The Scene
Bright tiled counters and big windows keep things summery, even on cloudy afternoons, while carved wooden chairs supply a cozy seat for a leisurely lunch break. Thanks to kind service and friends of the owner stopping in, this is the sort of welcoming neighborhood cafe Pike Place Market specializes in, outside of the tourist season.
Restaurants serving African food often focus on a single region, but Pan Africa is honestly named, making this one-stop shopping for titillating your taste buds and expanding your horizons. Since eating with your fingers in public is rarely encouraged in adults, the flavorful Ethiopian vegetable and meat combo platters are favorites, served with injera (the spongy, flat, perforated bread made from tef) to transport bites to your mouth. (Read on …)
Seattle Weekly :: You won’t find a warmer, more tantalizing midpriced restaurant in Pike Place Market. Pan Africa provides the grab-and-go Market scene with a much-needed haven, a place where you can eat West African fare with your hands and bask in the earthy heat of the food and the music. And the place lives up to its name: Though the Ethiopian combo platters are excellent, Pan Africa ventures far beyond that cuisine; this ambitious little eatery also serves up seafood stews from Madagascar and chicken dishes from Senegal.
Seattle Weekly :: At lunchtime, a rich aroma tantalizes you; mouth watering, you look at the menu and find a dozen disheshalf from Ethiopia, the other half from assorted West African countrieswith names that make your mouth dance when you say them: doro wott, yassa, and piripiri. Add the slow burn of succulent spices, meats, and root vegetables cooked just right, and operatic world beat music in the background, and the stage is set for culinary trysting.