Boston is home to an incredible variety of African restaurants, many of them nestled right in Roxbury and Dorchester. Whether you’re craving Ethiopian, Somalian, Eritrean or some combination of them, these are some of the best African restaurants in Boston for sweet, spicy and smoky flavors.

Suya Joint

185 Dudley Street

Suya Joint is a beloved West African staple in Roxbury serving up hearty stews, soups and jollof rice plates. Restaurant manager Paul Dama was recently released after several months in an immigration detention facility. suyajoint.com

Ashur Restaurant

291 Roxbury Street

This Roxbury spot blends Middle Eastern and Somali cuisine with a halal menu featuring dishes like lamb shank, goat and rice plates, chicken kabobs, and baklava. Some plates are designed to be shared by two or three people for an authentic, communal dining experience. ashur-restaurant.res-menu.com

Nubian Markets

2565 Washington Street

Nubian Markets in Nubian Square is part grocery store, part halal butchery and part casual restaurant. At the cafe diners can order fonio sweet potato, ginger beef injera, a Haitian hot chicken sandwich and more, pulling on flavors from Afro-diasporic cuisine. nubianmarkets.com

Lucy Ethiopian Cafe

334 Massachusetts Avenue

Indulge in Ethiopian dishes like yebeg tibs fir fir, lamb cubes sauteed in a flavorful sauce; yesom fit fi, a hearty vegetarian stew and miser besiga, beef cubes sauteed in a red lentil sauce. Diners particularly love the peanut tea, described as creamy and sweet like a peanut steamer. lucyboston.com

Asmara

739 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Asmara’s focus is Eritrean cuisine. There are some similarities to Ethiopian menus (they both highlight injera, a spongy, flatbread) but hungry folks will also encounter tsehbhi derho, chicken marinated in a garlic, tomato and red pepper sauce and kitfo, a raw beef dish with spiced herb butter. Pair it all with the restaurant’s homemade traditional honey wine. asmararestaurantboston.com

Comfort Kitchen

611 Columbia Road

Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester takes core Afro-diasporic flavors and ingredients like okra, plantains, jackfruit and cassava and fuses them with global influences and fine dining techniques. The result is an innovative dining experience that’s won national acclaim since its opening in 2023. comfortkitchenbos.com

Blue Nile Restaurant

389 Centre Street

Blue Nile is a well-loved Ethiopian restaurant situated in Jamaica Plain. Their menu highlights a wide variety of flavorful stews, including shiro wat, a traditional chickpea stew with a berbere sauce. Marinated meat and veggie dishes also abound, consider the yebeg tibs with ginger and garlic spiced lamb and chili peppers. bluenileboston.com