In the new episode of The Nosh, we take you to Lands of Origin in Pike Place Market, where you can partake in an Ethiopian coffee ceremony with owner Meeraf Mamo, the daughter of a coffee farmer. And to Hello Em in Seattle’s Little Saigon, where co-owner Yenvy Pham’s Vietnamese coffee drinks are infused with super-cravable umami flavors. You should watch!
But right now, I want to take you behind the scenes and share what we ate at these shops while filming the episode!
Rachel takes a break from filming to pose with one of Yenvy Pham’s dogs at her cafe, Hello Em. (Skyler Ballard/Cascade PBS)
Lands of Origin
In addition to being chef/owner of Geni’s Ethiopian Corner and Lands of Origin, Meeraf Mamo has an engineering degree and an MBA, which probably makes her one of the city’s most educated pastry chefs!
An array of pastries at Lands of Origin. (Rachel Belle)
You’ll find handmade treats from several African countries in the pastry case at Lands of Origin, from Moroccan lamb rolls to Nigerian sausage buns to Ethiopian lentil sambusas, golden fried triangles reminiscent of Indian samosas, served with peri-peri and cilantro chili sauce. If you’ve enjoyed pastéis de nata (egg custard tarts) in Portugal, you must try Meeraf’s Mozambique version, scented with a whisper of orange blossom water.
She says they’re a complicated pastry to make, a labor of love, and with their shatteringly flaky pastry shells and just-sweet-enough creamy custard, Meeraf’s are the best I’ve ever tasted. The tarts found their way to Mozambique via Portuguese colonization, and I was surprised to learn that the Hong Kong-style egg tarts served at dim sum restaurants and Chinese bakeries are also inspired by pastéis de nata!
Hello Em
Savory meets sweet at Hello Em, where the lattes are zhuzhed up with housemade Maggi seasoning caramel, miso, pandan condensed milk or a luscious cloud of salty sweet egg whip. A black sticky-rice latte topped with gấc (a fruit in the melon & cucumber family), coconut kem (cream) with a black-gold tuile was a recent Lunar New Year special.
Tulips are nice, but how about a bouquet of bánh mì? (Rachel Belle)
But co-owner Yenvy Pham also makes some tasty snacks, like this bouquet of griddled bánh mì she served the crew after we finished shooting. My favorite is the grilled croissant pâté, stuffed with fried shallot omelette, bone marrow pâté and Viet mayo. A Seattle native and the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Yenvy loves the Vietnamese/PNW mashup of the Cá hồi Việt Salmon bánh mì with pickles, fried shallot and a schmear of lemongrass mayo. I call her Seattle Pho Royalty – as you’ll learn in the episode, her parents opened what is believed to be the city’s first pho restaurant in 1982.
Have a food- or drink-related question (Need a restaurant rec? Have a mystery that needs solving?) Send me a note: rachel.belle@cascadepbs.org
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XO
Rachel Belle
