The best restaurants Ethiopia

Excellent French restaurant acclaimed for its quality cuisine and attentive service. A good address from breakfast to dinner. The spacious villa, with its small garden, offers an elegant setting, with a retro decor in a nod to France, outdoor tables and a very friendly owner. On the menu you'll find local specialties: beef tartare (compare with Ethiopian kifto ), duck breast, onion quiche, cheese platter, chocolate soufflé... Dishes accompanied by bottles of Bordeaux.

This is the best cultural restaurant in Addis Ababa, renowned for its quality Ethiopian cuisine and continuous evening performances of dances from all over the country. All the great Ethiopian classics are on the menu, and the food is very good and well prepared. The place is certainly touristy, but attracts mostly locals. Live music and atmosphere every evening, in a symphony of colorful costumes, traditional music and dance. The singers move around the room and interact with the audience, creating an authentic atmosphere.

One of the two institutions in Addis where you can dine in traditional Ethiopian style and discover the songs, dances and costumes of the different regions, which are performed on the small stage while you eat around a convivial table. The food is decent without being extraordinary (it's better at Yod), but we're seated on convivial low tables. The show is really beautiful, with lots of costumed dancers and singers.

This is an institution in Gondar, undoubtedly the best restaurant for foreign visitors. With its beautifully decorated dining room and top-quality Ethiopian cuisine, this restaurant, run by four charismatic sisters, is a great success. They'll be happy to welcome you with traditional dances (musical evenings every evening). Pleasant setting, delicious cuisine, coffee ceremony, attentive service, terrace in a pleasant, quiet garden... Praise is not lacking for this fine address. Souvenir store.

This elegant restaurant in Arba Minch is one of the best in the country. And with good reason: the chef, trained in Addis Ababa, offers highly creative dishes using local ingredients, particularly fish caught daily. We loved the Nile perch cooked in a banana leaf with rice, vegetables and avocado sauce, or steamed in white vinegar with kale and peanut sauce. A café also serves smoothies, and the room is beautifully decorated and pleasant. A real gastronomic discovery, a real favorite.

One of the city's nicest places for a drink or a snack at any time of day. In a pretty courtyard topped by a tent where a coffee tree grows, you can sit down at a bamboo table for breakfast, or later for pasta or Ethiopian cuisine. The coffee ceremony takes place throughout the day, and we take the opportunity to read a short history of the beverage told on the walls. The prices are local and the service friendly. There is a free WiFi connection, but it rarely works.

The Goha is a Gondar institution, one of the city's oldest hotels. Located on a promontory overlooking the city, it offers magnificent views from the terrace of the bar-restaurant in front of the swimming pool. In the lobby, the coffee ceremony precedes a room illuminated by bay windows. A romantic setting for dinner. One side of the restaurant is furnished in the traditional Ethiopian style, the other is more modern, as is the menu, which offers both classic and Western dishes. An excellent address.

This recently opened restaurant is one of the best in Lalibela. For lunch and dinner, a magnificent buffet is laid out, with an exceptional guacamole - like a mirage here! But also all kinds of salads, simmered vegetables, meats, traditional dishes... In the evening, traditional music and dance groups liven up the atmosphere. You can sit in the airy dining room or on the rooftop terrace in the cool of the evening. Wonderful welcome from the owner. Coffee ceremony, Wifi.

One of the many traditional restaurants in the capital offering excellent traditional dance shows. Furniture, staff attire, service, coffee ceremony, architecture, everything is here typically Ethiopian without being skipped. The food is excellent, proof is that the restaurant is so frequented by tourists and expatriates than by locals. A large tent makes it possible to take a meal outside. Dance and folk music shows are regularly scheduled. Prices are still correct.

As much as the Seven Olives hotel is no longer in the competition, being too outdated, its restaurant has always been renowned, and not without reason. Conveniently close to the churches. Excellent injera are always served, and the bayenet or vegetarian dishes are well done. Ethiopian cuisine and some international dishes, as well as pizzas. Traditional setting and cool terrace in a large garden (but remember to bring mosquito repellent, which is plentiful). The atmosphere is very pleasant in the evening. Don't miss the tasty avocado juices available at all hours.

This very old Italian restaurant has been restored and is considered one of the best (and most expensive) in town. It's a safe bet and quite chic. In the past, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have dined here. Wide choice of antipasti and of course homemade pasta, but not only. The tagliatelle with truffles is a real treat, and the tiramisu is a great success. Italian wine list. A pleasant, old-fashioned setting; the waiters have been the same for some thirty years. Ideal for a romantic dinner or with friends. Reservations essential.

The main attraction of this venue is that it is both a restaurant and one of Addis Ababa's leading contemporary art galleries. With its warm, well-appointed decor, the restaurant offers the opportunity to discover the work of some forty of the capital's most talented young artists. On the plate, the tendency is Italian (meats, pizzas and salads). There's a wide choice of desserts, including crêpes. Before (or during, or even after) service, you can sit at the bar: you'll come back again and again...

This Chinese restaurant in the upper part of the Kazanchis business district has long been known to locals in Addis Ababa. It serves excellent Chinese cuisine, prepared by chef Nebiyu, including specialties from the Sichuan region with its eponymous spicy pepper. The noodles and souples are particularly good. The prices of the dishes are very reasonable, and the flavors exotic. The dining room is quite sober, with red lanterns illuminating the space in the evening. Don't forget to book at weekends, as the restaurant is very popular.

With its spectacular 360° view of Lalibela's surroundings, its cosmic architecture reminiscent of a space shuttle, its pleasant garden and its good food, this restaurant is worth a visit. Susan left the cold winters of Scotland to open, with Habtamu, an Ethiopian from Lalibela, this "hill of flowers"(ben abeba). The Ethiopian and international cuisine is classic(tebs with injera, shiro...), but there are also good lentil soups, quiches with onions and tomatoes, as well as a hash brown. South African wines.

Located in the garden just in front of the National Museum, this is an institution for good eating in Addis Ababa. A haven of peace in a garden adorned with bamboo and beautiful handicrafts, ideal for lunch between visits to the city's two major museums. The menu features excellent Ethiopian cuisine, as well as pastas, pizzas, salads, curries... Fast, pleasant service. Excellent ketfo (the local steak tartare), ultra-fresh meat and wines à la carte. A good address that emphasizes its dishes as well as its setting and service.

The café has a terrace overlooking the surrounding mountains, ideal for breakfast (choice of fresh fruit juices and pastries) or just a drink as the sun goes down. Mango, pineapple, papaya and avocado from Addis Ababa. Opposite Café Hikma, the Kingo patisserie also offers good quality products. But if you want to eat well, the Yegofe View restaurant is the best in town, thanks to its Italian chef who puts a lot of love into his dishes and pizzas, which are a must!

This is an excellent address to discover, frequented by the wealthy classes of Addis Ababa. It serves excellent international and Ethiopian cuisine, with fish specialties, Asian salads, European dishes... On the first floor, the small "bistro" café is the ideal place for a macchiato, cappuccino or breakfast. Homemade bread and brioche are used to make sandwiches. Upstairs, the restaurant has an Italian feel. Highlight: Sunday jazz brunch.

For a change from Ethiopian injera, Aladdin is a renowned Armenian and Lebanese cuisine restaurant. It's a great place to eat, with a wide choice of delicious mezzés and kebabs. You can come in at any time to sip a fruit juice or pick at a salad. The setting is original and well-kept, with stylish solid wood chairs, a pleasant interior room and a glass roof overlooking the vegetation. To make matters worse, the portions are generous and the service attentive and warm. An excellent option.

In an old Italian building south of the city center on the road to Harar, this restaurant is the most popular in town, as much for its setting as for its cuisine, especially its lasagne. Ethiopian specialties and grilled meats are also on the menu. It's hard to find other well-known addresses in this not-at-all-touristy town, where you sometimes have to make a stopover for train or plane reasons. The place may be a little tired, but the dishes are nonetheless acceptable.

Apart from the hotel restaurants, this address is a great discovery in Awassa. Opt for the old address at the very end of the lake-side avenue. It's a small, family-run business in a pleasant setting, with a lovely outdoor terrace under the jacarandas. It serves quite good Italian cuisine, including wood-fired pizzas, a sure bet. But don't expect Neapolitan pizza - it's Ethiopian! The coffee is delicious, served in a traditional ceremony.