Dabakh Restaurant

Like nothing you’ve ever seen in Columbus, Dabakh is worth going bakh for



She brought out a brown manila envelope, nearly overflowing with a large stack of papers. She placed it on the table, and walked away. I silently nodded my head in thanks, and pulled out the papers. Instead of seeing a “for your eyes only” classified introduction or a debriefing, I was given my target, or rather, several dozen targets. “I’ll take the fish,” I muttered, making sure no one overheard us.

No, Dabakh is not the restaurant for spies and espionage. Although, there are good reasons for thinking so. Dabakh is a trek, as I found out the hard way. It’s not necessarily hard to see, but getting to Refugee Rd can prove to be difficult with construction and rivers and roads that dead end getting in the way. If one can make it to Hamilton Rd., it’s just a quick left on Refugee and another into the parking lot of what looked like an old Wendy’s. They’ve put up barriers and various decorations to make one forget that, but it almost adds to the charm. Dabakh wins the record for longest hours of a non-chain/Buckeye Donuts: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Mon dieu! Oh, it’s worth mentioning that Senegal was colonized by the French, and so you’ll likely hear a “merci beaucoup” or “ça va?” The menu is by far one of the more unique in the city. The lunch menu is probably double the size of the dinner menu, and boasted many interesting options that are most definitely worth investigating. And the incident above that I began with—that was our waitress bringing out a picture of what seemed like every dish on the menu…and more. I picked out a few pictures that I liked, asked her for suggestions, and settled on a preparation of grilled fish. It’s unclear, but it seemed like most if not all dinners were prepared the same way. Preparation of meat, served with white rice, brown rice, couscous, French fries, spaghetti, or cassava, seasoned raw onions, caramelized onions, hardboiled egg, and mayonnaise—yes, mayonnaise.

You might be tempted to get one of the very exotic drinks that Dabakh offers. The bouye, which is juice that comes from the baobab tree, is an acquired taste. A taste most certainly acquired by five-nine year olds. That’s right, the baobab tastes like liquid Smarties. Extremely sweet, it might be good to have a sip of but it’s very difficult to have for a whole meal. Perhaps the ginger drink is a safer choice, you think. You’d be wrong again. It hits the mouth and immediately the tongue recognizes it as mouthwash flavor, until a little sweet aftertaste kicks in. I’m not absolutely sure that they brought out the right drink; there was no indication of ginger. They brought out traditional Senegalese bread to the table, cut into small ovals…hey, it’s baguette! Good baguette, too—not quite as crusty as La Chatelaine’s, but just how you’d imagine it.

The Dibbi (grilled lamb) was very good— smoky, crispy, seasoned and cooked well. You’ll be tempted to gnaw the meat off the bone. The couscous was a little dry, and quite a heaping serving for a diner to make their way through. I’d probably recommend the rice—either white or brown. The white rice, slightly sticky, was a much better canvas for picking up the flavors of the dish, and also felt a little lighter and the texture less interfering, if that makes sense. Dabakh does a nice job mixing in vegetables, topping main courses with fresh onion, peas, corn, green pepper, and carrot. One hardly notices them, but they add a wonderful freshness and texture The grilled fish had a very interesting preparation—it either was lightly fried, or covered in egg and bread crumbs and grilled well, I really couldn’t tell. Regardless, it was extremely flavorful and well-spiced. It might have been a little on the salty side, but you a restaurant can get away with this when it is serving a very large and mild tilapia. A good deboner will thoroughly enjoy this dish; a poor one will, too, albeit after a little work.

Things to note: I dined late, but everyone who came in got takeout, so don’t be surprised if you’re the only person sitting in the dining room. What dish the couscous came with and what the rice came with got mixed up, so be careful when ordering. So what does Dabakh provide to Columbus? It provides a hub and gathering place for the small but growing Senegalese/west African community. It exhibits the diversity in language and flavors and certainly adds richness to the culinary scene.

Dabakh Restaurant
4470 Refugee Rd
Columbus, OH 43232
(614) 626-4976
www.dabakhrestaurant.com
Be forewarned, website plays music.
Lunch menu items start at $7 dishes.
Dinner menu starts at $10 dishes

Bilan Restaurant

Familiar flavors make Somali unknown a hit

Bilan could be the most unknown restaurant in Columbus. It has one, I repeat, one mention on Google at somaliscoop.com, but the yellow pages listing has it mistakenly listed as Dilan. Driving by it, one would have no idea that it is a Somali restaurant. The name is generic sounding, the sign only says breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and there is a cryptic looking map on their sign that is almost surely not Somalia. It’s in a tiny little strip mall where a small supermarket used to be the cornerstone, which then turned into a Vietnamese supermarket, I think. Needless to say, it was long closed. There’s not much to speak for Bilan’s exterior, nor its interior. There are a few Somali decorations inside, along with a very nice TV, but other than that, it’s rather plain. I was welcomed in by someone sitting down in the restaurant, but aside from the chef, the waiter, and a kid who had to have been some relation to them, and one diner, the establishment was empty. From the shouting that greeted me when I entered to the flavors that followed, it was clear that this wouldn’t be your typical meal.

The menu is split into breakfast, lunch, and dinner sections, although I couldn’t quite figure out why the dishes were split up in the way that they were, only that it must be Somali tradition. They all seemed to be either pasta, rice, or stew-like dishes, some served with a banana, which appears to be a popular accoutrement at Somali restaurants. Pasta may be surprising, but as we all remember from high school history, Somalia was targeted by Italy during African imperialism in the late 1800’s, and while Somalia resisted major Italian influence, Italy successfully took over parts of the country. They finally took over the whole thing during a portion of World War II, before sort of losing it after the war and completely in 1960. Hence, the pasta. Most of the dinner dishes come with canjeero, which is pretty similar to an Ethiopian injera bread.

This bread, which is filled with little holes, is more reminiscent of a pancake, and is good to soup up the sauces and juices of Somali dishes. But as we got our dishes and tasted them, it was clear that Bilan was a trip down memory lane rather than a mind-blowingly new culinary experience.

The muufo with chicken steak was rice served with chicken that was pounded down, chopped up, and grilled, and let’s just say it sported some familiar flavors. The rice was something right out of India—flavorful Basmati long grain, with some bright orange and yellow grains providing great color for the dish. The chicken was seasoned very well, and the chef provided some nice char and well-doneness to the chicken that made certain bites heavenly. Cooked onions and peppers gave the dish a nice crunch as well.

Another dish, kirish o mirish, which according to the waiter was going to contain chapatti, did not but still had a very similar preparation of chicken, with some different spices, only this time served with what appeared to be thick rice noodles…where have I seen this before??? Ah yes, the old Thai standard Pad see ew. These noodles picked up some of the same flavor as the chicken, including the char, which was so reminiscent and the closest thing I’ve seen to how the master preparers of Pad see ew at Thai Aree in Chicago make the dish.

The muufo with beef stewed had little cubes of beef served up with recently added onions, green peppers, and tomatoes, with the inclusion of some cilantro to give it another dimension of flavor. The beef cubes were a little tough, and had little piece of fat on them, but the taste was almost surely familiar…it sort of reminded me of pot roast, or, well I’ll be, beef stew! And the sauce…yes, exactly like beef stew. An enormous surprise to see the American home-cooked classic cooked to a tee by Somali immigrants, but yes, that’s exactly how it tasted. So while it did taste like beef stew, I wasn’t exactly in the mood. The waiter put out two sauces on the table, and I wanted to see if I could adjust the flavor of the beef stew sauce. I asked what the two sauces were, and he said, “this one…is ranch. This one, is hot sauce.” I tossed some of the hot sauce on without thinking twice, and, what was this, yet another piece of the meal recognized by my tongue! It tasted like Mexican green salsa, like the tomatillo, jalepeno based ones. This one kicks butt, however, probably one of the best ones I’ve ever had. I asked him what was in it and he said, “Oh, jalepenos, garlic, vinegar, green and red pepper (read: chile pepper), cilantro, blended together.” Why if that’s not a recipe for salsa if I’ve ever heard one. He saw me enjoying it so much, that he happily added some to my takeout bag. EDIT: I just had a little of this hot sauce on some leftover pasta. Man, did it kick my butt. I had half the one ounce container and thought I wasn’t going to make it through dinner. So hot sauce aficionados, be warned…

On my way out, I asked about some bags filled with what looked to be a dessert sitting in a display case. He said that they were tradition Somali sweet biscuits that were served with tea after a meal. I got some and tried them with some tea; the flavors won’t be anything you haven’t had before, their just sugar and flour, sort of firm unless you dip them in the tea. But like much of the tastes at Bilan, you’ve probably had them before. Whether in an Ethiopian, Indian, Italian, restaurant, or in your own home, you’ve seen these flavors. And they’ve rarely been executed as well, or in a more unlikely atmosphere…

Bilan Restaurant

3949 Cleveland Ave
Columbus, OH 43224
614-337-2442