Perth Voice Interactive

I WAS never trendy enough to own a tagine when they were the latest must-have.

All my friends had one but they were cooking lamb and as a vegetarian my ears remained closed.

But thanks to The Edge of Sahara and its magnificent North-East African food, much of it tagine-cooked, I may go tagine-hunting.

The tagine cooks slowly and its conical shape ensures food is constantly moist

The tiny restaurant is a tad hard to find, tucked away at the Brisbane Street end of William Street in Northbridge, but well worth the effort.

Chef and co-owner Enza Adam hails from Eritrea and the food is predominately from there and neighbouring Ethiopia—squabbling neighbours on the eastern edge of the famous eponymous desert.

People have been flocking to the eatery for its traditional habesha coffee—with ginger or without—since its low-key opening late last year.

The $6 price tag is a little more than you’ll pay for a bog-standard flat white but the effort that goes into making it, let alone the taste, is worth every cent.

Beans are roasted in-house and ground fresh to order. The thick, rich coffee is served in what looks like an old-fashioned oil can but is a traditional Eritrean shape.

Poured from on high—with amazing accuracy—into tiny cups it was delicious.

Our falafel starter ($7.50) was beautifully presented, with six tasty falafel balls (two each) and were some of the best I’ve ever eaten.

The dip trio ($12) was pretty damn fine too. Served with carrot and celery slices so fresh and crunchy that biting into them registered on the richter scale, and an Ethiopian flat bread on the side that was warm, slightly oily and moreish.

There was a dip to suit everyone: D’Angerous Dave loved the smoky taste of the aubergine while I really liked the refreshing cucumber and yoghurt. The third member of the trio enjoyed the sweet carrot.

Roll on mains, in this case a seven-vegetable tagine and a tagine-cooked red lentil curry ($16) and a North African vegetable burger ($14).

My magnificent seven was flavoursome with a faint smoky overlay: The tagine cooks slowly and its conical shape ensures food is constantly moist: It makes for great depth of flavour.

My dish came with a bowl of quinoa (as one unrefined colleague unkindly calls it, kin-waaa-nker food) and a fresh, tasty bowl of chickpea salad.

As good as it was I was envious of my mate’s lentil stew, which I can best describe as a cross between a mulligatawny and a particularly fine dhal, except here the lentils remain whole, giving more body to the dish.

Out in the kitchen Enza had worked magic to produce a moist and full-bodied vegetable burger. It’s not as easy as it sounds, given some rubbery discs I’ve tried over the years. It came with a serve of homemade ogali chips, thinly sliced flat-bread, quickly fried to a deliciously crisp and salty ribbon.

Well satisfied we wandered out to the car via a couple of interesting shops across the road.

I spotted a familiar tagine in Fair Go Trading and compared notes with the owner, a regular for lunch at Sahara (he gets it delivered). He reported a group of friends and life-partner Norman, absolutely loved the goat tagine when they dropped in for dinner recently.

The owner of William Topp next door reckons she’s partial to the spicy chicken burger (I had noticed a burly tradie hoeing into one with great relish during our visit).

by JENNY D’ANGER

The Edge of Sahara
447 William Street, Northbridge
0427 778 197
Open Tues–Sunday breakfast and
lunch, Thur–Sat for dinner