Episode VI: Djibouti

The menu

Tonight, we took a "slight" detour up the Eastern coast of Africa to little place we like to call... Djibouti.  The original design was to head from Mauritius to Tanzania, but our quest to find a Tanzanian restaurant went awry.  It did, however, lead us to a fantastic place in South Minneapolis called the Goda Cafe. 

Sambusa and Soup

The Goda Cafe specializes in Djiboutian, Somlian, and... American cuisine.  Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a friendly man named Musa who said we could pick any table we wanted.  Seconds after we were seated, Musa brought over two bowls of soup, and two bottles of water.  Before he could take our order, we told him that we were on a mission to find some Djiboutian food and wanted his recommendation on what would make our experience most complete.  His eyes became watery and a huge smile broke out on his face.  He told us that was the best thing we could have asked him, and gave us a slew of options for what amounted to a delicious three course meal, complete with bottled Cokes and Chai tea.

Sizzling main course

For an appetizer, he brought out Sambusa, which was a meat and vegetable filled pastry accompanied by a white cucumber cream sauce.  C went so far as to say that the Sambusa was possibly her favorite dish she has had on this expedition thus far.  Next came the main courses.  Christina got chicken on rice, with veggies, a spicy pepper sauce, and... a banana.  Musa highly recommended slicing up the banana and eating it with the rice which was SHOCKINGLY delicious.  He suggested Zack get the beef tips, which came out sizzling in a skillet, surrounded by a plethora of peppers.  According to Musa, in Djibouti this meal would be cooked around an open flame in the middle of a table.  The food would be thrown into a big skillet and each person at the table would take what they wanted.  We did not get to experience this, but the beef tips were still mouth watering... and now we have more motivation to go to Djibouti. 

Trying out bananas and rice

We thought we were done and were in a full recline in our chairs when Musa announced that our meal was far from complete.  He disappeared for a few minutes, then came back with a sampling of small Djiboutian cakes, most of which contained roasted dates.  He also brought out two mugs of Chai tea, at which point the feast concluded.

Cakes and Chai

Musa's enthusiasm for not only the meal, but also for TCGC made tonight's experience complete.  He told us that he's been taking his thirteen year old son to restaurants from different countries in the Twin Cities, and highly recommended that we add a meal at a Tibetan restaurant on to our itinerary.  We would like to highly recommend Goda Cafe to anyone looking to explore Saharan cuisine while staying within the confines of the Twin Cities metro area.

Zack, Musa, and Christin

Djiboutian food brought happiness to our diverse St. Paul/Minneapolis.