Tsion Café: Ethiopian Israeli kosher vegan food in Harlem, New York - review

At Tsion Café – an Ethiopian vegan kosher restaurant situated in a somewhat unlikely location for those in search of kosher – the fresh, well-seasoned food, which includes dishes featuring such names as injera, sambusa, wot, messer, shiro, atakilt, and gomen, is only a small part of the experience.

The African art, eclectic collection of books, piano, occasional poetry nights, elaborate bar, homemade Ethiopian spices and foods available for purchase – and, of course, the chance to schmooze with the restaurant’s Ethiopian Israeli New Yorker owner Beejhy Barhany – make this restaurant one of a kind in the New York and perhaps North American kosher scene.

The café, which opened in 2014, recently came under kosher vegan certification after previously serving such (non-kosher and obviously non-vegan) dishes as filet mignon and shakshuka. It is located in Sugar Hill, the iconic 10-square block historic area in Manhattan’s Harlem and Hamilton Heights neighborhoods. Sugar Hill became a popular place for wealthy African Americans to live during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ‘30s. 

“Our mission is to nourish the body and soul with delightful culinary delights and fine art – we’re a place with Pan-African love, Black Israeli pride,” Barhany proudly notes on the restaurant’s website.

Culinary delights and fine art: Black Israeli pride

Barhany, affectionately known as Chef Beejhy, is regularly present and available to chat with customers. She recounts that her family’s journey from Ethiopia to Israel took place in 1980, “before operations” (including Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1991) and involved, among other things, “an uncle in the Mossad” and “travel through Kenya.” After growing up in Israel and completing her army service, Barhany traveled throughout South and North America before settling in New York.

THE RESTAURATEUR, who lives in the neighborhood, notes that there is quite a bit of Jewish life nearby, including several synagogues (there is the Chabad of Hamilton Heights three blocks away) and the JCC Harlem. The Conservative Movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary on 122st Street and Orthodoxy’s Yeshiva University on 185th are reasonably close as well, though her restaurant is the only kosher establishment for many blocks. Barhany, proud of her many identities, is the founder of the nonprofit Beta Israel of North America (BINA) Cultural Foundation, which showcases the culture of Ethiopian Jews and all Jews of Color.

Beejhy’s daughter – similarly smiley and friendly – also works at Tsion Café. She warmly welcomed our party of three, and informed us that there are no printed menus but that we can use our phones to scan the QR code to view the day’s offerings. Diners of a certain age not in the habit of scanning can study the menu on the very informative website on a screen at home, or on an iPhone while seated at the restaurant.

For those unfamiliar with Ethiopian cuisine, key terms with definitions are offered in rotation at the top of the website’s main menu: injera (made from teff, a flat, highly sour bread served with Ethiopian dishes) and tej (Ethiopian honey wine – legend has it that it was the first alcoholic beverage that humans consumed) alternate with the terms “Tsion” and “community” on the screen.

A tab on the website titled “Ethiopian Cuisine” offers a general introduction to the Ethiopian dining experience, as well as a more detailed description of menu items. It starts by permitting and encouraging eating with your hands (“We Ethiopians share a communal quality to consuming food and beverages. Not only do we eat with our hands, but we literally feed each other with delicate gurshas – mouthfuls of food – as a sign of love”) and often needed definition of terms.

In addition to a more detailed explanation about injera, which involves a three- to five-day fermentation process and is the “utensil” for eating, the link notes that wot are stews; messer are red lentils; shiro are chickpeas; gomen are collard greens; ataklit are cabbage, carrots and potatoes; and kil alicha are yellow split peas. All are cooked with flavorful Ethiopian spices such as berbere.

OUR DINING adventure started with an appetizer of sambusa. Given our appetites and desire to jump right into the dining experience, we opted for four (not just two) sambusa, the hot, crispy, fried, well-seasoned triangular pastries filled with lentils and dipped in a zesty sun-dried tomato sauce. They arrived pretty quickly, though we had a longish wait for our three entrées. Watching them being prepared fresh by chefs in the kitchen just beyond the well-stocked bar was fun, and the wait was forgiven when all arrived together – hot, well seasoned, and visually appealing.

As relative newbies to Ethiopian cuisine, we went with the Ethiopian Veggie Combo, which had a little of everything, including shiro, atakilt, messer, kik alicha, and gomen, presented as five distinct circular mounds atop a rectangular injera on a rectangular white plate.

Our second entrée, Oyster Mushroom Wot, was spicy, well seasoned, and something we’d never dream of preparing at home. We were in awe of how the flavors of the oyster mushrooms (no actual oysters here, of course!), tomatoes, jalapenos, fresh herbs, and awaze melded together. I had never tasted awaze, a traditional Ethiopian sauce consisting of berbere, honey, and other spices. And it is not often that a dish is presented to the table in a black skillet!

Our final entrée, Duba Wot with Jollof Rice, was a bit more filling than the other dishes, as it was rice-based. The spicy pumpkin (the vegetable has deep historical roots in Ethiopian cuisine) and sweet potato stew with jollof rice and plantaini (crispy green plantains), drizzled with creamy tahini, cilantro, and lime sauce, offered a different flavor profile from the other dishes. The savory stew was nicely presented in a bowl-like white plate which kept it safely contained.

Ethiopian food has a reputation for being super flavorful and not very filling. We found the food to be very flavorful and appreciated the introduction to food with which we had no familiarity. The portions were indeed small, but we did not leave hungry. We opted out of dessert, though that may have been a tactical error, as the malawach with silan, and the halvah looked delicious. Fellow diners enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee and Ethiopian spice tea.

THE WEBSITE notes that the restaurant is a place to experience “Ethiopian and Israeli culture firsthand.” The chef is indeed Ethiopian-Israeli, and there are a few menu items remotely connected to Israel (pita and Tel Aviv Quinoa salad to name two), but playing up “Israeli culture” is a bit of a stretch; it is essentially an Ethiopian restaurant – and an excellent one at that. The eatery offers great food, a lovely ambiance, and a chance to purchase artwork, as well as Tsion’s Awaze ($10), Berbere Spice Blend ($12), and Injera chips bag ($8).

I look forward to returning when the outdoor patio is open in the warmer months. It is the perfect New York destination for live music and poetry readings, and it will be a nice place for a drink on a summer evening. There is a good assortment of kosher wines, and the mixed drinks have such names as Redd Fox (tequila, sorrel, agave, ginger, lime juice, jalapeno); X (bourbon, lemon juice, agave, pinotage); and Kafa martini (vodka, Ethiopian coffee, amarula, berbere).

Many reflect the rich heritage of the neighborhood and the building. Jimmy’s Chicken Shack was the former occupant of the building, and such people connected to the Harlem Renaissance as Redd Fox, Charlie Parker, Malcolm X, and Billie Holiday once passed through. The development of this neighborhood served as a mecca for Black culture including music, art, and literature from approximately 1910 through the mid-1930s. Despite its proximity to several heavily populated Jewish neighborhoods, the number of Jewish residents of Sugar Hill is small.

Getting to Tsion is a bit of a challenge and may require taking two subways or buses – but it is worth it! 

• www.tsioncafe.com/
• 763 St. Nicholas Ave., New York City
• (212) 234-2070
• Ram Kosher (K-V Pareve – Kosher Vegan Certification by Rabbi Andre Malek)