Abyssinian Kitchen

Lore & Background

Abyssinian Kitchen opened in southeast Portland's Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood in 2015. The restaurant closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened at a new location on Northeast Alberta Street in the Concordia neighborhood in August 2022. Its menu includes lamb in garlic and ginger, tilapia with serrano peppers, and a vegetarian sampler with collards and lentils.

Reader's Guide

Abyssinian Kitchen has been noted in several local restaurant lists. In 2016, Michael Russell included it in The Oregonian's list of the city's ten best new restaurants. Russell later included it in his 2017 overview of the 40 best restaurants in southeast Portland, and ranked it number 38 in his 2019 list of Portland's 40 best restaurants. In 2025, Russell ranked the business number 23 in The Oregonian's list of Portland's 40 best restaurants. In 2017, Martin Cizmar included Abyssinian Kitchen in Willamette Week's list of Best Restaurants on Portland's Division and Clinton Streets. In 2019, Alex Zielinski of the Portland Mercury wrote, 'The tangy, fresh, and filling plates are enough to keep curious first-timers coming back for seconds.' Maya MacEvoy included the restaurant in Eater Portland's 2022 overview of 'exceptional' Ethiopian food in the city.

Did You Know?

• Abyssinian Kitchen opened in southeast Portland's Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood in 2015.
• The restaurant closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and reopened on Northeast Alberta Street in August 2022.
• Michael Russell ranked Abyssinian Kitchen number 38 in his 2019 list of Portland's 40 best restaurants.
• The menu includes lamb in garlic and ginger and tilapia with serrano peppers.

Culinary Identity & Menu

Abyssinian Kitchen brings the distinct flavors of Ethiopia and Eritrea to Portland diners through a menu that balances bold, aromatic spices with approachable presentation. The restaurant's savory offerings include lamb prepared in a rich garlic-and-ginger sauce, as well as tilapia finished with the bright heat of serrano peppers. For diners who prefer plant-based fare, the vegetarian sampler centers on collards and lentils—ingredients that form the backbone of everyday East African home cooking. Together, these dishes paint a picture of a kitchen that values depth of flavor, freshness, and heartiness in equal measure. The menu's range, spanning meat-centric plates to a dedicated vegetarian option, reflects a deliberate effort to welcome a broad cross-section of diners while remaining firmly grounded in the Ethiopian and Eritrean culinary traditions the restaurant represents. Each plate is designed to be tangy, fresh, and filling enough to satisfy even the most curious first-time visitor.

History & Resilience

Abyssinian Kitchen first opened its doors in 2015, taking root in southeast Portland's Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood. Over its initial years the restaurant built a steady local following and earned consistent attention from food writers. Then the global pandemic of 2020 forced the business to shut down, a disruption that upended countless small restaurants across the country. Rather than vanish, the operation regrouped and found a new home on Northeast Alberta Street in the Concordia neighborhood, reopening its doors in August 2022. That relocation—shifting from one east-side community to another—highlights both the fragility of independent dining establishments and the determination of the people behind them to keep a particular culinary tradition alive in Portland. The restaurant's survival through the pandemic and its subsequent rebirth in a fresh location speak volumes about the resilience of small, culturally specific food businesses navigating an uncertain market.

Critical Recognition & Press

The restaurant's reputation was built incrementally through sustained critical attention spanning nearly a decade. In 2016, Michael Russell of The Oregonian selected Abyssinian Kitchen for the city's ten best new restaurants list, an early validation that the Hosford-Abernethy spot had arrived with something distinctive. Russell returned to the restaurant in 2017, naming it among the 40 best in southeast Portland, and again in 2019, placing it at number 38 on his citywide top-40 list. Martin Cizmar of Willamette Week added the restaurant to his 2017 roundup of standout eateries along Division and Clinton Streets. In 2019, Alex Zielinski of the Portland Mercury praised the tangy, fresh, and filling plates that kept curious first-timers returning for seconds. Maya MacEvoy highlighted the restaurant in Eater Portland's 2022 feature on exceptional Ethiopian food in the city, and Russell included it once more in his 2025 top-40 list at number 23. This consistent presence across multiple publications and years underscores a restaurant that never faded from Portland's food consciousness.

Cultural Footprint in Portland

As one of Portland's dedicated Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants, Abyssinian Kitchen occupies a specific and valued niche in the city's diverse dining landscape. Its inclusion in Eater Portland's 2022 overview of exceptional Ethiopian food signals that the restaurant is recognized not merely as a generic ethnic eatery but as a representative of a particular culinary tradition with its own history and techniques. The restaurant's presence in both the Hosford-Abernethy and Concordia neighborhoods—two communities in east Portland with significant cultural diversity—suggests a natural fit between the food and the surrounding population. Its listing among African restaurants in broader reference works further situates it within a wider diaspora of East African cuisine in the Pacific Northwest. For diners unfamiliar with the region's flavors, the restaurant serves as an accessible entry point; for those with heritage ties, it offers familiar comfort. Either way, it anchors a specific cultural voice in Portland's restaurant scene.