Café Bon near Bole Rwanda/Japan on the main road is the latest addition to the spate of new, trendy restaurant bars in Addis. Occupying some 2-3000 sqm and boasting two floors, of which the upper level is open to the elements, it is difficult to resist walking into this boldly decorated orange and brown venue which is made up of a café, an outside bar and a fair-sized circular indoor restaurant whose menu boasts of exotic delicacies like Nigerian Jollof rice as well French, Mexican and Thai servings. The café serves the usual fast food favourites such as burgers and fries with the burgers here being serious contenders for the best in the city. What’s more, its prices (27 birr before VAT for a cheeseburger) are reasonable considering the exorbitant prices in other upscale (and not so upscale) restaurants.
In the main restaurant, the Café Bon special salad is an intriguing and filling selection of lightly cooked vegetables that can easily be shared between two. My friend and I did exactly that and then he chose the chicken fajita and I the Nigerian Jollof rice. We had been told that the Chef at Café Bon had previously worked at the Sheraton Addis so our expectations were high. The chicken fajita didn’t disappoint and the Nigerian Jollof rice was’nt bad . With 15% Vat and service charge added to the bill, an average meal for two at Café Bon would come to about 150 birr and could well top the 200 tag if a couple of drink rounds are included.
Another outstanding choice on the restaurant menu is the chicken and peanut sauce which goes particularly well with Café Bon’s wonderful home-made chilli. Gored Gored – an Ethiopian dish consisting of near raw beef cubes soaked in spiced butter – was meltingly tender and the beef fajitas dish similarly stellar owing to the fragrantly flavorful spices which were a delight to experience. The Thai dish of fish in a creamy curry sauce served alongside a bed of herbed rice was so good, one might be forgiven for wondering whether the kitchen could do anything wrong at all.
Seating in the restaurant is very comfortable but whether it’s the geometric patterned floors or the rather bare walls, there is some missing warmth that the proprietors could redress with some additional interior design; some discreetly placed images and a splash of color, perhaps. The toilets are as clean as any of those in other up-market restaurants but the bare concrete floors and lack of mirrors in the men’s toilets are shortcomings that could easily be set right.
The patio on the roof of the main structure in Café Bon’s compound, is almost certainly one of the highlights here. Underneath the big umbrellas with some light music playing on the excellent sound system, an afternoon coffee or snack perched atop a great vantage point to see all the action on Bole Road, sounds like a great place to be on any afternoon. In fact, one of the most impressive aspects of this café is the conceptual rendering of the varied spaces it offers its patrons. There are some very minor kinks to still be worked out but overall, it has all the basic ingredients to become a permanent fixture in the upper echelon of Addis’ dining scene. And we would be hard pressed to think of another restaurant at which dishes of a large number and wide variety taste so good, our next trip will no doubt result in a quandary as to which one to order.
