New Eritrean restaurants in Toronto: 2 have been licensed in the past year, tracked daily from the City of Toronto business-licence registry (chains excluded). The most recent is MERKATO ERI-ETHIO CAFE & RESTAURANT, first seen 2 months ago.
Often paired with Ethiopian on the same menu, but the cuisines diverge: more raw beef (kitfo), more zigni-style stews, and an Italian inheritance that surfaces as pasta dishes. The community overlaps with the Ethiopian one along Bloor West.
Both cuisines share injera (the spongy sourdough flatbread) and a love of slow-cooked stews, but Eritrean cooking has a distinct Italian colonial influence — you'll find pasta dishes and spiced tomato sauces on menus you won't see at a purely Ethiopian spot. Eritrean stews lean on zigni (a beef stew in berbere-spiced tomato sauce) and the raw-beef dish kitfo is more prominent than in northern Ethiopian cooking. Both Merkato Eri-Ethio Cafe & Restaurant on Parliament St and Fresh Habesha and BBQ Restaurant & Bar on Bloor St W serve both cuisines under one roof, which is common — the two communities overlap and the menus reflect that.
Start with zigni — a slow-braised beef stew in a deep berbere tomato sauce, often considered the Eritrean national dish. Tsebhi dorho (chicken stew with hard-boiled egg) is the celebratory choice. Everything arrives on injera, which you tear and use to scoop; the communal platter format at Fresh Habesha and BBQ on Bloor St W suits a group meal well. If the menu lists a pasta dish, order it — that Italian influence produces something genuinely unlike anything else in the city.
Toronto currently has two newly licensed Eritrean spots in the directory. Merkato Eri-Ethio Cafe & Restaurant at 436 Parliament St is a small neighbourhood counter in Downtown, open for about seven weeks. Fresh Habesha and BBQ Restaurant & Bar at 810 Bloor St W in West Toronto is the more established option — nearly nine months old — with a full bar and grill operation. The Bloor West corridor has historically been the anchor for the Habesha (Eritrean and Ethiopian) community in the city.
Most Eritrean restaurants serve halal meat as a default, reflecting the significant Muslim population in Eritrea — it's worth confirming with the specific spot, but you're unlikely to encounter pork on an Eritrean menu. There are also strong fasting traditions in Eritrean Orthodox Christianity that produce excellent vegan options: fasting plates (selectively labelled tsom) feature lentil stews, split peas, and gomen (collard greens) with no animal products. At Merkato Eri-Ethio Cafe or Fresh Habesha, asking for a fasting platter is a reliable way to get a vegetable-forward spread even if you're not fasting.
Injera is the large, spongy flatbread that doubles as both plate and utensil at Eritrean (and Ethiopian) meals — stews are spooned directly onto it and you eat by tearing pieces to scoop up the food. Traditional injera is made from teff, an ancient grain that is naturally gluten-free, but many Toronto restaurants stretch their teff flour with wheat to reduce cost, so it is not safe to assume gluten-free without asking. If you have celiac disease, confirm the teff ratio directly with the restaurant before ordering.
"First seen" reflects when each restaurant first surfaced in our combined evidence — City permit, public-health inspection, social media — usually within a few weeks of opening, but a permit can lead actual opening by months. How we verify ›
Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine arrives on Parliament St in Downtown Toronto, where Merkato Eri-Ethio Cafe operates as a small neighbourhood counter serving both diaspora… · No website yet.
Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine on Bloor St W in West Toronto, anchored by a full bar and grill operation.
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