutes later with a large portion of stewed lamb, rice and Injara, and even walked me through how to properly eat everything.

I got my food to-go to eat back in the office, and was so excited. The food was very delicious, hearty, quite comforting and a portion with enough that I've got a bit to take home for later.

ACR was such a great change in my usual Gastown lunches of sandwiches and soups in trendy cafes. I'll definitely be going back to try out some of the other dishes!

7/19/2013

This is solid Ethiopian fast food. Nothing elegant or exotic about it, but it's fast, cheap, and the portions are gigantic. If you've never had Ethiopain food before, this would probably be a good starting point. We got the meat platter to share between the two of us. For $19, we got large portions of stewed chicken, beef, and lamb, along with salad and rice - all piled on top of generous slabs of injera. The plate could easily have fed 3-4 people. Everything was tasty, but the beef was definitely the winner. It was tender, well-seasoned with their spice mixture, and had just the right amount of spicy kick.

You won't find any of the more "exotic" Ethiopian dishes, like Kitfo (raw minced beef with spices), but it's a great little hole-in-the-wall place. They also have beers for $4. The beer selection seems to be quite random - they don't have the options listed on their menu, so you have to go up to their cooler to make your selection. This story has a fairytale ending too: amongst the Sleemans & Canadians, I found one bottle of Parallel 49 'Old Boy' hiding WAY in the back! Score!

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  Meat platter

  Meat platter

12/12/2014

This place is an awesome, casual mom & pop joint.  The owner was super sweet and eager to explain the menu (a bit of flavor from various African countries with a hint of a western vibe) and chit-chat with customers.  The food was fast and inexpensive and the place has a fun vibe.  It's a sharing style and many of the dishes are intended for two people, so bring a friend.

9/14/2014

This place is great.
Food - big portions. Tasty.
Service - the owner seats you and calls you Brother. I love it. So many impersonal Van restaurants - this is a refreshing change.
Prices - wow what value!!!!!!!
Ambiance - it's not fancy and the prices reflect that. Don't expect anything fancy. But it's clean and cute.

I recommend.

5/7/2015

Great food, very friendly staff and an extremely good value. I bring people here whenever I can.

4/26/2015

The food was unexpectedly amazing! Friendly and quick service. Would highly recommend this hidden gastown gem!

2/8/2015

Please for the love of god do not eat here. The food tasted like it was prepared 3 days ago and by the look of the restaurant it probably was. I was terrified following my meal I was going to get food poisoning. The only redeeming features are the price and the man who runs the place seems very nice. Do not believe the other positive reviews, I read them before and decided it was a good place to eat. After eating there I want to personally ask each person who wrote positively about this place if they have ever eaten food before. Save yourself some time and money and go to burger king.

11/23/2012

Delicious and great service.

This time we went for the meat combo platter for 2.   Came with Jerk Chicken, Beef and Lamb along with a lovely serving or rice and salad on injera.  The owner noticed that we were really enjoying his injera, so he brought us some more.   Regardless, we still managed to destroy the all of the meal including the injera underneath the food, which soaks up all of the juices and seasoning from the meal.   (Pic:  yelp.ca/biz_photos/afro-… )

The owner was a wonderful host and was eager to answer our questions about other items on the menu including his roti, which he makes from flat bread, filled with meat and grilled in the sandwich press.  He also has spinach pie and patties.   YUM!  We will be back!

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*Review 417 / 365 personal challenge

8/1/2014

My favorite restaurant in Vancouver. The same guy is always there I assume he's the owner and he takes great care of you. The place looks totally ghetto but don't be fooled. Its always a great experience to go there and I've taken lots of my friends and family and they have all loved it too. Thoroughly recommend this place.

7/26/2013

Came here for dinner with some friends and omg the portions! And the injera! o.o!
The food was really good and fills you up pretty fast. Half of us were vegetarians and the rest of us, so what we did was that half of us got the vegetable items and the rest of us got the meat. I was part of the meat group so we ordered the 3 meat combo, where you pick three dishes from the meat menu and get rice and injera. We got the doro jerk (chicken), yebeg (lamb), and a beef dish that I can't remember what it's called. It came with rice and injera. We kept getting more and more injera as we devoured the whole thing. It was kind of a miracle that we managed to finish it. Even though it's meant for 2 people, you can get 4 people to share and everyone will come out happy.

My favourite was the chicken. It was spicy, lots of flavour, and rather tender. They went really well with the rice and injera. Pretty much everything was spicy so the injera and rice helped a lot. If spicyness isn't your thing, I'd probaby wouldn't go here since there are very few non-spicy options around.

The place is very much a hole in the wall. If it wasn't for my friends, I would never have step foot in here.

11/29/2012

A colleague one day said 'does anyone know what Ethiopian food is like?' and so we ended up at the Afro-Canadian restaurant on a whim. Ethiopian-style, it turns out, involves platters with various types of spicy meats and vegetables, accompanied by flatbreads, rice and whatever else happens to be on the menu at the time - it seems to change frequently - most of which seems to emerge from giant bubbling pots somewhere out back.

It's all pretty tasty and it's dirt-cheap - just don't be fooled by appearances. The Afro-Can may look like a rundown fish shack on the outskirts of of a third world city, but they know how to cook.

1/8/2014

Nowhere near being good Ethiopian food. Then again, maybe this is what Ethiopian food is like in Canada.

5/5/2014

So I'll admit this was my first experience with Ethiopian food but it blew me and my girlfriend away! After going to see a Canucks game on a Monday night and finding a few beers along the way back towards our hotel we started to get hungry. Seeing as it was 11:30pm our options were getting very limited very fast. As we walked past this place I had to do a bit of convincing but we decided to go in. Upon entering the news station on the TV was pretty loud and we asked the older gentleman if he was still serving,there was no other customers, he said yes and invited us in. We sat down and got to looking at the menu. The waiter must have noticed our confusion and came over to ask if we had ever had Ethiopian food before, we told him this was our first time and he seemed genuinely excited to cook some for us....always a good sign. So we went with a meat/okra and lentils platter. Let me tell you when this plate hit the table, I was pumped! He advised us in how to eat it correctly, using the thin pancake to scoop or roll your choice of ingredients, then left us to devour it. The meat was well seasoned and okra was tasty and spicy. Honestly this was and still is one of the best food experiences I've had, the owner/waiter was very helpful, kind and a fast cook!