Art Cafe:Ethiopian Kitchen

MoAndra Johnson
Dec 27, 2017
3 min read

My roommate is Ethiopian and she always talks about how amazing Ethiopian food is in Minnesota, but nothing in Georgia compares. Neither of us have been home in a while and we were starting to miss our mothers home cooked meals! On this particular day, we woke up on a mission to get some D E L I C I O U S Ethiopian food! My roommate and I heard about Art Cafe before. She even met the owner previously and conversed about this beautiful establishment. Based on the conversation they had, she was confident and trusted the food might come close to the authentic restaurants in Minnesota. So we decided to try it for ourselves.

Art Cafe: Ethiopian Kitchen is a diamond hiding in the heart of downtown. Located on 264 Peters St. Atlanta, GA 30313. You can (click here) to find the hours of operation, menu and gallery. When you first enter Art Cafe, you're welcomed into the ambiance of Ethiopian art and culture. The restaurant had an art gallery atmosphere mixed with traditional Ethiopian pieces. I LOVED IT!

Luckily, we chose the perfect day, we had the entire cafe to ourselves! The waitress was gracious enough to let us "browse" around ( I was all in their decorations, taking pictures lol). Check out the GIF below where I went behind the station just to play in the tea set!

We were starving so my roommate and I got right to it. I let her order all her favorites. She chose the Ful as an appetizer-Fava beans simmered and served with berbere,

tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, yogurt and toasted bread. Traditionally, in Ethiopia Ful is a breakfast food eaten with bread.This was my absolute favorite, I fell in love with Ful! For only $6.50 I could eat it ALL DAY and NIGHT.

For the entree she chose Zil Zil Tibs -strips of beef marinated in house spices, garnished with onions and green pepper served on a sizzling skillet ($14). For more variety we also tried the Yebeg Tibs- Savory bite size lamb cubes sautéed in keebe, onions and green pepper($13). Ironically, my favorite of the two at first was the Yebeg Tibs. Contrarily, to my original feelings, after eating my left-overs I now like the Zil Zil Tibs better. However, both meats are very DELICIOUS. One great thing about their menu is that they have an entire vegetarian section! My roommate swore I had to try the Shiro- Roasted Ethiopian chick pea stew($10). Shiro is her favorite Ethiopian delicacy. She constantly raves about how amazing her mother's Shiro is, so i was especially excited to try it. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. My roommate assured me that it was made a little differently than what she's use to. Although, it was not my favorite I would still advise you to give it a try!

Overall, I really loved my entire experience at Art Cafe Ethiopian Kitchen. You guys should definitely visit and indulge! Check out their website for descriptions paired with images of each menu item! Comment, or share a picture with us of your adventure to Art Cafe.

SN: I got a really dope picture right in the middle of their dinning room! Im totally getting Nola from "She's gotta have it" (Netflix's TV-Series by Spike Lee) vibes. Watch it, if you haven't already.