Maandeeq East African Cafe

This place now has menus!  If you're looking for exciting well-spiced food in an elegant Chinese dragon themed space, look no further.  The food is very good here.  Go with a group and get one of everything to share.  Tender goat, lamb, chicken and delicious biriyani type rice, for lack of descriptive words on my part.  I love their chai.  The best part of the meal is the fresh green hot sauce that is brought to the table.  I have been here several times and the food never disappoints.  The other night I tried sambusas here for the first time; fresh fried and so tasty!  Sambusas are similar to the Indian samosa, but with a choice of chicken, beef, lamb or fish.  Amazing prices too.

This Somali eatery located in an Aurora strip-mall offers a peek into a rare (for Denver) culinary dimension.

Maandeeq is a word used particularly in Somaliland (the semi-autonomous region in the north of Somalia) for a type of female camel, and the restaurant serves as a meeting-point for expatriates from Somalia, Somaliland and Djibouti.

Eagle-eyed visitors will notice that the space was formerly occupied by the Empress of China restaurant, and to that end, the current owners have kept many of the internal accoutrements, right down to the bottles of soy sauce on each table.

There is no menu at Maandeeq - they serve what they have available each day. If you come by early in the morning (beginning at about 10 am) you may be able to partake in a meal of Suqaar (sliced beef cooked with onions and peppers) served with Canjeero (a pancake-like bread which is indeed vaguely similar to the Injera of Ethiopia and the Taita of Eritrea).

At lunch and dinner times, the choices become quite a bit more varied and, in addition to Suqaar, may include Hilib Ari (succulent roasted goat), thin-pounded marinated beef steak, or a vividly yellow rendition of the Middle Eastern favorite, Chicken Shawarma.

Lunch and dinner meals come with a choice of accompaniments. For example, Bariis is a cardamom and clove-kissed rice pilaf. Or how about Baasto (spaghetti with tomato sauce, a nod to the former Italian presence in much of Somalia)? Jabati/Sabayad (a chewy flatbread which hints at Somali cuisine's South Asian influence) is another possibility, or even Ugali [Soor] and Sukuma, a dish originating across the border in Kenya and consisting of white cornmeal porridge and a puree of leafy greens.

I have tried each dish listed above and can personally vouch for its toothsomeness (I know that's not really a word, but humor me, OK?).

All meals come with a banana (Moos) which is meant to be mixed in with your meal (per Somali custom) and a peppery soup called Maraq, and for a dollar extra you can try the soothing, comforting spiced tea called Shaah.

Other possible beverages include mango (Cambe) and guava (Seytuun) juices, or Vimto (the English mixed-berry soda which is *very* popular in much of East Africa and across the Middle East as a whole).

Most Somalis are devout Muslims and do not drink alcohol - thus Maandeeq does not have a liquor license. Please do not ask. In Somali, the word Beer in fact means Liver.

I (or as the folks at Maandeeq know me, "that weird white guy who shows up from time to time") highly recommend Maandeeq to those who are seeking something a little different in the culinary canon.