Meskerem - A First Taste

On Sunday evening, I met some friends for dinner at Meskerem for some Ethiopian food. Meskerem just happens to be right around the corner from my fav Ethiopian restaurant, Desta.

Meskerem is a traditional Ethiopian restaurant in style, as there are a few mesobs throughout the restaurant. You are also able to order your meal family-style, where all the orders are placed on one platter of enjera and each diner is able to try all the dishes. We decided to go with individual plates.

I chose to order my usual - the veggie combo.

Various wots and gomen

I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there - the veggie dish at Meskerem, while good, doesn't quite compare to Desta's veggie bliss. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it exactly. I want to say that Desta's wots are a little creamier and not as thick as Meskerem. But, I can't decide if that is the whole story.

C-Dub branched out and got their Shrimp Wot.

Shrimp wot in the foreground, shrimp tibs in the background

C-Dub was a little disappointed with the size of the shrimp - he thought they were krill but I'm pretty sure krill are a lot smaller. I really enjoyed his dish. It was something different than what I've seen in other Ethiopian restaurants and I liked that the "shrimp" were on the smaller side. (I sometimes get a little skeeved when I eat shrimp. So, the smaller, the better!)

His dish came with two spicy condiments - one made out of jalapenos and the other was a red pepper sauce. The jalapeno sauce was the one that he - and pretty much everyone else at our table - loved and wished there was more of.

A bountiful basket of enjera

So, Meskerem was good. But my first visit there can't beat the reigning Ethiopian champ, Desta. It probably doesn't help that Meskerem is right around the corner from Desta. I mean, you can almost smell the fish tibs in the air.

Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant
2781 Clairmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
404.417.0991
www.meskerematlanta.com