July 7, 2006
The new Old Milk House
The Old Milk House is reborn ... again. This time it is 10 floors up at the top of the Kokeb building - one of those mouldering tower blocks that overlook the UN compound and Meskel Square.
Wim, its owner, has been amazingly resilient over the years. He recently placed newspaper adverts listing all the Milk Houses from the past - most of them victims of Addis Ababa's relentless construction boom. Each of them has had to shut down to make way for a new building, only to reappear somewhere else. The advert had the word 'bacca' (enough) printed in large letters at the bottom - suggesting that he might have given up.
But now it is back - and they are going to have a tough job knocking down this venue.
It is inconvenient, having to walk to the Kokeb building in the first place, then wait for the small lifts. It has now lost all resemblance to the back-yard bar that it was two incarnations ago. It is now somewhere that James Bond might have hung out in back in the 1970s mixed in with a bit of brutalist-concrete-chique.
But the food and service are the same - I celebrated the rebirth yesterday with Chicken Haka Noodle. And the new views (see pic with Meskel Square in the background) make the climb worthwhile.
Posted by aheavens at July 7, 2006 4:07 AM