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• Vegan Sampler

The price is good here, but the portions are not as large during lunch as dinner. So, this can help you figure out what to do for leftovers: to have or to not have? Go for lunch, and you may be able to eat it all; go for dinner, maybe unlikely to eat it all? The vegan sampler (about $10) comes with a central serving of misir wot, which has a berbere and tomato based spiciness. Around it, there will be yellow split peas that taste like split peas, not over seasoned by any measure, in addition to cabbage with potatoes, green beans with carrots, a tomato/ parsley/ onion/ jalapeño salad and collard greens. This cafe also has coffee and tea, but no soy milk or nondairy milk. The menu also has lentil sambusas that are passable and lentil soup - 2 more vegan choices. They have also expanded to add in some Egyptian/ Middle Eastern foods like falafel, fatoush (salad with tomatoes, cukes, onions, lettuce, pita chips and seasonings) and others. I wonder if that's why the salad in the sampler seemed less like the Ethiopian salads in most samplers in the DC metro area and more like a tabouleh flavor absent the bulgur…? Overall, the food is fresh and filling. Some Ethiopian restaurants use frozen greens, but the collards here wet definitely fresh, and the cabbage, too. Because there is no option to order the vegan dishes separately and the spices/ flavorings for the collards, green beans and cabbage dishes were minimalist, 3 out of 4 cows. However, the service is stellar and the people very kind. The parking is easy. The ambiance is relaxed. So…. maybe 3.5 cows.