Enatye Ethiopian, Clean, Delineated, Homestyle Ethiopian Dishes on Sunset Park Drive in Herndon

[Al Dente]

I think I found a gem! It's been a while since I last had Ethiopian cuisine. I always enjoyed it, but this joint was a cut above anything I had before.

My dining partner and I must have said some variation of "wow, this is good!" twenty times last night as we dove into a platter of veggie sambusa,  stuffed jalapenos (sinig), kitfo, lentils (misir wot), yellow peas (kik wot), collard greens (gomen), cabbage (tikil gomen), chickpea stew (shiro), potato stew (dinich wot), and of course plenty of injera. We found it impossible to figure out which was the weakest dish.

Each ingredient in the sambusa was distinct, rather than a pasty mess as I've had elsewhere. All of the vegetable and legume preparations tasted so bright and fresh. Often with these stewed dishes, the taste and texture brings to mind a vat stewing away until it's mush. That wasn't the case here.

I asked the waiter to bring out the kitfo just as he'd like it. He claimed he liked it medium rare which surprised me since I thought it was generally raw. Perhaps he had seen too many Americans send it back. Anyway, I had it medium rare and the flavors were astounding.

Total damage with tax and tip was about $50 and we walked out stuffed. The service was friendly and helpful.

If you look at the menu, you'll see that they serve breakfast. That'll be my next trip.

Enatye Ethiopian Restaurant

[JBag57]

Well, since I am over near this place several times a week, on average, I am definitely going to hit it up soon.  It is in a somewhat non-descript office park, and is right around the corner (same building, it appears) from one of my favorite local breweries, Aslin.  I had seen that there were a number of restaurants in this office park, but it never even crossed my mind to try any of them!

Thanks for posting the review!

[Al Dente]

12 minutes ago, JBag57 said:

It is in a somewhat non-descript office park, and is right around the corner (same building, it appears) from one of my favorite local breweries, Aslin.  I had seen that there were a number of restaurants in this office park, but it never even crossed my mind to try any of them!

3

It is an odd place for a restaurant. You can't even see it from Eldon St. It's right near the Dunkin' Donuts.

[jpbloom]

We were near Herndon yesterday and looking for something interesting for lunch.  We had read about Enatye so decided to give it a try.  This is a hidden gem and I'm surprised it doesn't get more discussion.  No, it's not the best Ethiopian we've ever had but it was solid across the board.  We got the combination for two so we had a Yebeg Alicha and a spicy beef Tibs with five vegetable sides and I would not hesitate to order any of them again.  Nice to have a reasonable option to driving downtown.  We'll be back.

[dracisk]

12 hours ago, jpbloom said:

Nice to have a reasonable option to driving downtown.

You don’t have to drive downtown for Ethiopian! Come to Silver Spring. 🙂

(I do get your point.)