Hours
Monday: closed
Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.
Cuisine
Specializes in a style of African food involving injera, a large, thick crepe-like bread which is used to scoop up a variety of meat and vegetarian dishes served on communal plates. They also offer English-style fish and chips, a homage to the restaurant's new location at the former home of Rockway Restaurant.
Reservations
Available
Attire
Casual
Atmosphere
Linen tablecloths and African art pieces push the restaurant towards upscale ethnic but the brown faux-wood panelling and booths left over from the Rockway days make for an odd, work-in-progress feel.
The menu
Three appetizers and two soups, $2.99 to $7.99. The 18 main-course choices feature six beef choices, two chicken, two lamb, one goat, one fish and five vegetarian, $7.99 to $12.99. They can be mixed and matched and are served with the injera flat bread. There are also three other entrees available, as well as a selection of fish and chips.
Wine list
Eight whites and nine reds, $20.99 to $28.99 including a selection of several African wines and a smattering of Canadian and New World offerings. By the glass, $3.99 to $5.99.
Service
Our server knew the menu well and was patient in explaining the various nuances of this unique style of eating. The food took some time to arrive, but the freshness and flavour was worth the wait.
The bill
Four main dishes, two glasses of wine and a pop: $62.54 before tax and tip.
In a nutshell
A-M Africa continues to offer a unique and spectacular ethnic dining experience, though the new location in the old Rockway fish and chips locale still feels incomplete.
One of the many benefits of living in the increasingly Jackson Pollack-esque mosaic that is the modern urban community in Canada is the increasingly diverse selection of ethnic food. Where once bad Chinese and the occasional curry joint were as much as the adventurous diner could hope for, now there is an international cornucopia of delicious delicacies.
That said, we are not, as of yet, overrun by African restaurants. While numbers is likely the primary reason for this -- the South Asian population in Canada is roughly 1.2 million while African immigrants number 300,000 -- the general prevalence of the Western cuisine also plays a role. Curry is practically everyday Canadian cuisine, with any number of DIY sauces and mixes available in the grocery store to help the bumbling home cook along and no shortage of restaurants to provide tasty examples. You are, however, very much on your own in trying to find a little African cookery.
Kitchener, however, has the good fortune of being home to A-M Africa, still going strong after 12 years in the city. It has recently moved from its downtown location and now occupies the space formerly occupied by the iconic Rockway Restaurant, going so far as to retain some of the battered and deep-fried specialties on the menu. But A-M Africa remains true to its roots, serving up some unique and wonderful tastes that are hard to come by.
It starts with the bread. It's known as injera, and it reminds me of a rather large (think steering-wheel size) crepe or pancake. It's light, yet remarkably hearty and dense, with the finishing kick of a mule: it leaves the slightly sour calling card typically found in sourdough breads. It's also part serving platter and the main utensil used in the meal. The technique, as per tradition, is to use torn off hunks of injera to scoop up bits of whichever of the 18 main-dish choices that have been selected. The four we tried were all of a similar thick, stew-life consistency -- tsebhi as it is referred to in Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine -- and flavoured with a dynamic combination of spices, most of which were new to my palate.
Our beef dish was called Zil Zil and it reminded me of a slightly tart barbecue sauce. The tsebhi tyel was a spicy goat curry, with all the delicious bony fattiness that goat has to offer on full display. The fish dish, stewed in a medley of spices that included the traditional barbecue -- usually including chili peppers, ginger, cloves, coriander, allspice and others -- was tender and rich.
The best of the bunch, however, was Timtimo, a dish of roasted lentils. It was smoky like a cigar lounge full of fat-cat CEOs, lentils, ubiquitous and useless, an otherwise disposable legume, transformed into something utterly fantastic and unique, the perfect balance of flavour and heat.
I had planned to check out the fish and chips at A-M Africa, the holdover from the Rockway menu but the opportunity to eat fish and chips comes often -- though admittedly it's a tough thing to do really well. The chance to eat authentic African food, however, is a rare and special treat, one that I look forward to engaging in at A-M Africa again and again.
A-M Africa 1472 King St. E., Kitchener 519-576-0313 www.amafrica.ca
RATING: 3 1/2 FORKS
1 fork: fair
2 forks: good
3 forks: excellent
4 forks: outstanding
5 forks: memorable
Assessing food, atmosphere, service and prices, Dining Out restaurant reviews are based on anonymous visits to the establishments. Restaurants do not pay for any portion of the reviewer's meal. Drew Edwards can be reached at drew.edwards@rogers.com