Nil Bleu Restaurant

I finally got the chance to try this place for supper. It is a simply beautiful space. The savannah paintings and the animal print pillows bring through the African theme elegantly.

I had been to another Ethiopian restaurant where everyone ate off a communal platter made from a giant injera, the traditional rolled bread made with teff. This dinner was much more upscale. Dinners were plated and served individually, with the exception of the tasting platter designed for two people to share. Yes, there were rolls of injera for scooping the food — but forks and knives appeared readily.

Presentation is stunning here. I wish I had brought my camera! Roasted vegetables were arranged in a heart shape.

Dessert does not appear on the menu. When we had eaten, the waiter passed a long wooden board with a selection of petits fours on toothpicks. Three dollars for one morsel?! Two bites, maybe three? One tablemate tried negotiating a volume discount: two for three, three for six? Naaaa that didn’t work. Yet I, the dessert fiend on a budget, was the only one not to succumb to sweet temptation.

Service started off prompt but petered out toward the end of the meal. It took a good 20 minutes to get the bill — and I discovered that someone else’s dessert had snuck onto my bill. The error was easily and pleasantly corrected at the cash.

Would I go back? Probably — but with a fistful of cash! This was at the edge of my budget.