Mu'ooz

Mu’ooz, the long-time fave Eritrean restaurant of Moorooka, made its home in recent years in a quaint Queenslander in West End.

Occupying the spacious tiled ground floor with courtyards out front and back, and African baskets, paintings and knick-knacks dotted around, Mu’ooz (which means tasty & healthy) serves the same delicious Eritrean/Ethiopian menu that made it a Moorooka institution, including traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremonies on Friday and Saturday nights.

Food is customarily designed to eat with by freshly-washed hands using injera (thick sour pancake-like bread) to mop up the flavoursome stews that characterise Eritrean cuisine (though cutlery is readily available).

Diners get to feast on a whole range of vegetarian and non-vego specialties such as beef or chicken Zighini (spicy curry flavoured with berbere, onion, tomato, garlic and tasame), Qulwa (lamb cubes sauteed in tasame, red onion, herbs, garlic and green chillies) or Alicha (mild tasty vegetarian stew flavoured with turmeric, ginger and herbs).

Other options include the popular Mbisi (locally sourced goat slowly cooked with onion, garlic, capsicum, chilli and herbs) or Brusn (red lentils stewed with tomato and Eritrean spices).

To accompany are fresh salads like the Gu’E S’Nigh – fresh green chillis filled with tomato and red onion salsa – and Kitcha Fit Fit – a traditional dish of crumbled enjera (bread)cooked with tasame (clarified and herbed butter )and berbere (hot pepper seasoning).

Meanwhile, starters include traditional dips with injera and spring rolls while signature dessert is the Busbusa (semolina cake served warm with ice cream).

In keeping with Eritrean tradition where dining is a communal sharing experience, it’s recommended that diners take the platter option, with a choice of three dishes served on a platter for two, four for three people and so forth, up to a maximum of six dishes.

Also recommended for first-timers or easy decision-making are the banquets, which are for a minimum of two people with entrees and dessert included.

Don’t miss the opportunity to partake in the colourful post-dinner coffee ceremony on Friday and Saturday nights, when a staff member in traditional dress roasts Ethiopian coffee beans over a little stove then filters and boils them up before serving in tiny cups. Until you’ve tasted coffee prepared like this you haven’t tasted coffee - and better have somewhere to go afterwards as sleep isn’t an option!

Having been colonised by Italy from the 1890s to the 1940s, there’s a touch of Italian on the menu, with pasta dishes to choose from including lasagne, Italian style salad and pannacotta. 

Good to know - Takeaway and great lunch specials are also available.

Need to know - Mu’Ooz is not just a great place to eat, but it is a not-for-profit outfit headed by founder and director Saba Abraham, and provides ongoing employment training and work for African refugee women.