Ethiopain/Indian Food In Geneva

Because there isn’t a whole lot of “Swiss” food around (apart from cheese fondue but I hate cheese so we’re probably going to pass on fondue), we’re left with a lot of ethnic cuisine choices such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, Italian, and, of course, sushi!  While I miss sushi like crazy, I can’t bring myself to pay 49 francs for a plate of questionable quality, so we decided to try an Ethiopian/Indian restaurant nearby our hostel.
 
We almost ate at this restaurant last night, but there was no one was eating there so we decided against it (whenever we’ve eaten at restaurants that are deserted, the food has been horrible).  Tonight, though, there were two guys eating on the patio and when we stopped to look at the menu they turned to us and said “c’est bon!” so we decided to give it a try.

The server suggested a mixed platter for two which included salad, a couple different curries, some kind of potatoe, some kind of spinach-like vegetable, and some chicken.  It sounded like a good mix so we ordered it and were wowed when it came served on a huge platter on top of a thin, crepe-like spongy bread called Injera.  We then learned that they don’t use utensils because you use the bread to eat with your hands!  Eating like this was an interesting new experience and the food was amazingly delicious (and very spicy)!   I think I’ll have to look for an Ethiopian restaurant when I get home

As we were leaving the restaurant, we saw the two guys outside again and struck up a conversation by thanking them for their recommendation. We learned that they were from Switzerland, but had both spent some time in Africa and they told us how they loved food like this.  We asked them about living in Switzerland and learned some interesting stuff, like how Switzerland is divided into 26 cantons, each governing itself, so the president of Switzerland is just a figurehead and most Swiss people don’t even know who the current president is!

We ended up chatting till close to midnight and it was one of the most interesting and informative conversations we’ve had with anyone so far on this trip.  This is the second time we’ve chatted with people from the city we’re in (the first was the guys from Lyon) and I find that it’s completely different to talk to local people as opposed to other travellers.  With local people, you have lots to talk about and exchange lots of information about where you’re from and stuff like that, but you don’t really become friends the way you do with other travellers.  We never know if we should offer to exchange emails or something at the end of the conversation (and we’re both kind of shy about that), but when we meet other travellers, exchanging email or facebook contacts is sort of automatic.  I guess that as we continue we’ll get better at stuff like this, but for now, it’s nice to just be able to start up conversation with new people!