NUNU (1178 Queen West, at Northcote, 647-351-6868) Complete dinners for $28 per person (lunches/brunches $20), including all taxes, tip and a domestic beer. Average main $10/$8. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11 am to midnight, Monday 3 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
It seems the obvious question, but nobody’s answering. Couldn’t Nunu Ketgela have found another space other than the vacant Queen West storefront just three doors down from her sister Aster’s Addis Ababa (1184 Queen West, at Northcote, 416-538-0059) to open a restaurant named after herself, especially since she cooked at the latter for 17 years? Surely, sis must be pissed.
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The official word is that there’s no problem at all. Nunu knew the landlord from working in the neighbourhood and had wanted to branch out on her own for some time. Besides, it’s not uncommon for Ethiopian eateries to be located near each other.
Just look at Lalibela (869 Bloor West, at Roxton, 416-535-6615) and Nazareth (969 Bloor West, at Dovercourt, 416-535-0797) up on Bloor, or Dukem (950 Danforth, at Euston, 416-406-6342) and Wazema (1360 Danforth, at Linsmore, 416-466-5713) out on the Danforth. And isn’t M & B Yummy (1263 Queen West, at Brock, 416-516-2798) just down the street, too?
No, what sets Nunu the resto apart from the rest is that Nunu the chef is attempting to do something new. Rather than dark and foreboding, the streamlined room is bright, and strikingly opens to the street through a wall of retractable glass. Clean white-topped tables face a long chocolate-brown banquette, and tall off-white walls remain free of restaurant art. Only the dreary late-period Dylan on the CD player spoils the mood. How about some jazz from Mulatu Astatke or dub from Lee “Scratch” instead?
Though almost everything is also available separately, the best way to get the most out of Nunu’s menu is to order a “misto” combo platter (vegetarian $13/meat $15). Our group meal starts with lightly honeyed French-style crepes ($8 à la carte) and an anonymous Chilean red ($6 glass/$32 bottle) before the mains arrive all at once on a large tray lined with sour injera flatbread. Just rip off a piece and dig in, though you might want to ask for a fork to avoid staining your fingers turmeric-yellow.
Every Ethiopian joint in town does tibs, and Nunu’s no exception, only hers is lamb instead of beef ($12). Slow-braised in garlicky berbere pepper paste, it almost disintegrates on the tongue and comes relatively free of bone and gristle.
Doro wat ($11) finds fall-from-the-bone chicken in a similar toned-down sauce, while slightly cooked kitfo steak tartare ($12) gets its adjusted kick from clarified butter and whole green chilies. Strips of tripe mixed with sliced onion manage the trick of being both tender and tasty.
It’s not all fireworks. Of the veggies, firm slices of keysir beets arrive sweetly sauced, sun-dried shiro wat split peas come gently curried, and gommen wat collard greens (all $9) provide cooling comfort. And even though we’re as stuffed as turkeys, Nunu insists we try her trifle ($8), a fantasia of whipped cream, shortcake and sherry, before we leave.
Brunch – all-day lunch, really – begins a few days later with potent cups of Ethiopian coffee ($2) and more of that diabolical Dylan CD. Some eye-opener! But deliciously puréed fava bean fulle soon draws our attention, as does kinche be sega – ribbons of rare beef and scrambled egg over a bed of butter-infused bulgur- that borders on macrobiotic if you ignore the meat and dairy.
Described on the menu as an omelette, key gomen be enqualal is more like stir-fried red cabbage laced with egg and Parmesan (all $8), sided with tomato salad in a lemony vinaigrette and enough injera to feed an army of Rastafarians with the munchies.
stevend@nowtoronto.com
