Nyala Ethiopian Cuisine

I was heading west via Wilshire from downtown for a meeting. As usual, I was ravenous. What to eat, what to eat?! As sort of a knee-jerk reaction, I made the turn on Fairfax toward Little Ethiopia.

If you are unfamiliar with the area, there are maybe 10 Ethiopian restaurants and markets, mixed in with thrift stores and adult day care/assisted living facilities, on Fairfax between Whitworth and the crossing of San Vincente and Olympic. I’ve eaten at several Ethiopian places on this strip, and Nyala is my go-to due to their yummy vegetarian buffet.

In this picture, you see my favorite dishes: the cooked cabbage/carrots/potatoes, the yellow pea stew, and the red lentil stew. I call the red lentil “sloppy joe” for no other reason than that’s what it reminds me of. The rolled up spongy thing over the sloppy joe and veggies is injera, and sponge is the operative word. You tear off pieces and use it to pick up the food, and it sops up all the luscious juices. Injera alone is the reason to try Ethiopian food! I also had collard greens, couscous and some veggie soup from the buffet, but the trifecta above remains my faves.

Click here to go to their Web site.