Awash

Awash Restaurant Review:

Set on the Indian eatery-lined stretch of East Sixth Street between First and Second Avenues, Awash's subterranean dining room is cozy and dimly lit. Eating Ethiopian works thusly: diners choose three to five dishes; they arrive all at once on a massive plate, atop spongy bread called injera. Diners tear off pieces of injera and mop up the stewed meats and spicy vegetables. Start with the yemesir kik wat (split red lentil in berbere sauce) before moving on to the gored gored (tender beef cubes served raw in hot berbere mixed with butter). Gomen besiga (chopped lamb with onion and cardamom) is also tasty. Service can be a bit slow, but once that massive plate is on the table, you'll forget about the servers almost as quickly as they may have forgotten about you.