5. Even the drinks list is packed with clever nods.
Gebre Egziabher’s homeland is represented by the gently spicy Old Abyssinia, made with shai-infused bourbon. “Shai is a traditional Ethiopian Eritrean tea, which has cinnamon, clove, and green cardamom,” she says. “So we use it to make a riff on an Old Fashioned.”
There’s also the Amiche, a clever play on a T’ej Sidecar, which is typically made with rum, caramelized honey, and gesho. “It’s a take on a 1930 cocktail in Asmara,” she says. “We made an Ethiopian clarified butter-washed bourbon to make this cocktail.” The result is wonderfully smooth, with a rich, mellow flavor that coats the palate.
Gebre Egziabher also wanted to ensure that other drinks from her homeland, including those that are sometimes tricky to find in New York, were on the menu. “We source a couple of really crucial beers and liquors from Ethiopia and Eritrea, which I feel like are so hard to get,” she says. “We were very intentional in cultivating these relationships, so that we were able to snag some of these products that haven’t been seen here in years.”
There’s T’ej, or Ethiopian honey wine, an ancient brew that was once reserved for royalty. Lightly sweet and amber-hued, this centuries-old elixir bears a passing resemblance to mead, but with its own distinctive terroir.
And whatever you order, you can never go wrong by finishing it all off with a crisp Asmara lager.
Makina Cafe is open for dinner from Wednesday to Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.
Diana Hubbell is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Atlas Obscura, VICE, Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, Esquire, WIRED, and Travel + Leisure, among other places. Previously based in Berlin and Bangkok, she currently lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.
Dining and Cooking