GOLIS East African Restaurant
10708 98 Street NW
780-249-3119

When I saw the sign for a new restaurant on 98th Street, just south of busy 107th Avenue, I wondered what the name meant. I googled “Golis” and learned about the  Golis Mountains in Somaliland.

GOLIS serves cuisine from this area, which is a state within Somalia. The menu is a single sheet, offering a full meal with juice and soup for $20. The choices start with beef, and there are various options for goat, lamb, chicken, and seafood. There’s a wide choice of sides, including spaghetti (from Italian colonization), rice, ugali (cornmeal porridge), and jabati/sabaayad (a lovely Somali flatbread, similar to a paratha from India).

For $20 per person in our party of five, we decided to try everything. Between us we ordered the whole fish, the BBQ chicken, the goat, chicken “steak”, and the beef. They’re out of beef, their most popular item, so I go for the lamb. While the kitchen gets busy, our host brings everyone bowls of a vegetable-beef soup, which are quite filling. 

I asked if there were any vegetables that could accompany our meals and was told, “Yes, I’ll bring you some, no problem!” When our group of five’s order popped out of the kitchen, sure enough it was accompanied by a big plate full of cauliflower, pea pods, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and bell pepper slices. They were very lightly steamed, with plenty of crunch .

Somali cuisine reflects a combination of traditional agricultural practices, influences from colonial Italy and Britain, and trade routes with India and the Middle East. This was reflected in the BBQ chicken, which was the standout hit of the night. Coated with a savoury seasoning rub, not at all hot, the flavours make the mouth water as does the moist chicken. 

The chicken “steak” is a flattened, well-cooked chicken breast. Love seafood? The whole fish is a substantial meal with a crispy skin that breaks open to reveal plenty of tender meat inside. The goat is the “meatiest” choice of all. If you are a steak lover, do try the goat. And the lamb? It came out on tender shanks, perfect for those who delight in gnawing on a bone medieval-style.

Because our table was overflowing with all the meats and their side dishes, the kind server brought over a small side table which held the pitchers of a lemonade and a mango drink, as well as room for our bones. And we needed it, because this was a mountain of food. We had three full containers left to take home. The food was bountiful, tasty, and the people were welcoming, kind, and happy to help in any way they could.

GOLIS East African Restaurant is open from 9 a.m to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

Alan Schietzsch lives in McCauley. He is the former Chair of the paper’s Board of Directors.