Ethiopian Food in Southeast Michigan: Where to Start
The cuisine closest to no coverage in this archive. A first guide to injera, wat, and the restaurants serving both within reach of Ann Arbor.
Plate & Press has a gap. We have covered Korean food in Ann Arbor, Indian on Plymouth Road, Thai on Packard, and Chinese across the city. We have not covered Ethiopian food. Not once. Not even a mention. That is a meaningful oversight for a publication that tracks what this region eats, because Ethiopian food is available within 45 minutes of Ann Arbor and represents a cuisine with no close substitute in the coverage area.
This is the guide we should have written sooner.
What to expect
Ethiopian food is built around injera, a sourdough flatbread made from teff grain. It is fermented for several days before baking, which gives it a characteristic tang and a spongy, porous texture. At the table, injera serves as both plate and utensil. You tear off pieces and use them to scoop stews from the communal platter.
The stews are called wat (or wot). Doro wat is the most recognizable: chicken simmered in berbere, a spice blend of chili peppers, garlic, ginger, and warming spices. Tibs is a sauteed preparation, usually beef or lamb with onions and peppers. Kitfo is Ethiopian steak tartare, minced raw beef seasoned with spiced butter. On the vegetarian side, misir wat is spiced red lentils in berbere; kik alecha is yellow split peas cooked mild with turmeric; gomen is collard greens. A vegetarian combination plate covers most of these at once and is the right first order if you are unfamiliar with the menu.
The communal platter is central to the experience. Food arrives on a single large round of injera for the whole table. You eat from the same plate. As Seifu Lessanework, founder of the Blue Nile restaurants, put it in a profile by Metromode: "From the grandpa to the last born, all eat from the same plate together."
For first-timers: order the combination platter, eat with your hands, and let the bottom layer of injera (which absorbs all the stew juices over the course of the meal) be the best bite at the end.
The Blue Nile (221 E. Washington St, Ann Arbor)
The Blue Nile has been on East Washington for more than thirty years, which means Ann Arbor has had Ethiopian food in its downtown core longer than most of the restaurants currently on State Street. The current location at 221 E. Washington opened in 1995, run by Almaz Lessanework and her husband Habte Dadi, family members of Seifu Lessanework, who founded the Blue Nile in Detroit in the early 1980s.1The Ann Arbor Blue Nile's history and family connection to the Ferndale location is documented by Metromode and confirmed in search listings updated April 2026.
The menu centers on an all-you-can-eat format. The vegetarian feast covers seven preparations: tekil gomen (green cabbage with ginger and jalapeño), kik alecha (yellow split peas with mild spices), yemisir kik wat (red lentils in berbere sauce), defen yemisir alecha (green lentils), gomen (collard greens), metin shiro wat (roasted yellow peas, spiced), and mixed vegetables. Meat dishes are priced per serving and added to the feast: doro wat ($8.95), doro alecha (chicken simmered in Ethiopian butter, $7.95), zilzil wat (beef strips with onions, garlic, and spice, $10.95), and yebeg alecha (slow-cooked lamb in niter kibbe, $18.95).
Gluten-free teff injera is available by request.
The restaurant is dinner only, closed Mondays. Given that this is one of the only places in Washtenaw County doing this cuisine, that is worth knowing before you drive downtown on a Tuesday at noon. Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 5-9:30 p.m., Thursday 5-10 p.m., Friday 3-10:30 p.m., Saturday 4-10:30 p.m., Sunday 3-9 p.m.
Blue Nile Ferndale (545 W. Nine Mile, Ferndale)
The Ferndale Blue Nile is the flagship of the two, and the 2025 Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Restaurant of the Year Classic, an award the Free Press gives to long-running operations that have made a durable contribution to the regional dining scene.2Blue Nile Ferndale's 2025 Restaurant of the Year Classic award and Seifu Lessanework's background are reported by the Detroit Free Press. The career history and direct quote are from a Metromode profile of Lessanework.
Seifu Lessanework, who opened the original Blue Nile in Detroit in the early 1980s and brought the Ferndale location to its current address in 2002, built his restaurant around the all-you-can-eat communal platter. The vegetarian feast runs $17.90; the Ethiopian feast with four meat selections runs $22.90-$27.90. The beverage list has expanded over the years from traditional Ethiopian tej (honey wine) to Michigan and international beers and Ethiopian tea cocktails.
The restaurant positions itself explicitly as a destination rather than a quick lunch stop. Low tables, traditional seating options, and the full-platter format make it the more immersive experience of the two Blue Nile locations. The Ferndale Free Press profile describes Lessanework's career before the Blue Nile: head cook for Hilton Hotels across Beirut, Jerusalem, London, and Nairobi; head chef at Windows on the World in New York City before relocating to Michigan in 1982. The restaurant's longevity, he told the Free Press, comes down to consistency: "Anyone who was here from 35 years ago will attest to the same thing. Consistency is everything for us."
Hours: Wednesday-Thursday 5-9:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday 4-10 p.m., Sunday 3-9 p.m. Closed Monday-Tuesday.
Ferndale is about 55-60 minutes from Ann Arbor on I-94 east. If you are driving to Detroit for dinner, it is a short detour north of the city into an easy-to-park neighborhood.
Konjo Me (474 Peterboro St, Detroit)
Konjo Me is the newest entry on this list. Chef Helina Melaku opened a permanent kitchen inside the Detroit Shipping Company food hall in March 2026, after years of pop-up events, cooking classes, and catering across the city.3Konjo Me's grand opening at Detroit Shipping Company on March 14, 2026 is reported by CBS Detroit, Detroit News, and the restaurant's own channels. Menu details are from Voyage Michigan. Melaku was born and raised in Ethiopia; everything in the Konjo Me kitchen is made from scratch with spices and many ingredients imported directly from Ethiopia.
The menu takes a fusion approach alongside traditional dishes. The traditional side includes tibs, shiro, and misir wot. The fusion side includes doro wings and sambusas with unexpected fillings, alongside a turmeric rice option for dishes that would otherwise be served with injera. Melaku has described the menu as a "celebration of Ethiopian culture" that aims to make the cuisine approachable for diners who are encountering it for the first time.
The Detroit Shipping Company is an outdoor food hall in Midtown, which means the experience varies with the season. The kitchen serves Tuesday-Thursday 4-9 p.m., Saturday-Sunday noon-10 p.m. Closed Monday and Friday.
It is also Ethiopian food sourced and cooked by someone from Ethiopia, which is its own kind of credential. For a first trip, start here rather than a full sit-down platter.
Taste of Ethiopia (28639 Northwestern Hwy, Southfield)
Taste of Ethiopia has been operating in Southfield since 2005, run by owners Meski and Kassa.4Taste of Ethiopia's 2005 founding and ownership are reported by the Oakland County Times. Menu details and pricing are from the restaurant's posted menu via AllMenus. The Oakland County Times described it as a restaurant that aims to offer "an authentic cultural dining experience that marries tradition with a healthy helping of soul."
The menu covers both meat and vegetarian combinations. Meat options include siga we't (beef in berbere with onions and spice), lamb tibs in two preparations, and kitfo (minced raw beef, $13.50 per the posted menu). The vegetarian combination at $15.75 is the full sampler. Appetizers include kategna (toasted injera with seasoning, $4.50) and vegetarian sambosa ($3.00). Ethiopian coffee, called buna, arrives in a traditional clay pot for $4.00.
Southfield is northwest of Detroit, roughly 30 minutes from Ann Arbor via I-96. It is the least convenient of the four restaurants on this list for an Ann Arbor reader, but it is also the one that has been quietly running the same kitchen for twenty years. Hours: Monday-Thursday 3-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday noon-10 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Practical notes for the drive from Ann Arbor
None of these restaurants are next door. The Ann Arbor Blue Nile is the obvious starting point if you want to try the cuisine without committing to a full drive. Walk down East Washington from Main Street and you will find it on your left.
For a Detroit trip that combines Ethiopian food with other stops: Konjo Me at Detroit Shipping Company puts you in Midtown, walkable to a dozen other restaurants and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Ferndale Blue Nile makes a natural pairing with a walk through Nine Mile's restaurant corridor before or after.
For first-timers ordering a combination platter, a table of two people will typically be well-fed on one platter. Order the vegetarian combination and add one or two meat preparations on the side. Eat slowly. Drink something cold. Let the injera do the work.
Blue Nile Ann Arbor is at 221 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor. Blue Nile Ferndale is at 545 W. Nine Mile, Ferndale. Konjo Me is inside Detroit Shipping Company, 474 Peterboro St., Detroit. Taste of Ethiopia is at 28639 Northwestern Hwy, Southfield. Hours listed are current as of publication and subject to change; confirm before visiting.