Massawa

Despite the increase in the city’s Ethiopian restaurants, their menus tend not to differ greatly, so the prospect of Eritrean as well as Ethiopian dishes seems cause for an extra glass of tej honey wine. Though the waitstaff plays down the contributions of Ethiopia’s former coastal province, Massawa features several Eritrean seafood dishes—notably salmon silsi (cubes of wine-glazed fish served with injera) and several spicy tomato-based shrimp dishes—not usually found on Ethiopian menus. Massawa’s injera tends to thin to crispness at the edges, yet the Ethiopian staples are consistently good, ensuring a following among local grad students.