No one flies into SeaTac expecting an international food destination. San Francisco has its sourdough, New York has its pizza, and Los Angeles has its street tacos, but a mere three miles past the parking lots and rental car returns, SeaTac boasts a culinary capital that has been quietly thriving for decades; the rich, aromatic world of authentic East African cuisine.
Though the food is excellent, these places aren’t simply a stop for a wonderful meal. Each restaurant is paired with its own market, where the ingredients, spices, and pantry staples of East African cooking are yours to explore.
Zain Restaurant & Bakery Cafe
Zain Restaurant & Bakery Cafe is family-owned and operated and home to the best gyros you’ve ever had in your life.
Choose from lamb, beef, or chicken, and be served a bursting gyro stuffed full of bright, fresh vegetables, tzatziki sauce, and mild spicy mustard next to a pile of hot golden fries.
The medley of flavors in Zain’s gyros is sensational, the spices of the meat blending with the fresh peppers, cucumber, and tomato to find a perfect balance, married perfectly to the neutral backdrop of soft pita bread.
The fries come lightly sprinkled with seasoned salt and crisped to perfection, with an outside that has a satisfying crunch and an inside that melts in your mouth.
While Zain Restaurant Bakery & Cafe is a prime lunch spot, it’s also an excellent choice for breakfast.
Zain’s pastry case is full of tempting confections, including coconut cake, baklava, and donuts (come early for these, they will be sold out by the afternoon!).
All pastries are made fresh in-house every morning, and you can tell as soon as you take your first bite.
The baklava in particular bursts with sweet flavor. Layers of carefully-crafted flaky pastry are stuffed with ground pistachio and almond and soaked in a sweet syrup for a final touch. Enjoy with a coffee or a hot cup of aromatic Somali tea for a fully rounded sensory experience.
Tawakal Mini Market
Directly adjacent to Zain Restaurant & Bakery Cafe is the Tawakal Mini Mart, owned by the same family as the cafe and in operation since 1999.
Once you’ve tasted the brilliance of your East African breakfast or lunch, hop on over to the mini mart and pick up some ingredients to experiment with in your own kitchen.
Tawakal serves its East African community with well-stocked shelves of pantry staples, including Ugali, Injeria, grains, and legumes in large rough sacks piled against the wall, and boxes of pasta ready for the freshly prepared meat butchered directly in-shop.
The walls are lined with spices imported from over a dozen countries, making them a perfect item to pick up as a useful souvenir from your travels.
Choose from Tandoori, Kenyan curry, lemon pepper, cardamom, cloves, star anise, nutmeg, niter kibbeh, Berbere spice mix, and so many more.
SeaTac Cuisines
SeaTac Cuisines is a bustling place. Packed with diners catching a late lunch, the restaurant serves as a community hub, with nonstop comings and goings as neighbors greet each other at the door, pull up a chair, and start happily chatting over their plates of lamb, rice, and pasta.
When asked what his favorite thing on the menu is, the smiling server points to the Injera Ethiopian Combination Dish. When asked why it is his favorite, his smile widens, and he says, “It’s simply delicious!”
The description is apt. The Ethiopian Combination Dish is served on a large piece of Injera bread, a spongy, flexible flatbread meant to easily sop up sauces and grab meat and vegetables.
The platter includes a generous portion of lamb shank smothered in a spicy tomato sauce. Tender and falling off the bone, the lamb’s spiciness is perfectly mellowed by the Injera and the toasted, nutty spinach served on the side.
The lentils blend with all other foods in the dish, creating a pleasing variety and excellent balance to the overall meal.
The portions at SeaTac Cuisines are generous and filling, so come with an appetite and bring a friend!
Tabarak Market
Like the Tawakal market next to Zain Restaurant & Bakery Cafe, Tabarek Market is connected to SeaTac Cuisines and ready for browsing as soon as you’ve finished your delicious meal.
You will find many of the same spices and staples at Tabarek as you did at Tawakal, but there’s one aisle in Tabarek you don’t want to miss.
In the middle of the shop, you will find shelves of tea and coffee. Make your own Somali tea at home with blends infused with cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom, and snag a bag of locally roasted single-origin African coffee beans to elevate your morning coffee!
Easy to Overlook, Impossible to Forget
Every year, thousands of travelers rush through SeaTac, never pausing to discover the extraordinary culinary world unobtrusively setting its table for anyone willing to walk through its door. Don’t let SeaTac’s East African food community be the best meal you ever missed.
The invitation is open. Come on in.
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