i have never had vegan ethiopian food that i didn’t like. while in dc we saw a lot of ethiopian restaurants but instead of just popping into any random spot i relied, once again, on my buddy @kmudrick. he recommended Meskerem and we quickly headed on over.

the restaurant was really big with two levels of seating and very pretty inside. we sat upstairs where there was a big sky light and we had tons of space.

our meal began with two orders of sambusas ($3.50 and 2 with each order). at meskerem you can choose from different sambusa vegetable fillings and for both our orders we went with cabbage, potato, and carrots. these little suckers where delicious.

they came out piping hot and we had to wait a moment before digging in. funny thing is, by the time we got to sambusa number 2 within a minute they were stone cold. weird. does that mean they came from under a heat lamp? i dunno, i’ve never worked in a restaurant. well, we ate the rest of them anyway.

for our meal we ordered the vegetarian messob for 3 ($10.25 per person for 3 or more people). a variety of veg dishes all brought out on a single platter to share (pictured above). the food was really good and had slightly different flavors than the ethiopian food i’ve eaten in la. on our platter was: tomato salad and potato salad (both served cold), lentils, collard greens, cabbage, peas, and green beans. everyone at our table enjoyed the lentils the best but by the time we were done our platter was cleaned of everything. including most of the injera that lined the plate.

i also had a nice ethiopian lager to accompany my meal and they had a decent wine selection. one of my favorite things about meskerem is that our main platter wasn’t super oily. many people disagree with me but personally ethiopian often tastes really really oily and although it’s mostly veggies can make me feel heavy (even without sambusas). i didn’t feel that way at all after meskerem and was relieved. my traveling company and i completely agree that meskerem is a great spot to visit for ethiopian greatness.

Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant
2434 18th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.462.4100

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