The Best Ethiopian in Baltimore

Dukem, an established Ethiopian restaurant in Washington, D.C., has been on my to-do list for years. Alas, it wasn’t until the Baltimore branch opened that I found time to pop in for a bite. My mum and I arrived fairly late on a weekday evening to an almost empty restaurant and ordered a vegetarian platter to share. I was desperately hungry by the time we arrived, and so I had high hopes for one of my favourite comfort cuisines. My knowledge of Ethiopian food is pretty much limited to knowing I like it. I mostly discuss the dishes based on colour or texture (e.g. “yellow is my favourite at this Ethiopian restaurant” or “you might find dark red too spicy, so leave it all for me” or “red with meatballs is hard to eat, so I dumped it on my lap instead”). The point is while I can’t tell you what everything I ate actually was, I can confirm I liked all of the colours.

I wasn’t keen on the downstairs bar atmosphere, but there’s supposedly another space upstairs. Dukem does a lunchtime buffet, which we were assured always contains vegetarian/vegan options. Despite my dislike of the environment, the food was good and I look forward to going back again next time I’m visiting my family in Maryland. To try all the other colours.