ah, at last, we dine on ethiopian cuisine for nrw!  such an exciting week, especially since my younger brother clark just moved in with me and it was his first ever nrw!!!  welcome to the atl, bro!

we’ve been talking about it for months, and last week we finally arrived at desta ethiopian kitchen off of briarcliff and clairmont.  desta was kenneth’s personal recommendation, which is good enough for me.  i’m going to spoil things for you right now and say that desta might be in my top ten for new restaurants.  what a proclamation to make!  read on to find out just why we left here so happy.

now, i’ve had ehtiopian a handful of times in the past, so i was thrilled to finally have it again.  here at desta, they’ve got the unique option of personal-sized entrees.  my previous experiences have all been with large plates that you share family-style, which you can still do here at desta, but with the option to order for yourself, i feel like there’s less waste of food you may not want.

turner, kenneth, and i were the first to arrive, and we were seated upstairs in the shiro room.  how exclusive!  there were groups of all sorts around us, and they each seemed to really be enjoying their meals.

the three of us were ready to get things started ourselves, so drinks were in order.  we ruled out the typical beers and wines, figuring that if we were eating ethiopian, we might as well be drinking ethiopian, too.  kenneth and turner both had the carroll’s mead, a sweet honey white wine.  the waitress was not joking at all when she said it was extremely sweet.  i went with the sheba tej, in hopes that it would be a bit drier.  mmm…not by much at all.  my honey wine was terribly sweet as well, reminding me of apple juice with each sip.  it was certainly a dessert wine to be enjoyed after your dinner, not with it.

things of varying heights!

clark and nathan and alison arrived to join us, and the general consensus was that we were very hungry.  appetizer time!  a few orders of sambusa came to us quickly, some with minced beef and the rest with lentils.  we scarfed those crispy and piping hot treats down quickly.  they came with some sort of chili sauce that was flavorful and mild.

sambusa.

even though desta has a pretty large menu, it did not take us too long to make our choices, and it seemed to take even less time for the food to arrive.  hardly ten minutes before our table was covered in plates!

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we all ordered the specialty entrees, and everything that came out looked delicious.  i had the lamb with injera and potatoes.  oh my goodness, it was so wonderful.  the slightly sour injera was the perfect vessel for my dinner.  the ethiopian seasonings were exotic and not too spicy, something i, of course, appreciated.  my food was so great that i ate every last bite!

lamb & tibs.

let me give you this quick insider tip:  if you order an entrée, you get several choices for your sides.  order something besides injera so you can try one of the others because they will bring you platefuls of injera, plenty for your party to share.

all the injera.

all of us were pleased with the attentive service and authentic food at desta.  we were in and out quite quickly that wednesday night, but things seemed to be picking up right as we walked out the door.  i would glady come back to desta and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who cares to be a bit adventurous.

kenneth lookin’ sharp.

turner & me.

food!