thestar, 14, 2011
Born and raised in Dire Dawa, Michael Kidus left his native Ethiopia when he was only 15.
“It wasn’t comfortable,” he says of the violent Mengistu era. “I came to change my life. Canada is the best place.”
Kidus lived in Rome for two years while waiting for his Canadian papers, and worked as a prep cook at an upscale restaurant.
This introduction to Italian cuisine helped him land a job at Grano when he arrived in Toronto, and it’s a style of cooking he still enjoys today.
“At home, I cook Italian for pleasure,” says the 37-year-old.
In 2005, Kidus took over an Ethiopian restaurant on a stretch of Danforth Avenue that was becoming popular with North African businesses.
He renamed it Dukem, after a city in Ethiopia that is a frequent pit stop for vacationers and stirs up fond memories for any of his fellow countrymen.
The menu features doro wat, a spicy chicken stew that Kidus learned how to cook from his mother and is often eaten at the end of Lent.
He also offers an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a unique java experience that you won’t find at Tim Hortons anytime soon.
“First you roast the green beans in the dining room with incense (burning). Then they are ground and boiled in a special pot called a jebena.”
The dark, rich brew is poured into small cups and enjoyed with a basket of popcorn. Coffee and popcorn? When in Dukem . . .
Kidus serves this stew with injera, an Ethiopian flatbread, but you could also serve it with rice.
More read on thestar
Born and raised in Dire Dawa, Michael Kidus left his native Ethiopia when he was only 15.
“It wasn’t comfortable,” he says of the violent Mengistu era. “I came to change my life. Canada is the best place.”
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| Chef/owner Michael Kidus of Dukem, |
Kidus lived in Rome for two years while waiting for his Canadian papers, and worked as a prep cook at an upscale restaurant.
This introduction to Italian cuisine helped him land a job at Grano when he arrived in Toronto, and it’s a style of cooking he still enjoys today.
“At home, I cook Italian for pleasure,” says the 37-year-old.
In 2005, Kidus took over an Ethiopian restaurant on a stretch of Danforth Avenue that was becoming popular with North African businesses.
He renamed it Dukem, after a city in Ethiopia that is a frequent pit stop for vacationers and stirs up fond memories for any of his fellow countrymen.
The menu features doro wat, a spicy chicken stew that Kidus learned how to cook from his mother and is often eaten at the end of Lent.
He also offers an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a unique java experience that you won’t find at Tim Hortons anytime soon.
“First you roast the green beans in the dining room with incense (burning). Then they are ground and boiled in a special pot called a jebena.”
The dark, rich brew is poured into small cups and enjoyed with a basket of popcorn. Coffee and popcorn? When in Dukem . . .
Kidus serves this stew with injera, an Ethiopian flatbread, but you could also serve it with rice.
More read on thestar
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