Little Ethiopia on the Danforth: where to eat injera, tibs and Ethiopian coffee

The Ethiopian and Eritrean kitchens clustered on the east Danforth, what to order if you have never eaten with injera, and the phone number for every one.

There is a stretch of Danforth Avenue east of Greenwood where the restaurants are Ethiopian and Eritrean almost door to door. The city has never put a sign on it, but the community has, and it has been there long enough that the coffee ceremonies are real and the injera is made properly. This is the densest cluster of Habesha cooking in Toronto, and it is walkable in an afternoon.

If you have never eaten this food, the good news is that it is built for the uninitiated. There is no cutlery, the dishes are meant to be shared, and the staff are used to explaining. What follows is enough to order well and a list of the kitchens doing it.

How the food works

One plate, shared, eaten with your hands. That is the shape of an Ethiopian meal, and once you understand the parts it is simple.

• Injera is the bread and the plate and the utensil. It is a large, soft, sour flatbread made from teff, laid down flat, with the food spooned on top. You tear a piece, pinch up a mouthful, and eat it. A kitchen that makes its own injera fresh is the one you want.
• Wat is the stew. Doro wat is chicken in a deep berbere sauce with a hard-boiled egg, the national dish and the thing to order first. Tibs is sauteed meat, usually beef or lamb, on the drier side and a good gateway if you are unsure.
• Vegetarian is not an afterthought. Because of Orthodox fasting, Ethiopian kitchens cook some of the best vegetarian food in the city by default. Ask for a fasting plate or a beyaynetu, a sampler of lentils, split peas, greens and salads, and you will eat very well for very little.
• The coffee is a ceremony, not a takeaway cup. If a place offers it after the meal and you have the time, say yes. Beans roasted at the table, then brewed and poured in rounds.

The kitchens on the Danforth

These are the Ethiopian and Eritrean spots in the directory, clustered on and around Danforth Avenue. Ratings and counts come from Google and move; the phone number is theirs.

A few more sit just west of the borough line, on the Old Toronto side of the same strip, so the cluster is a little larger than one borough page shows.

Going as a group

This is food that rewards a table. Order more dishes than there are people, get at least one vegetarian plate whatever your table eats, and let them bring it on one shared injera rather than separate plates. If someone at the table cannot do heat, ask which wats are mild, because the berbere ones build.

Before you go

Ring first, especially for the coffee ceremony, which takes time and is not always on in the middle of a rush. Hours run late on this strip, later than most of the city, but the smaller rooms keep their own schedule. The numbers on these pages are the restaurants' own, so you are talking to the kitchen.

Written by See The Six · kept current from the directory, last checked 2026-08-24