Huge plates of food unlike anything I've tried before

LOCATED on an unassuming street a few doors down from the Clifton Hotel pub in Adamsdown, the Merhaba Habesha restaurant is a modest place with bare-bones decor, which we visited on a midweek evening for a post-work catch-up and dinner.

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There is no sign above the door, which still has a "social distancing" sticker on the front (remember those days?); the name of the place is only indicated by red spiked letters on the window pane.

Inside, the feel is similar - plain varnished tables with simple padded chairs, and deep green walls that could do with a new lick of paint, but also some welcome flourishes of character; colourful African paintings depicting women wearing elaborate dresses, loosely hung fairy lights and a TV on the wall playing what the mystery station on screen tells me is Eritrean music.

Sitting down, we were welcomed by the waitress who asked us if we ate meat (four yeses) and without so much as a glance at the menu, we're recommended a few dishes to share between us. I've got no idea what to expect, but what emerged a few minutes later was something I'd never had before.