Just a stone’s throw from E’Njoni Cafe, Enat Kitchen dishes out an extensive mix of vegan, vegetarian, and meat-centric entrees, from the garlicky collard green dish gomen to the buttery minced beef of the Enat Special. The key wot stew comes with your choice of meat, seasoned with berbere, a spice blend of red chili powder, garlic, nigella, and fenugreek. Enat also offers a nice scale of combination plates, ranging from individual samplers of wots to full-on family meals.

A must-visit for the newbie or the indecisive, this Killingsworth Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Mediterranean spot’s bright atmosphere, with sunny yellow walls covered in art, matches the restaurant’s cheerful use of spice and aromatics. Visitors should try the curried cabbage alicha, an aromatic stew, and chickpea-laden bamia, an okra stew, alongside a mix of falafel.

This homey Ethiopian spot comes with welcoming and attentive service from the get-go. Ethiopian incense looms throughout the restaurant as the family-run kitchen turns out traditional platters, like the Aberus combination sampler with a taste of the most popular meat and vegetarian options. The Killingsworth restaurant with bright red walls and Ethiopian art also offers a variety of preparations of kitfo — a traditional raw version, one mixed with sauteed collard greens, or dulet kitfo, which combines the dish with other offal, jalapeno, and onion.

One of Portland’s older Ethiopian destinations sits snugly on Alberta Street with a bright green exterior. While the color grabs attention, the 32-seat Bole, formerly known as Gojo, is a cozier space dotted with colorful woven baskets and framed posters of notable Ethiopians on the walls, plus curtains displaying traditional Ethiopian art. Start with the restaurant’s version of kitfo, which arrives alongside house-made ayib cheese. Both the key wot and alicha wot here make for worthy successors, earthy and just a touch sweet with a nice nuance of spice.

She’s back, baby: Once an Eater Portland stalwart, Abyssinian Kitchen closed in its Southeast Portland home in 2020, but the restaurant has reopened on Northeast Alberta, serving many of the dishes that made it famous. While the restaurant is now in a more traditional dining room, the restaurant’s kilwa beggie — sauteed lamb and onions, ideally served with the restaurant’s layered berbere sauce — is as good as ever. Shiro b’Tsahli, or ground, roasted chickpeas slow-simmered in a clay pot, is another must-order.

The casual-but-lively Queen of Sheba introduced unfamiliar Portlanders to Ethiopian food when it opened in the ’90s, quickly snagging local accolades and distributing injera, berbere, and other Ethiopian imports at markets around town. While a good number of Ethiopian restaurants in Portland hew cautious with their use of spice, Queen of Sheba doesn’t play around; all dishes arrive at a solid medium-hot. Those who can’t handle the heat should order mild dishes like an aromatic alicha. Conversely, heat-seekers can expect a real kick by ordering dishes like tibbsi kinttishara, sauteed mushrooms in a spicy berbere sauce (though spice levels can be adjusted upon request).

While Sisters doesn’t offer an extensive menu, it more than makes up for it with the amount of flavor packed into each dish. The restaurant’s veggie combo is an excellent way to try both its spicier misir wot, creamy with red lentils, and the mild alicha kik, sunny with yellow split peas. A rich take on minchet abish is another strong option.

Just above street level, Bete-Lukas was known for its fine-dining feel with white tablecloths and linen napkins. The eggplant tibs — a term for sautéed or stewed cubes of meat and vegetables — are a distinct switch-up from the typical vegetarian suspects. The asa goulash is a hit, too, with smoky berbere coating pieces of tender white fish.