Adulis Restaurant

I experienced Eritrean cuisine for the first time when I went to Adulis for dinner with friends. A friend, who had been here before, recommended the platters. It’s a platter yes, but for a pride of lions!
We were 8 of us — 2 vegetarians and the rest meat eaters. We ordered a vegetarian platter for 2, a meat platter for 4 and a meat platter for 2. Adulis customizes platters if you have particular preferences (no beef, more chicken and so on). As I am not too fond of red meat, the husband graciously offered to allow our platter to have more chicken. Some platters come with vegetarian portions as well and all platters have rolls of Injera (fermented pancake-​like rolls). Surprisingly, I enjoyed the vegetarian dishes more; especially the lentils — awesomesauce and lip smacking!
Some of the meat dishes look scarily hot, but they are quite mild.
The ambience is rustic and cozy. Nice place for a casual date or for a reasonable meal of gigantic portions! One thing to keep in mind — they are a cash only restaurant. Make sure you are carrying enough money if you don’t want to jog down to the ATM after your meal (the nearest one charges 1.85 pounds for cash withdrawal).

First time trying Eritrean food, and was unsure what to expect. But I was left pleasantly surprised. Flavoursome food and good atmosphere.

One of my favourite place, the food is delicious and authentic. No need for a fork and a knife, you eat with your fingers, the atmosphere is nice and friendly and the coffee at the end makes the experience amazing.

One of the proper restaurants is Adulis who have served Eritrean cuisine since 1996.
It sounded like the perfect option for my friends and I, as two of them were vegetarian and Eritrean is veggie friendly.
I didn’t think we really needed to book for a Saturday night in Oval, but we did in case.
We arrived to Adulis and we were all very surprised to find the place packed.
We ordered some drinks and we shared a starter while we were waiting for the main to arrive. All of us noticed the nice little smell of roasted coffee in the restaurant, it was really pleasant.
We had humous to start, it was served with pitta bread. It was a really nice and smooth humous. At that time of the meal, we didn’t know we did a mistake by ordering a starter and eating bread.
My two vegetarian friends already tried Eritrean food in Africa, for my other friend and I, it was a new experience. We shared the mini kirchat for two people, and our veggie friends shared the Nai tsom for two people.
The food arrived on two massive platters and were served with Injera underneath and on the side too. Injera (also called Tatia) is leavened pancake made with sourdough of taff flour.
I liked the fact that you didn’t have a knife or fork in Adulis, you had to eat with your hand and your piece of pancake. There was such a lot of food on this platter, I only regret the waiter didn’t tell us what was each dish on the platter.
We had a mix of vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes. We had beef, lamb and chicken on the platter, every meat were cooked with the perfect balance of spice in a different way. Each dish was very good but our favourite was the lamb served in the middle. All the vegetarian option were also very good and tasty. The best one was the shimbra assa: chickpeas cooked in spices, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper and olive oil.
Overall the meal was a delight, vegetarian dishes were as good as meat dishes. I would probably take the vegetarian next time as it is more healthy. We were all very full and couldn’t finish the platter, next time we won’t order any starter as the injera with all different meat and vegetables was enough, especially if you had a brunch and a snack before on the same day.
We didn’t go for the coffee ceremony at the end as we were too tired, but it is definitely on our future plan for our next visit, the roasted coffee smell was very attractive and tempting.

sedate ambience, dipped lighting, but also a mild upbeat feel. Its vey much about the atmosphere. The food selection is great but I always have the vegetarian platter as it a large selection of foods that I can have without knowing anything about eritrean food. Staff are friendly.

2^nd time eating Eritrean/​Ethiopian food, so I went into this knowing what to expect. Disregard any negative reviews where people whine that there is no silverware– eating with your hands is all part of the experience!
We ordered 2 meat dishes and 1 lentil dish. The chicken was good (can’t recall the name, but it’s the national dish) and the beef (also can’t recall) was wonderfully spicy, a rarity in the UK. The real star was the lentil dish. Easily the best lentils we had ever eaten. They were so incredible and I would highly recommend ordering some! Also, the traditional honey wine was a nice accompaniment to the meal, I recommend the dry version.
Bottom Line: highly recommend.

Gorgeous food, well presented with efficient discrete polite staff. Adulis is a delight! I have heard horror stories about this type of cuisine, and I am very pleased to report that the novel method of presentation (communal dish on a platter of bread, with the food eaten with scoops and folds of soft bread the consistency of sponge. As a novel dining experience I thoroughly recommend Adulis.

Setting: Adulis is cosy yet spacious. It almost feels like you are in somebody’s home enjoying some delicious Eritrean cuisine. The place is very clean, neat with traditional Eritrean styling that makes this place feel very authentic.
Food: The food is awesome. My party had a meat platter and a vegetarian platter between five people and we couldn’t finish it. Eating with Injera (a sourdough-​like flatbread) was a new experience and really made this a very different culinary experience than most of my restaurant trips. The food is fresh, filling and very tasty.
Service: The staff here were excellent. They were very welcoming which just increased the home-​like atmosphere.
I would definitely recommend this to a friend. The food is great and very good value. It’s a very different and memorable restaurant experience and a great place to take someone you’d like to show new cuisine too. I had never even considered Eritrean food before Adulis and now I am a big fan.

I tried to go to Adulis a few months ago after hearing rave reviews, but it was closed for a private party. I stood around for a little while hoping I’d score an invite, but it wasn’t to be. When I went back for a second time and saw that it was open, I was giddy with excitement. Thankfully, Adulis lived up to my expectations and then some. It’s like putting magic in my mouth. On top of that, the person who waited on our table was very friendly and helpful.
We ordered the vegan platter for two. I have never been served so much food at a restaurant, whether Eritrean, Ethiopian, or other. We tried to get through the 17,262 piles of food on the 187,362 kilos of injeera, but thankfully I had leftovers for dinner (and breakfast the next day). WIN.
I’m hungry.

Went here the other night with some work colleagues, having booked a table for 12.
The staff were really friendly and helpful when ordering, as we didn’t really have any ideas what some of the dishes were or how big they were. The waiter was incredibly helpful especially since we had such a large group which can sometimes get very complicated.
We ended up ordering two big platters with a separate chicken and prawn dish on the side. Each of the dishes were very tasty. The sour dough bread that we used to eat the dishes with was something that I wasn’t a massive fan of, but that comes from me not liking sour dishes.
It was a really great experience aided by the helpful staff. I would definitely give it a try again perhaps a different set of dishes.

My first foray into the world of Eritrean food was a very pleasant one last night, thanks to Adulis! I’ve long been cycling by here and meaning to try it and it was worth the wait.
The staff are super friendly and the place is really cosy. It was fairly packed last night and it’s easy to see why. The food, ooohhh the food, was soOOooO good. Spicy but not overly so. We shared a veggie platter and ate it with yummy injera bread, no conventional cutlery as a warning to the less adventurous out there. There’s a coffee ceremony for afterwards where they roast beans for you and serve delicious coffee with popcorn!
Highly recommended!
c*

Adulis: It’s come recommended to me in the past, and I“d been there for a meetup, and I cycle past it at least 5 (and more like 6 or 7) days a week. I had high expectations — mostly met.
I used to live in East Africa, and I used to be a vegetarian (not at the same time, but). Due to this and other reasons, I love love love Eritrean and Ethiopian food (they are different, but in the same broad family).
The downsides are that Adulis is a bit on the spendy side: It really comes into its own if you bring a big group of people. It’d be nice if they could really manage to make coffee in smaller doses — I’ve seen it done, but it’s tough.
The food isn’t the best Eritrean I’ve had, but it’s good, with a solid breadth. A vegetarian platter for 2 is about £23, mixed around £25, and meat-​containing is £28. They’ve not got any of the really nice beers I’ve had from East Africa, but they do have a couple of Meis — honey wines. Definitely go for the dry one: the sweet is tooth aching.
A solid choice — I’d probably give it 3 ½, but I’m erring on the side of yes today.

Having lived around the corner for two years and always promised myself that I would go to Adulis, I finally went about six months ago. I have now been five times!
The sharing platters at this Eritrean restaurant are great– a large savoury pancake with many meat and vegetable dishes on top. Lamb, chicken, beef and fish, spinach, lentils and cottage cheese. All of them gorgeous. Also, the sweet honey wine is a great accompaniment.

Great atmosphere & top food. The best ethiopian food I have eaten in London. at £12 or so a head it is not cheap, but it is a definite treat.

I got introduced to Ethiopian /​Eritrean food when I visited Toronto and have been a fan ever since. I found very few Ethiopian restaurants in London and was told about this restaurant by my Eritrean hair dresser. It has friendly staff, good atmosphere, stays open late and the food is great. Slightly on the expensive side for what it is. Has a wide choice of meat and vegetarian dishes to choose from (my favourite dish is the dry lentils) which are all served with injera bread. Go and try it now!

Went here last night with a group of friends — such a cool and interesting dining experience. This is what I love about London, you can fully experience a different culture right on your doorstep. This little Eritean restaurant is tucked away on the busy Brixton Road. I loved that they have kept to their tradition and there’s not a knife or fork in sight — you use the injera (or taita), a pancake-​like bread to eat the food. It felt like an authentic experience. The pancake was quite sour but the lentils and spinach I mopped up with it took the sourness away and was really yummy. We got a meat and vegetarian combo — lots of perfect little dishes for veggies. After the meal we had the traditional ‘coffee ceremony’ where they wave the roasting beans in front of you, serve popcorn, and then you drink the coffee, with frankincense burning on the table. Loved it. Organic beer was great too. Reason I’m awarding only 3 stars is because the meal took over 3.5 hours and the service was VERY slow. I know we are impatient Londoners, but it got quite frustrating towards the end — we left at midnight!