In case you missed it, African food and music are having a bit of a moment in Buffalo right now. Restaurants serving Nigerian, Sudanese, Ethiopian and other African cuisines have been popping up a lot in recent years. Many of these spots turn the volume up at night with regular Afrobeat and Afro-Caribbean DJ nights.
As for the food, we’ve been covering local African restaurants for a while now, and we’re seeing more new African spots offer dishes that we just haven’t seen before.
- Kik alichi ($17). A spicy yellow split pea stew
- Misir qey wot ($16). Red lentils cooked in berbere pepper and other spices
- Quanta tifir ($20). Diced dried beef cooked in tomato sauce, ghee and egg
All of these come with injera, the comforting, spongy pancake-like bread used to scoop up meat, rice and veggies.
On my visit, I found that the samosas were spicy, nutty, hot, and crispy-crunchy — just as you’d expect, maybe a bit spicier than you’d expect. I also went for the quanta tifir and found it sweet, spicy, fiery hot, and deeply flavored. The bits of crunchy and chewy dried beef gave it pops of texture, while the spongy injera was one of the best I’ve had.
In addition to being a restaurant, Horn of Africa also has a full bar, and it regularly hosts Afrobeat DJ nights. In early November, Shalegrie played dancehall, soca, and other Afro-Caribbean sounds into the early morning. On my (much earlier in the day) visit, co-owner Tsegarada Abera told me business has been growing since she opened the place in late summer…