Jambo Jambo, Crows Nest

You’ll find a few African restaurants scattered across the suburbs, but Jambo Jambo is Sydney’s only Ethiopian one. Jambo Jambo (“hello hello” in Swahili) has been open for a year now, tucked away in the complex that time forgot, Crows Nest Plaza.


Inside the Jambo Jambo dining room

The primary yellow, red and green walls offer a burst of Ethiopian patriotism, and it’s hard not to get into the spirit of things with the colonial-style high backed chairs, litany of tourism posters and tribal artefacts on the wall.

Injera bread

Central to any Ethiopian meal is injera, a spongy fermented flatbread that looks like a coffee-coloured bubbly crepe. Owner, Joseph Bekele, makes his own using sorghum and teff flours, leaving it to ferment overnight for six hours to create its signature sour taste. 

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Goden tibs grilled beef ribs $24

Ethiopian curries are either mild (alicha) or hot (wot) and are served in small scoops on a giant round of injera. There are mild and hot variations of chicken, lamb and beef - the doro wot chicken has a decent chilli kick.

[Clockwise from bottom left] Misr wot split lentils $19; kitffo beef cooked in spiced butter $24.50; doro wot chicken $24.50; key wot lamb stew $24; gomen collard greens and alicha curried vegetable stew provided as complimentary extras

Vegetarians can choose from five options (each $19), including split peas, split lentils, collard greens, powdered chickpeas and alicha: a potato, carrot and cabbage stew.


Kitffo raw lean beef with spiced butter $24.50

Our favourite dish of the night is the kitffo - lean beef that’s chopped finely and cooked in spiced butter. Ignore the rare or medium options and eat it how Ethiopians traditionally do it – raw. It’s the African version of steak tartare or Korean yukke, the raw beef macerated in a spiced clarified butter (Bekele makes his own). Do it. It’s amazing.


Roasting Ethiopian coffee beans

On weekends, Bekele serves coffee from freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee beans. It’s a bit of a show, with the roasted beans proudly paraded around the room in a frypan cloaked in smoke. The coffee is surprisingly smooth, brewed in traditional clay jebena coffee pots.


Jebena clay coffee pot


Ethiopian coffee

Prices can seem a little steep at first sight, with each main the size of a single ladle, but the injera is unlimited, presented as little scrolls in wicker baskets. There’s no need for cutlery here. You simply unroll a section of injera, tear it off, and use it as a scoop for the curry.


Ethiopian kitffo raw beef with spiced butter, curries and injera


Ethiopian curries on injera bread




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Jambo Jambo
Shop 16, Crows Nest Plaza
103-111 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9439 3277

Opening hours:
Dinner Tuesday to Sunday 6pm-1pm
Lunch hours vary, phone ahead to check

BYO only. Corkage $2.50 per person

This article appeared in the September 2013 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This! [Read online] 

Read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews