A friend and I had heard about Fatima's cafe, and were anxious to try it - not having to drive to Boston for this type of African food (meat and veggie stews, injera) was quite the exciting prospect. After one failed attempt we finally made it on a sunny Sunday afternoon, joined by my husband. He isn't an injera fan and had reservations about coming along... but the idea of lunching with Melissa and I appealed to him. I'm happy to report that all three of us were satisfied. Eric was the only one who didn't have food to take home (besides his leftover Anjero, which I will be eating with my lunch tomorrow).
We were some of the only customers for the hour we were there (one man came in to order takeout, and a young obviously over the moon in love couple came in for lunch). Which is too bad - I wish more people knew about it. The inside is clean, no-frills. Lots of tables in the small space, but the walls are a bit sparse. It was bright and sunny though - it had just snowed the day before and there was lots of reflective sun. This is a family-run place, a mother was cooking and a daughter serving. Service was pleasant. The food didn't come quckly, but this isn't a fast food place. It was so obviously fresh and piping hot when it came. A tiny bit of a wait, but worth every second.
We ordered samosas, African doughnuts and beverages to start (coffee took a while to make, but was good and strong). I was brought a meat samosa by accident, bummer for me because I had to wait for my veggie samosa, but a boon for Eric as he got to have an extra beef one. The server was very apologetic for the mistake, and didn't charge us for any of the samosas. And once it came, the veggie one was amazing! Very saucy inside, awesome colors and flavorful. Eric and Melissa then had beef stews with Somali Anjero (like injera, but I thought it was less sour, more crepe-like).Eric and Melissa were also given lentils and eggplant. I had the vegetable stews (lentils, cabbage, spinach) with Anjero. I was enthusiastically happy with everything, and have lots of leftovers. I saved my taste of a doughnut for dessert, also delicious.
The outside advertises "Middle Eastern, African and American food". Writing this, I'm totally embarassed that we did not spend time chatting with the family that has the restaurant. I'm still completely ignorant of the differences between Ethiopian and Somalian cuisines. I'm not sure what on the menu qualified as Middle Eastern or American food. Fatima's cafe has been around for around nine months, according to our server; it started doing community events and branched out. I don't know how large of a group they can cater for, but I'm hoping to get some of their food the next time we host a party. Try it, try it, try it!
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