Tag Archive for 'Review'

Restaurant Review: Horn of Africa

We were alerted about Horn of Africa by reader Gaile at Fidgety Budgie, who reviewed Horn of Africa on her website, here. It sounded like an interesting place to check out. I don’t have that much experience with African food, and so it’s always an adventure to try. Regular readers will know that I’m on a diet to lose weight because of some minor health problems, so our ability to go out to eat has been curtailed quite a bit, and we always pick places we want to review when we do go out.

The Horn of Africa has a little something for everyone on their menu. Besides the variety of African chicken, lamb, seafood, and vegetarian dishes, they also serve the standard Mediterranean favorites like kebabs, gyros, and falafel. Their falafel plate is the vegan choice. Gaile mentioned in her review that, on her visit, there were worryingly few customers at prime dinner time, but we didn’t find that to be the case on our visit. The place is just a block or two north of NE Alberta on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and is easy to find. The decor is a little dull and the ambiance is strictly no-frills family dining. Our one biggest complaint of the night was the speed (or rather, slowness) with which everything happened. On the plus side, almost everything on the menu is gluten-free, and our waitress was very friendly and helpful.

Bajiya - gluten-free chickpea fritter

For an appetizer, we got Bajiya. These are described as “Seasoned patties of ground garbanzos and split peas, lightly fried.” Of course, our first choice would have been the Sambusas (which are basically Samosas by another name), but we were pleased to find that the Bajiya was a lot like a Samosa. This item was tasty, hot, and had obviously been prepared right then, so our expectations were raised. If you order these, however, keep in mind that you only get one patty per appetizer. They are only $1.00 but still, if you are expecting a more appetizer sized appetizer, you might order extra.

Gluten Free African Flatbread

The next thing I got excited about is that they have gluten-free flat bread. It comes out in rolls like this. The bread is spongy like something made with rice flour, but is very flavorful and reminded me of the teff bread we made a long time ago. It has a yeasty flavor that is very reminiscent of light rye bread. It’s the perfect thing for sopping up some sauce to go with your next bite. Our waitress mentioned that we got lucky that they had it when we visited, and that it’s the sort of item where they can make sure to have some available if you call them the day before.

Horn of Africa Gluten Free African Food

For our entrees, we ordered the Keluna with Wild Salmon and the Marakha Lukku. The Marakha Lukku is described as “Chicken breast stewed in house-made Beri-Beri Sauce with garlic and onions.” Beri Beri is a sauce made with a lot of spices like cardamom, peppercorns, fenugreek, ginger, and the like, combined with wine, oil, and hot chillies. I ordered mine “medium spicy” and felt like it was pretty mild. The chicken was well done, but I felt like the dish ended up being a little one-dimensional. Like it needed some veggies, or maybe some yogurt on the side.

Horn of Africa Keluna with Salmon

The Keluna is their fish dish and comes with whatever happens to be in season. It is described as “Seafood in season marinated in Zanzibar-style herbs and spices, pan-seared and stewed with fresh vegetables.” This dish was a little bit like a curry but had its own character. We both really liked it and felt that it was the superior dish of the two. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the veggies were excellent.

All in all the food was good, and it seemed to me like it had been prepared when we ordered it. I have to mention as well that their rice was really awesome. As I said, the waitress was friendly and informative, but it seemed like it took a long time for our food to come out. Checking other reviews on the Internet, it seems like we’re not the only ones who have had this problem. We thought that the food was good, but not spectacular. I would summarize our feeling about the restaurant as “satisfied and curious to try more, but not blown away.”

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-free Friendly but Ask Questions!
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same.

Horn of Africa
www.hornofafrica.net
5237 NE MLK Blvd / 503.331.9844

We want to know: Do you have a favorite gluten-free friendly African restaurant in town? Got a teff bread recipe for making flat bread? Let us know in the comments!

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Published on August 25, 2010 in Restaurant Review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Product Review: Udi’s White Sandwich Bread

Our search for the perfect gluten-free bread continues with heavyweight contender Udi’s. Udi’s Bread is in Denver, and we heard about them way before this. As a matter of fact, they contacted us at some point, and then we got back to them, but we never really got it together to try some of their bread for a review until now. Now that you can buy their bread at Whole Foods in Portland, we figured it was high time for us to give them a shot.

Udi's White Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

Long time readers will know that we find store-bought gluten-free breads disappointing on the whole, and have resorted to making our own with a bread machine. Recently I’ve been doing a series of posts detailing our experiments with bread recipes from around the Internet, and how they work out with our tester Zojirushi bread machine in the Gluten Free Portland labs.

Udi’s markets their white sandwich bread as their original style, light and fluffy white bread. So we’re probably looking at something that will approximate American white bread. Here are the ingredients:

Filtered water, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, potato starch, canola oil or sunflower oil, egg whites, tapioca maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice, tapioca syrup, yeast, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate), mold inhibitor (cultured corn syrup, ascorbic acid), ascorbic acid (contains cellulose and cornstarch), enzymes. Contains eggs.

We’re becoming a lot harder to please when it comes to bread ingredients, and the first thing that jumps out at me when I look at this list is that two of the three gluten-free flours in use here are starches. The first being tapioca starch. It seems like there’s something about making gluten-free bread where you need starch to do it, so I’m used to seeing tapioca starch in bread recipes, but it’s not something you want to be eating lots of, and to me, having it as the first ingredient is not a good sign. A quarter cup of tapioca starch is 100 calories, has 26 grams of carbohydrates, no fiber, no protein, and basically no vitamins and minerals except a little iron. Potato starch is even worse. Compare this to a quarter cup of sorghum flour, which has 120 calories, and has 26 grams of carbohydrates, but has 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, and also has iron, and B-Vitamins. See the attached chart on this helpful page for more information about the nutritional value of alternative grains.

Udi'd Gluten Free White Bread Slices

So OK. OK. Sometimes you just want some bread to make a hamburger or a PB&J and you don’t mind that it’s not really the best thing for you. Let’s talk about taste. Sienna and I both liked it. Being a white bread, it’s on the flavorless side. We didn’t find any strange aftertastes. As far as something you can buy at a store to make a sandwich out of, I would say that this bread has got the Trader Joe’s gluten free rice bread beat hands down. I would put it as equivalent or maybe a little better than Whole Foods own gluten free bread. Whole Foods has got a weird texture problem. Udi’s bread toasts OK and is good with some butter on it. As a replacement for white bread it does do the job, so we can see what the big deal is about.

When compared to bread that you can make at home, though, it’s still not really there for me. I would also say that you should check out Jensen’s Breads, which are available around town, are locally made, and are better.

We want to know: Do you have a favorite store-bought gluten-free bread? How about a preferred flour mix or bread recipe on the Internet? Send us a link. Let us know in the comments!

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Published on July 16, 2010 in Product Review. 9 Comments Tags: , , , , .

News Bites on a Friday: Gluten Free Buns, Cookies, Cream Puffs, Pies

Seems like all you need to do to get MY attention these days is say the word “cookie.” My doctor has me on a no sugar, low carbohydrate diet so that I can lose some weight, and it’s been hard walking around in the grocery store when I know that there are some gluten-free goodies calling my name. On the plus side, it’s working. I’ve lost about ten pounds since I started. All this ignoring cookies and pies is starting to get on my nerves, though. On to the news!

Jensen’s Buns Now Available

A couple of months back we got a sneak preview of Jensen’s gluten-free buns and mentioned how awesome they were. At the time, they weren’t available, but we heard from them recently that they finally are. Jensen’s have announced that their buns are available at Lingonberries in Vancouver and Lambs in Lake Oswego (and some of the other Lamb’s markets – check with your local one). They are also providing buns to the Corbett and Hawthorne Fish Houses. Anybody out there tried their buns? Let us know!

Crave Bakery is Making Cream Puffs and Other Things

We heard from Crave Bakery that they are now offering gluten-free cream puffs and are working on recipes for cookies, pies, tarts and cobblers. If you haven’t checked them out yet, we think you should (see our review, here).

Sweetpea Cookies and Brownies Available at Whole Foods

Continuing with our sweet streak, I noticed recently (before I started this diet) that Sweetpea Bakery has gluten-free cookies and brownies available at Whole Foods.

Best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Evar

The chocolate chip cookie is really amazing and is like how I remember chocolate chip cookies to be when I was a kid. They’re really delicious. (Note that these items have the “made in a facility shared with wheat” disclaimer). This makes the sweets area of Whole Foods really dangerous for me!

Petunia’s Pies and Pastries

Writes owner Lisa Clark:

Gluten free pie? You’ve found it! I have a new gluten free/vegan pastry business in N Portland called Petunia’s Pies & Pastries! I am currently selling at the Portland Farmers Markets: PSU 8:30-2 Saturdays, Sundays @ the King Market (NE 7th & Wygant)10-2, and Mondays starting June 21 @ Pioneer Square 10-2. I also take orders through my website.

Send Help!

Seeing as how I can’t eat any of these items any time real soon, I’m depending on our readers to check some of these items out and report back!!!

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Published on July 8, 2010 in News. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

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