Welcome to the

Ethiopian Cottage Restaurant

Ethiopian Cottage Restaurant ( Ethiopian Yellow Pages) is named cottage because A cottage is a small traditional house in rural Ethiopia.  It is beautiful, cozy, and creates an atmosphere of love and friendliness.  Up to our modern age, where people started living in high-rise apartments, ancient Ethiopians who created the country’s rich history, unique traditions and culture and gave civilization to the world were Cottage dwellers.  One of the Ethiopian traditions that is unique and not widely known to the outside world is Ethiopian traditional food eaten with fingers.

Even though the meticulously slow process of cooking to perfection is somewhat time-consuming, and the blending of various exotic spices into the enticing sauces, “Wat” requires excellent cooking talent, we feel we are up to that task and ready to bring the secret cooking of the Ethiopian Cottage to the heart of Milwaukee, and to introduce Ethiopian traditional food.  We are certain that the Ethiopian Cottage Restaurant will be successful in introducing the unique food of Ethiopia.

Ethiopian traditional food consists of Injera – a crepe-like sourdough flat bread made of Teff, an Ethiopian staple grain and self-rising flour, and Wat – spiced stew which can be made from beef, chicken, lamb and various kinds of vegetables.  These range from hot and spicy Wat to very mild.  The mildly seasoned Wat is called alicha.  In preparing our traditional dishes, we use Berbere – a combination of red peppers, garlic, onions and other spices that are dried and ground into powder form.  We also use Niter Kibe (purified butter) cooked with garlic, ginger, cardamom and other spices.

Traditionally, diners prepare themselves for a meal by washing their hands.  Then they sit around a colorfully woven Moseb where the Injera is laid on the bottom of the Moseb.  Then each dish is spooned onto the Injera for all to share.  Injera is torn into pieces and then used to pick up morsels of food.  A piece of Injera is placed between the fingers, clasped  together and used to pick up the food and place it into the mouth.  For the perfect conclusion to our traditional meal we suggest a glass of Ethiopian honey wine – Tej, and a cup of Ethiopian coffee – Buna.