Almeda - Afro-Fusion in Petworth

[Bart]

https://www.almedarestaurant.com
 

Has anyone been here?  I’m going tomorrow night and looking for some intel. 

[KeithA]

On 12/15/2023 at 2:01 PM, Bart said:

https://www.almedarestaurant.com
 

Has anyone been here?  I’m going tomorrow night and looking for some intel. 

How was it?

 

[Bart]

This place is cute and small.  I counted 18 seats.  Both the food and drinks menus are also small and it they only offered wine by the glass and a few mixed drinks.  They didn't appear to have any beer on the menu, but we didn't ask, so they may have some.  They also include a 20% on all bills which was never mentioned to us at any point before, during or after the meal.  Other than that, the service was great and friendly.  The prices seemed reasonable and refreshing.

We weren't going to get the bread service, but the table behind us raved about it so we got it.  It was good and interesting (see the menu and photo below).  They probably should have included one or two more pieces of bread to accommodate the amount of spread they gave.  ($12)

Next was the Spicy Awaze Galbi Ribs.  You used lettuce leaves to make a wrap for the meat, tomatoes and sauce.  Unfortunately, the meat that was on top, and that we chose first had bones in it which made it difficult and messy to eat.  The lower levels of meat on the plate didn't have bones and was much easier to eat, but the first attempt at eating this sort of tainted the dish for us.  We even asked the server how to eat it with the bones in, and said just eat around them.  I wish he would have alerted us to the fact that most of the meat was boneless before we started!  Eventually this turned out to be a good dish, but it was still very messy - think licking your fingers to get the sauce off.  ($24)

From the "Large" portion of the meal we got the Jollof Risotto and the Fried Catfish and Spaghetti.  Both were excellent and I'd order them again.  The risotto/cabbage was unique and interesting and I wish I had more of the bread to clean and sauce from the plate.  The fried catfish was perfectly cooked - crispy crunchy outside and moist and tender inside.  

In retrospect, we should have skipped some of the early dishes in favor of one or both of the platters.  Next time!

The photos are of the menu (somehow I managed to take two pics of the drinks menu and none of the food menu so I took a screen shot from their webpage).  Bread, Ribs, Risotto, Catfish

 

 

 

 

The final two pics

 

[Shaho]

Thanks for the review! Chef Danielle was on a David Chang-produced cooking competition, Secret Chef, on Hulu, so I've been thinking of checking this place out. I have fond memories of some of the previous tenants of this location (Crane & Turtle, Himitsu), and it sounds like Almeda might continue that trend.

[Bart]

15 hours ago, Shaho said:

I have fond memories of some of the previous tenants of this location (Crane & Turtle, Himitsu),

Ahhh, interesting.  I never made to either of those places but wanted to.  Never really knew where they were either.  Thanks!

[Bart]

Tom is mostly positive:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2024/01/26/almeda-restaurant-review/