Bring the camera

The platter, the hands and the room

The food comes out on a round of injera under a woven cover, and the cover comes off at the table. Everyone films that, and we are happy to slow down for it. Then it is hands, tearing the injera and scooping up the tsebhi.

The room has a thatched ceiling, lanterns, and orange walls hung with woven baskets and Habesha paintings. The Ethiopian lagers have the Ge'ez alphabet on the label, and people ask about that more than anything. About fifty seats inside, and seven small tables outside, heated and covered against the rain, with the tram going past. People from home say it feels like being back there.

If you want the kitchen, or one of us explaining the food on camera, ask when you get in touch and we will sort out a night that suits.

The story, as we tell it

• The food. One round of injera with everything on it, eaten by hand from the middle of the table. Half the menu is vegan because the Orthodox year has about 180 fasting days, and all the meat is halal. The berbere, the red spice, is sent to us by family at home, and it is the taste people come back for.
• The family. From the Red Sea port of Massawa, some of us in Melbourne by way of Sweden. A family restaurant since 2006.
• The name. Abyssinia is the old name for the highlands this cooking comes from. Our menu uses the Tigrinya names, and the glossary has the Amharic ones.
• The street. Racecourse Road is one of the places Melbourne's Horn of Africa families made their own, with Somali kitchens and grocers a short walk away and Footscray's coffee ceremony a few minutes on.
• The welcome. We know a lot of the room by name, and we answer what first-timers ask about halal, hands and spice at the table. Come in, and don't disappear.

How filming here works

Tell us you are coming

Email us and we will give you a table with room to work, on a night that is not flat out. Photographing your own dinner needs no email.

Best time

We open at 5:30pm, and the first hour is the quietest. Friday and Saturday nights are full and loud, good for atmosphere and bad for audio.

Hosted meals

If you would like us to host you, say so when you email, with where your work goes, and we will tell you straight.

Photos

Everything in our gallery is ours. Ask and we will send full-size versions for anything about the restaurant.

Space

Tables for two, up to a long table for twenty. Mention tripods and lights and we will seat you where they fit.

Getting here

277 Racecourse Road, Kensington. The route 57 tram stops near the door, and parking in the nearby streets is free.

Press and creators

The Age Good Food Guide recommended us in its 2025 edition. Time Out wrote us up in 2024, and The Culturlist has us among the best African restaurants in Melbourne. Qantas magazine put us in its Hungry 100 in 2017, and chef Nick Bennett put us in his guide to Kensington for the Herald Sun in 2016. The Age's Good Food Under $30 recommended us eight years in a row, to 2014, and Matt Preston and Dani Valent reviewed us for The Age in 2007 and 2008. Broadsheet and Lifestyle Food list us too. Eddie & BigMem, a Melbourne YouTube channel, filmed their first visit in February 2026.

Quick facts for captions

Name

The Abyssinian, Ethiopian restaurant

Address

277 Racecourse Road, Kensington VIC 3031, Melbourne

Hours

Monday to Saturday, 5:30pm to 10pm. Closed Sundays.

Prices

Platters from $26 a head.

Diet

All our meat is halal. About half the menu is vegan. Not a single nut in the building, no dairy in anything except the desserts, and the veg dishes never touch the meat. Gluten-free injera with a day's notice, or rice instead.

Bookings

theabyssinian.com.au/contact-or-book/

Tag

@the.abyssinian on Instagram, or our Facebook page, so we can share it.