Warm hospitality and exquisite flavours help this Ethiopian restaurant overcome enormous hurdles in decor and ambience. Ignore the pool table stacked with old chairs. Forget the big-screen TV crowned with a pulsating pixel board. Concentrate instead on the large platters of injera—a spongy flatbread—piled with spiced delights to be shared communally, eaten by hand with the bread. For doro wat, chicken is marinated in nitter kibbeh—clarified butter infused with sage, garlic and ginger—then stewed, along with a whole hard-boiled egg, in the tangy heat of traditional berbere spice, a complex mixture of fenugreek, cayenne, cloves, and ginger. A caramel-coloured purée of roasted chickpeas, shiro wat offers a slower burn and buttery richness served in a hot clay pot. Tikil gomen, cabbage braised with carrots and potatoes, delivers starchy, sweet counterbalance. Zilzil tibs brings a dry-rub barbecue of beef strips and berbere spice that’s utterly addictive. The elaborate and formal coffee ceremony—roasted to order, complete with burning frankincense—is worth the wait.