Ethiopian food is my jam. I have tried it in many states back home in the US and I make it my…read moremission to find an ethiopian restaurant and market wherever I travel. Imagine my excitement when I found Saba's within driving distance of my Aussie family's home! As a women-owned/run restaurant, Saba's is full of lovely decor and warmth. Both times we went, Saba herself gave us great recommendations (we are vegan) and the food came out quickly- good thing since we brought along the kids! I liked everything, though many of the dishes were milder in spices than I've had before in the states (usually the kik alicha I've had comes with raw jalapeño slices on the side for example!). I think the only thing I didn't like was the injera. It was much darker and had a very different taste and texture than other injera I've had. All in all we obviously loved Saba's, as we returned only a few days after our first visit!

Saba's Bridging the Cultural Divide-…read more Being caught up in the cyclonic whirlwind of today's technological age is a blessing and a curse in the way that it slowly separates us from core belief systems we are afforded during childhood.The simple pleasures in life.. like the touch from a loved one, having a laugh and sharing precious moments become lost in the daily routine, lessons learn't become background noise and softly fade into the past.But do not fear as"Saba's Restaurant"will help rectify that! Realizing family friends community are all central to living a fulfilling happy life Saba invites us back to a time before we became so self absorbed and disconnected, through the simple act of sharing food.Although this simplicity can sometimes be confronting, especially if you mix in today's"social norms"it is well worth it.So take your social medication! What is Saba's and what's on the menu- Saba's is an Ethiopian restaurant hosting a varied range of food species including Vegetarian Vegan and Meat dishes all gluten free,served inside a woven round wicker basket called a"Mesob".When the lid is lifted off the traditional Ethiopian basket you are presented with the Injera Bread which forms the basis for many of the meals at "Saba's Restaurant".The menu remains constant throughout the year incorporating specials from time to time but unlike the typical specials from a normal restaurant (i.e yesterday's leftovers) these truly are special akin to capturing a rare Pokemon and should be snatched up straight away as to not miss them.The specials sometimes include the most popular meals from Ethiopia; offal based dish called "Tripa" and the Ethiopian version of Steak Tartare the "Kitfo" if you're lucky. Humble Beginnings- The idea of "Saba Restaurant"didn't appear by sheer happenstance,nor did it merly pop into the imagination like a comical light bulb, infact it was a series of events which lead up to the opening of Saba's first Ethiopian restaurant.In the days before "S.R" Saba Alemayoh invited friends to try her mother's cooking all made from her country's traditional recipes,these were such a great hit she decided to sell the main cooking component "Teff Flour"to numerous health food stores,coinciding with the operation of a small catering service.The driving force behind the opening of Saba's was not so much the food in and of itself but the chance to share her proud cultural heritage with the people of Melbourne.With the help from her friend Sebla Afewerk and her mum Tekebash as head chef they started Saba's and the rest is history. We ordered the White Spiced tea as a starter for the night... Spiced White Tea ( )The tea consists of black tea brewed in milk, combining cardamom cloves and cinnamon tasting similar to chi ,but has a skin on the surface similar to one formed on a custard hmmm delicious. Dorho Sebhid )Main component being the slow cooked Chicken that slides so easily from the bone accompanied with a hard-boiled egg.For people who enjoy a V-Hot spicy Chicken Vindaloo esk dish this one is for you(ask for extra heat)it has a very dark satisfying flavor.It is one dish I would gladly come back for. Vegetarian Combination ( ) Vegetarian combo is a selection of 3 separate Vego dishes from the menu.My eating partner found the expierince to be exciting When Saba personally delivered the two treasure trove baskets to our table similar to the traditional Filipino way of eating In using your hands this at first may seem uncivilized but you will quickly adapt and you may also find it stimulating. Teff Brownie( )And then followed up by the final act. One must know their lines before committing their taste buds to the full onslaught of this sticky sweet chocolate devil made from Teff which gave it a heavier feel but adding to the experience at the same time.

I've tried several Ethiopian restaurants in Melbourne -- both in Footscray and in other suburbs --…read moreand Ras Dashen has been the best by far! The owner is an older gentleman who's so nice and helpful. The food tastes amazing, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the prices are good. Really, nothing to fault here. The menu has the usual suspects like ful, tibbs, and injera bread with a variety of platters, both meat and vegetarian. There were also a few surprises on the menu too (like Lebanese bread). They have a small variety of beers including Ethiopian ones, and they also do spirits. People who don't think they're a fan of injera bread might want to try the bread here, because it tasted way more mild and less "fermented" than any other injera bread I've had. (Or you can get your platters with rice instead of injera bread, if you prefer.) We went with the vegan tasting platter for two people (and yes, they totally know what "vegan" means here) and it was so delicious and filling. It came with injera bread and several little dishes to scoop onto your bread -- three different kinds of lentil dahls, one beetroot dish, some potatoes and greens, and another dish of mixed veggies. Everything was seasoned with different spices and each dish tasted completely different -- and there wasn't a single dish we disliked. The brown lentil dish in the large bowl in the middle of our platter was my favourite, but honestly, everything was delicious. I wish I could cook like that -- with everything perfectly seasoned! Atmosphere-wise, it's a narrow little place, dimly lit, with interesting art on the walls and a TV in one corner showing Al-Jazeera. Clientele is a mix of backgrounds, some Ethiopian folks, some not. Prices are about the same as other places in Footscray (i.e., cheaper than most suburbs in Melbourne -- I think we paid around $35 for our MASSIVE platter for two as well as two Ethiopian beers) but in my opinion the value for money is much better than a lot of places because the food quality here is so high. I probably still want to try other Ethiopian places in Footscray, but it's honestly hard to go past Ras Dashen!! If you've never had Ethiopian food, or even if you've had it heaps of times -- give this place a try!

Amazing authentic bomb ass Ethiopian food, hella clean and neat…read more Lowkey I recommend this bomb ass food major variety to select form yes lord

Great food, fresh with big servings. Nice older waitress. Kind of dodgy place in the way that its…read morejust full of old men. But it has a nice vibe. Try the vege plate with injera and an assortment of curries

Great service, the food is home-made, delicious and oh so very well priced. The owner is humble and…read morelovely. I recommend their vegetarian platter and the lamb special tibs served with generous amounts of injera bread. Be warned, you will end up craving it monthly.

Still good! On my most recent visit we indulged in the $33pp banquet (there's a $30, $33 or $38…read morebanquet - that's some serious value). The extra $3 will get you a few more entrees, on top of a variety of dips and bread, and three different meaty mains. I am so glad we got the entrees - they were the standouts of the meal and included roast cauliflower and a delicious beef mince delight. We went on a Tuesday and there was only one other table, so the atmosphere wasn't at it's greatest - but it meant we got great service. It is still BYO but I highly recommend you try an African beer while you're there. Why not?!

Nyala has been a fixture on Brunswick Street for over two decades now and it has to be one of the…read morefew restaurants in Melbourne let alone Fitzroy that serves (authentic?) African cuisine. Nyala refers to a Southern African antelope that is very common in Ethiopia. And the owners of Nyala are Ethiopian but also do a number of dishes from across Africa. When we were there the restaurant was very empty and the service was extremely friendly and attentive (as you'd expect with so few patrons). The food was pretty good and flavoursome and they had a number of African beers to try. I'll go again but I'm still a little bit on the fence....

My second tasting of ethiopian food was at a Friday night team dinner at the African horn. What…read morelooks like a tiny restaurant has a narrow corridor leading down to a seating area of five to six tables and an outdoor seating area for groups and another seating area that sort of looks like a lounge room with a bright pink armchair. The group seating area has hanging plants and a set of drums out in the front. The tables are of different sizes. The lounge room looking like area has a massive tapestry of a lion and that's also where the toilets are. A big flag of Ethiopia adorns the wall. The serviettes are red, green, and yellow - the colours of the ethiopian flag. They turned on some ethiopian music for us but shut it off as the restaurant got busy. The menu has variety with seafood, lamb, goat and beef as well as a large selection of vegetarian dishes. The drinks menu consists of four types of ethiopian beer, ethiopian sparkling water called ambo, ethiopian coffee, cider and wine. The desert menu is scarce with only two items. As a group, we ordered the banquet option consisting of entree and mains for $28 per person. Pretty good value. The entrees we received were 1. Fried injera bread with hummus topped with some chilli paste and flavoured with some unknown spice - loved the fried injera bread and the spicy hummus 2. Beef samosa served with a tomato chutney - pretty average and chutney didn't seem to go with the samosa 3. Foccacia bread The main consisted of a platter served with three meat curries, a salad, two lentil curries and a cabbage carrot curry laid on top of a massive injera bread. Th inner bread is quite rubbery and has a slightly sour taste but goes well with the curries. We didn't know which meat we were eating and the service staff didn't introduce any of the dishes. I found this quite disappointing. No one could guess the meat. Even the black lentils tasted like mince meat. The food can be quite spicy for some. Even the salad had spice in it but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do not like not knowing what I'm eating though. My colleagues quite liked the ethiopian beers. the ethiopian sparkling water tasted quite sweet. The chai latte was actually just chai brewed with milk in a teapot. Service was very very slow. We were all on time and waited almost an hour for drinks and my colleagues sparkling water was the last to arrive. We were the first group too.

The Horn of Africa is a great little spot to go in a group to enjoy some seemingly authentic (so a…read moretaxi driver told me) Ethiopian cuisine the way it should be eaten - with your hands. The place was heaving and is quite big (they have a big courtyard out the back), way bigger than you might think from the outside. Perhaps because of this, the service was a ropey in parts. Extremely friendly when the waitress was there but she was run off her feet. The food also talk a long time to come out. Yet despite these little things I just couldn't help but to have a good time here. The atmosphere is just really warm, the food is tasty and they have a wide range of Ethiopian beers. There wasn't any live music whilst we were there but I'd definitely be back on a night when there is. It surely would have to be the perfect accompaniment to an already relaxed vibe.

Great African food for a reasonable price. Very cosy and intimate ambience, due to it being quite a…read moresmall space. We came on a weekday night and it was not too crowded, but comfortable. We started with the Cramped Cauliflower (fried cauliflower) entree, which was quite good, but nothing amazing. Basically deep fried cauliflower with some herbs. Then came the mains. The outstanding dish was the Genfo African Fufu (gnocchi of toasted barley flour). Unique in flavour, the gnocchi had a great consistency with some holding a little crunch from the pan frying. It's topped off with a big dollop of cream, and was very filling yet satisfying. We added chicken to it. Our other main was the Molokia (spinach and lamb with rice), which was decent but lacked a little flavour compared to the fantastic gnocchi.

Absolutely delicious, well priced, authentic and a fav of mine in Melbourn for something different.read more