Meet Chef Chane, Ethiopia's Version Of The Infamous 'Soup Nazi'
I didn't travel all the way to Ethiopia just to meet a character out of the sitcom Seinfeld.
But when I heard Ethiopians describe a particular popular restaurant called Chane's, I couldn't help recognize a resemblance, in its owner and lead chef, to the famously brusque soup man.
Just like his New York doppelganger, the 71-year-old Chef Chane runs a restaurant with its own unwritten rules. Rule No. 1: Come on time. Lunch is served only from 12 to 1 and he always runs out of food. Rule No. 2: Don't ask for a menu. You'll eat whatever dish the chef decided to cook that day. Rule No. 3: When you step up to the counter and face the imperious chef in his tall white hat, don't, whatever you do, hold up the line.
When I arrived at his restaurant — in the Kazanchis neighborhood of Addis Ababa — well before the noon open, I found the line already 40 long, snaking inside a crumbling courtyard across from a bunch of new high-rises. In the line, Nebiat Mebea is prepping his girlfriend, Kehalit Nikusei, for her first visit, like Seinfeld preps Elaine. He warns her that the 71-year-old Chef Chane might suddenly berate his assistant when the spongy sourdough, called injera, isn't placed perfectly on the plate. Or he'll tell talkative customers to "praise God and eat!" (In super-polite Ethiopian culture, this apparently equates to "shut up and get out of my kitchen.")
"He's mean in a good way!" says Nebiat, with a grin. (Ethiopians go by their first names.)
Customers enjoy a meal at Chef Chane's. He only serves one dish per day. Whatever the meal is, it's always served on top of a spongy sourdough flatbread called injera that doubles as a plate.
But Kehalit is unsurprised. She'd heard about the angry chef and his delicious cuisine. She'd asked to be taken here for Valentine's Day. "We're celebrating," she says softly.
The story of Chef Chane goes back half a century, when Ethiopia was still a monarchy and Chane was (he claims) a chef in the royal palace. Now, two revolutions and many governments later, he runs his restaurant like a fiefdom, dispensing food and insults majestically from the kitchen, which doubles as a serving station.
Every few months or years his landlord — taking note of Chane's popularity — will raise the rent, or a conniving official will demand a bribe. Then, instead of bowing to the system, Chane will disappear. He'll set up in a new location, where his devoted followers will soon track him down through word of mouth.
When he's not in his tiny kitchen, you can usually find the famous Chane (full name: Chanyalew Mekonnen) 12 feet away, in an even tinier cubby that serves as a bedroom. It's here, from his perch on a floral print mattress, that he explains one secret of his signature cuisine: close observation of the many international chefs who passed through the palace.
He uses spice techniques from Greek, Indian, Pakistani, Italian and Ethiopian cuisine. As for his mean streak? "There may be customers I dislike, but I try to handle them with love," he says. "I only kneel down for my job. Not for people. I don't worship any man." He adds that he did enough bowing for a lifetime in his years in the palace.
Inside Chef Chane's tiny kitchen. Every few months or years, his landlord — taking note of Chane's popularity — will raise the rent, or a conniving official will demand a bribe. Then, instead of bowing to the system, Chane will disappear and set up in a new location.
So how does the proud chef attract such committed fans? His customers all tell me it's because the food is so delicious. And cheap. (Having gone there twice myself, I can attest to this. The lentils and the chicken were both fantastic.)
But perhaps there's something else at work besides culinary skill. After all, Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" character was successful first, because his soup was to die for, but second, because his rudeness satisfied some secret masochism in his New York customers. Against the culture of Ethiopia, Chef Chane might play an equally revealing role. Ethiopian public space tends to feel somewhat conformist and guarded. The private mood is the opposite: animated and irreverent. The gulf between the man on the street and the man at home can be quite wide.
Chane's demeanor seems to bridge that gap. Everyone I meet in this restaurant tells me the same thing, that Chane's food reminds them of their mom's cooking. But the food that Chane serves is actually a fusion cuisine. The resemblance may lie more in Chane's serving style than his recipes.
"Yeah, you feel that you are eating at home," says 40-year-old Assefa, who comes here for lunch regularly from his job in the financial sector. "He makes fun of me, the food is good, he's ... not a businessman, you know?"
By lunch hour's end, the pots are scraped clean, the chef has retreated to his radio, and customers loll narcotically on armchairs to sweat out the stewed chicken. I meet two young accountants sleepily wondering about the recipe. Definitely there's ginger, says Yohannes. But the other spices?
"It's not clearly known. It's a secret," says the other, called Jeta.
"There is nobody preparing food like this," Yohannes says.
To get a taste, they're happy to follow the orders of the ruling chef.
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Transcript
DON GONYEA, HOST:
All right. You may recall the "Seinfeld" character known as the Soup Nazi. He was the soup seller who flipped that old-fashioned notion of customer service on its head.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEINFELD")
JASON ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) I think you forgot my bread.
LARRY THOMAS: (As The Soup Nazi) Bread - $2 extra.
ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) Two dollars? But everyone in front of me got free bread.
THOMAS: (As The Soup Nazi) You want bread?
ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) Yes, please.
THOMAS: (As The Soup Nazi) Three dollars.
ALEXANDER: (As George Costanza) What?
THOMAS: (As The Soup Nazi) No soup for you.
GONYEA: The character was inspired by an actual New York City soup vendor, and NPR's Gregory Warner couldn't help but think of all of this while reporting in Ethiopia, where he met this guy.
GREGORY WARNER, BYLINE: His name is Chef Chane, and if you visit his restaurant in Addis Ababa, remember three rules. One - come on time. Lunch is only served from 12 to one, and he always runs out of food. Two - don't ask for a menu. You'll eat whatever dish the chef decides to cook that day. And three - when you step up to the counter and you face the imperious chef in his tall, white hat, don't hold up the line.
Are we in line?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah.
WARNER: I arrived at his restaurant one day before the noon open. The line was already 40 long, snaking inside a crumbling courtyard across from a bunch of new high-rises. In the line, I meet Nebiat Mebea and his girlfriend, Kehalit Nikusei. He's prepping her for her first visit like Seinfeld preps Elaine. He tells her how Chef Chane might berate his assistant loudly when the spongy sourdough injera isn't laid out perfectly on the plate. Or how he'll tell talkative customers to praise God and eat, which in super polite Ethiopian culture apparently means shut up and get out of my kitchen.
NEBIAT MEBEA: Yeah, he's mean in a good way.
KEHALIT NIKUSEI: I'm not surprised.
WARNER: Kehalit says she'd heard already about the angry chef and about his delicious food. In fact, she'd asked to be taken here for Valentine's Day.
NIKUSEI: Yeah, we are celebrating.
WARNER: That's nice. A little bit of mistreatment...
(LAUGHTER)
WARNER: ..A little bit of chicken.
MEBEA: It makes it wonderful (laughter).
WARNER: The story of Chef Chane goes back twice as long as these lovebirds have been alive when Ethiopia was still a monarchy, and Chane was a chef in the royal palace, or so he says. Two revolutions and many governments later, he runs his restaurant like a fiefdom, dispensing food and insults majestically from the kitchen where radio is always on full blast.
Every few months or years, his landlord, taking note of his popularity, will raise the rent or a conniving official will demand a bride. And then instead of bowing to the system, Chane will disappear, set up in a new location where his devoted followers, like 40-year-old Assefa, will track him down through word of mouth.
ASSEFA: We just move on with him because we look for this guy. We need him (laughter).
WARNER: Now, when he's not cooking up food in his tiny kitchen, the 71-year-old chef, whose full name is Chanyalew Mekonnen, can usually be found just 12 feet away in an even tinier cubby that serves as a bedroom.
CHANYALEW MEKONNEN: (Foreign language spoken).
WARNER: And it's here from his perch, on a floral print mattress, that he tells me his signature cuisine came from observing the many international chefs that passed through the palace.
MEKONNEN: (Foreign language spoken).
WARNER: He tells me he uses spice techniques from Greek, India, Pakistani, Italian and Ethiopian cuisine. As for his mean streak, he tells me that there may be customers that he dislikes, but he tries to handle them with love.
MEKONNEN: (Foreign language spoken).
WARNER: "I only kneel down for my job," he says, "not for people." I don't worship any man. He adds, he did enough bowing in his palace years. And it seems that one secret to Chane's appeal, besides his delicious, spicy food, may be this pride, this refusal to bow in a culture where public space can often feel somehow conformist and guarded.
ASSEFA: Given the way he presents his food, you feel that you are eating at home, yeah.
WARNER: 'Cause he makes fun of you?
ASSEFA: He makes fun of me. The food is good. He's not - he's not like more of a businessman, you know?
WARNER: By the hour's end, the pots are scraped clean, the chef has retreated to his radio and customers lull narcotically on armchairs to sweat out the stewed chicken. I meet two young accountants, Jeta and Yohannes, sleepily wondering about the recipe.
YOHANNES: There are a lot of spices. I think also there's ginger, but...
JETA: It's not clearly known.
WARNER: It's a highly guarded secret.
JETA: Yeah, it's secret.
YOHANNES: Only he the one preparing such kind of food. There is nobody who is preparing food like this.
WARNER: To get a taste, they're happy to follow the orders of the ruling chef. Gregory Warner, NPR News, Addis Ababa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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