Philadelphia boasts a rich and diverse culinary landscape, and among its many gems is a vibrant Ethiopian food scene. Many of these businesses have been around for decades, and many of them constitute essential community gathering places.
Whether you’re a first-timer or have been enjoying these restaurants for years, let this serve as a reminder to eat more injera, tibs, sambusas, and more. When you’re in need of something flavorful and shareable that arrives at your table faster than the ride from Fernrock to AT&T on the BSL, Ethiopian food is always a win.
Philadelphia has several places that sell kitfo and awaze tibs on a mattress of spongy injera, so we’ve made a list of the best. Whether you want to hand-feed your date some spiced red lentils, sit near mesob baskets while vacuuming up a plate of stewed chicken solo, or are looking for an affordable group dinner, we’ve got you covered.
These are our favorite spots in West Philadelphia to eat Ethiopian food.
On Sept. 12, 1974, Ethiopian military junta overthrew the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie, establishing Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state. In the late 1970s and '80s, West Philly witnessed a diaspora of Ethiopian and modern-day Eritrean immigrants following the 1974 Ethiopian coup d’état. I begin my journey of West Philly Ethiopian food history at Doro Bet, one of the more recent additions to the Eri-Ethiopian enclave.
Read also: Ethiopian Cuisine: Philadelphia Guide
My Baltimore stroll only scratched the surface of the Eri-Ethiopian enclave in West Philly. I spent hours in restaurants that are much more than places to have a meal; they hold community, power, pride, and, most importantly, a culture that accepts everybody with open arms. When I had to move on to my next destination, I wasn’t quite ready for my conversations to be over. On my way back to campus, I stopped by Clark Park to visit the bench donning Amare Solomon’s name, a testament to his legacy and the life he brought to West Philadelphia.
Featured Ethiopian Restaurants in Philadelphia
Abyssinia
If you’ve heard of one West Philly Ethiopian spot, it’s probably Abyssinia. College students and West Philadelphians flock here for affordable food, friendly service, and large portions that are perfect for sharing. It’s beloved for so many reasons, including the upstairs cocktail bar Fiume, which has not reopened since COVID hit (but will hopefully make its return at some point in the near future).
Alif Brew & Mini Mart
Alif Brew & Mini Mart opened in 2020, offering up classic Ethiopian flavors with their gluten-free injera platters. Alif is a spot for all hours. In the morning, stop by for a coffee made with their house-roasted beans, and pair it with foul, a fava bean stew that will keep you full all morning.
For lunch, grab an injera wrap stuffed with chicken, beef or vegetables. With two meat options to choose from, the rest of the menu is completely vegan. If you want something a little more portable, opt for an injera wrap, filled with a protein of choice and lettuce and salad. Stop by for dinner and grab a platter of spicy chicken stew, served with rice and your choice of their vegetarian-friendly sides. Sambusas are freshly fried and there are salads and hummus in the display cases.
Salam Cafe
Ali and Kane opened Salam Cafe in Germantown in 2021. Salam Cafe is the second restaurant opening in 2021 which serves Middle Eastern and Ethiopian cuisine. A brand new combination Middle Eastern/Ethiopian restaurant with spiced scrambled eggs in the mornings, stewed okra and lamb platters for lunch, and for dinner, giant, colorful platters of injera and stewed vegetables. (Plus, there’s a dedicated retail space and coffee shop for all your grabbing and going needs.)
Read also: Authentic Ethiopian Cuisine
With the addition of lamb chops, chicken kebab, and salmon, you now have the option of rice or injera for your platter. Salam Cafe has the classic proteins (Beef Tibs or Spicy Shredded Chicken) and the classic vegan options are on rotation daily. Need to take a break after your feast? Take a browse in the Mini Mart along the back walls.
Doro Bet
Doro Bet is the third adventure in the Ali Family opening in September of 2022. Doro Bet, Amharic for “chicken house,” is one of three Ethiopian restaurants, including Alif Brew & Mini Mart and Salam Cafe, owned by sisters Hayat Ali and Mebruka Kane.
Have you ever tried gluten-free fried chicken? Ours is dipped in your choice of buttermilk batter, Awaze for the spicy lovers or Alicha for a mild flavor, and we use teff flour to make it extra crispy. We added the Shawarma Spit for a delicious chicken sandwich or salad. If you want to try a more traditional meal, give one of our Doro options a try.
At Doro Bet, chicken lovers can choose to order a chicken sandwich, half order, or whole order with alicha (mild) or awaze (spicy) seasoning. Non-meat eaters can opt for teff flour fried mushrooms and a side of mac-n-cheese, collard greens, or fries. Kane always suggests awaze chicken with fries.
Before Alif, the Eri-Ethiopian restaurants in West Philly were very “old-school.” Alif and Doro Bet serve as fast and accessible spots to eat delicious Ethiopian food.
Read also: A Taste of Ethiopia in South Carolina
We hope that you will come by and try all three of our locations as they are each uniquely their own.
Buna Cafe
Buna is a relative newcomer. They opened in 2020 and carved a niche for themselves serving a vegan and vegetarian-heavy menu. But we’re particularly obsessed with their brunch, which offers Ethiopian classics like injera in stew alongside a breakfast BLT and chicken and waffles.
Dahlak
Dahlak is an Eri-Ethiopian spot where you can have an excellent cocktail to go with your tibs, and where they regularly host live music. The outdoor patio invites summer evening hang-outs.
Just down the street, I visit Dahlak on 47th Street and Baltimore Avenue to meet the general manager, Ephream Amare Seyoum, who also happens to be Kane’s nephew.
Unlike Ali and Kane, however, Seyoum’s family has always stuck to the basics. Seyoum’s parents Neghisti Ghebrehiwot and Amare Solomon both grew up in Eritrea, immigrated to Pennsylvania, and reconnected, by chance, in West Philly in their 20s.
Ghebrehiwot dropped out of college to open Dahlak-named after the Eritrean island group-with her sister in 1984. At Dahlak, Seyoum’s parents made the perfect pair. Ghebrehiwot handled the cooking and Solomon handled the marketing.
After working in catering at Penn, Solomon was intent on welcoming students into their Eritrean paradise. “He got excited, and he created a relationship with a lot of Penn students and people from the neighborhood,” Seyoum says.
Stepping into Dahlak is like entering a different dimension. Since the ‘80s, Dahlak has served as a safe space for the West Philly community.
At the host’s table, I meet Meenakshi Thirumurti, a part-time student at Bryn Mawr College who despite having only worked at the restaurant for four months, has found solace in Dahlak’s inviting atmosphere.
“When I’m opening, I genuinely don’t feel any resentment about cleaning. I don’t even care if others are cleaning less,” she says, showing me to the bar.
Dahlak is not your average bar and restaurant, offering evening plans for most days of the week. “Dahlak is one of those places that’s just this community hub,” says Thirumurti.
In 2005, everything changed for Seyoum, his family, and their beloved restaurant. During his last year of high school, his father Solomon passed away. As the eldest of three, he felt an obligation to take over the family business.
With the help of his mother and his uncle Berekep Solomon, Seyoum expanded the space and invested in the future of Dahlak. Today, Seyoum’s mother is still very involved at Dahlak and in “making sure that people get an idea of what an authentic version of [Ethiopian] food is like.”
In addition to Ghebrehiwot’s classic dishes, Dahlak serves up Eri-Ethiopian spins on American dishes like their family down the street.
Despite their differences in language and politics, Eritrean and Ethiopian culture are virtually the same. Though Eritrean people were considered to be Ethiopian 30 years ago, Seyoum shares his experience as an Eritrean who manages an Ethiopian restaurant.
“It’s nice for us to try to show the distinction,” he says. “We want to make people aware of the fact that Eritrea is an independent country.
Eritrea achieved its independence in 1991, but Seyoum promises that there’s “no beef” between Eritreans and Ethiopians, especially on Baltimore Avenue.
“We still have family that are considered Ethiopian,” he says.
Gojjo
Philly loves a cheesesteak. We also love a riff on a cheesesteak, which is why Gojjo’s Ethiopian take on the beloved sandwich is just so popular. The juicy, all-beef sandwich gets dusted with a blend of Ethiopian spices and served with fries. Oh, and they also do a chicken version that rivals the original.
Kaffa Crossing
Kaffa Crossing is another spot that does it all all day long: very good, fair trade Ethiopian coffee in a cozy environment with strong wifi, plus an all-day breakfast menu of simple dishes like eggs with injera, a spicy vegetable stew, and house-made injera. They also serve a hefty dinner menu, with tons of vegetarian and vegan options.
Queen of Sheba
In between Alif and Dahlak lies Queen of Sheba, named after the mysterious biblical monarch. Unlike Doro Bet and Dahlak, Queen of Sheba lacks natural light. It is much more reminiscent of your average American sports bar. Queen of Sheba has lived in West Philly for decades.
Andy Kissinger is out front smoking a cigarette, hunched over in a plastic foldable chair. Like my conversation with Kane, I pull over a chair to sit across from Kissinger. When I ask him how long he’s worked at Queen of Sheba, he responds, “I don’t work here. I would never work here.”
He pauses. When I ask him to elaborate, he says, “This is a place where people come together. People from all stripes, people from all colors, people from all creeds.
Queen of Sheba has been Kissinger’s place of worship since 2008, a chaotic time for the international economy … and Berks County-bred food service workers. Kissinger shares that he grew up Pennsylvania Dutch and is the “first man in [his] family in over 250 years who speaks English as the first language.”
While he’s worked at bars and restaurants around Greater Philadelphia, Queen of Sheba remains a constant. Our conversation comes to an abrupt close when Kissinger steps away to pick up a cardboard McDonald’s french fry container. He throws it in the dumpster next to Queen of Sheba, ensuring he protects his church.
Almaz Cafe
We’re breaking our own rule here to include Almaz Cafe, which is a favorites of Ethiopian food lovers, but which also happens to be East of the Schuykill.
A Taste of History
In 1983, Red Sea, named after the Indian Ocean inlet separating Eritrea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, became the first Eri-Ethiopian restaurant to exist in Philadelphia. Twenty years later, Ethiopian immigrant Tedla Abraham took over the restaurant with his former business partner. Abraham’s decision to move to Philly and eventually own Abyssinia did not happen by chance.
The People Behind the Flavors
Kane comes to greet me, dressed in all-black pants and apron. “I just have to finish baking something,” she says, retreating back to the kitchen. I have no problem waiting. I flip through a few issues of StarChefs magazine, stacked on a table beside me.
Four songs play while I wait: “Migibima Moltual” and “Embuwa Bey Lamitu” by Hailu Mergia and Dahlak Band, “Tezeta” by Mulatu Astatke, and “Song Of Abayi” by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru. They give me a moment to rhythmically tap my feet and admire the map of Ethiopian capital city Addis Ababa plastered on the wall.
When Kane returns, we sit across from each other in the empty dining room. Customers tend to take out from Doro Bet, and it’s a Sunday morning. She immediately begins to share about her childhood in Addis Ababa.
Her mother taught her and her siblings how to cook at an early age. “I remember being as young as ten or 11 and learning how to disassemble chicken because we slaughtered it in the house,” she says.
While she has been spending time in the kitchen for as long as she can remember, Kane didn’t grow up with dreams of being a chef or owning a restaurant. After she graduated from high school in Ethiopia, Kane moved around Europe and West Africa working as a travel agent. that Kane considered moving here too.
“I came here to visit [Hayat Ali] when she had her first child 19 years ago,” she says. “I went back, and I was like, ‘Ah, this can be fine.
A friend she met in France knew the owners of Brasserie Perrier, an upscale French restaurant in Rittenhouse Square. They offered Kane a job working front-of-house. Originally, the position was merely meant to try out the restaurant industry while she searched for stability in Philly.
But when Brasserie Perrier closed in 2009, Kane found another restaurant job, this time at Davio’s, where she met her now-husband Brian. All the while, Kane hosted frequent parties for her friends in Philly.
In 2020, Kane was given an opportunity she could not pass up. “When [Ali] wants to do something, she just does it. It was the pandemic, and we were all bored. She saw a sign [on 45th and Baltimore] for a lease. She took it, and was like ‘Well, I did it. It’s now or never.’” That empty storefront on the corner became Alif, the first Ethiopian restaurant of the Ali family.
