OmahaNebraska.com here with…
My name is Sibhat Gebre Michael. Currently, I’m the owner of Lalibela Restaurant.
So, you were talking to me a little bit about the history of the restaurant…
Yeah, the restaurant has been open the last 15 years, since 2010. Since then, it has been a family business. Nothing changed, everybody’s the same. The only difference is the owner’s name. Everybody’s still doing the same thing.
The menu has changed a little bit. Can you tell us about the menu?
Do you think it’s changed? I don’t think it’s changed. We got a new print and a new picture we took, but we kept the same menu ever since the restaurant opened.
So everything is the same?
Everything is the same.
We might take out some items, but for now, everything is the same. In the future, we’re trying to expand more. We’re trying to add more desserts. That’s in the future, and we’ll see.
You have some very classic Ethiopian foods, and I’ve tried many of the dishes, and I just love them. My favorite, as everybody here knows, is Gored Gored.
Yes, we do, we do.
Please tell me a little bit about your food.
The only thing I would say is Ethiopian food is different than any other food. It’s like, even the spice we make, the Berbere or the Doro Wot, it’s different. It tastes different. We cook it for longer, and we have more spices in it. And yeah, my favorite one is combination. For the first-time people, I recommend a combination, which is every Ethiopian food, and you get it in a smaller portion, so on one plate pretty much you can try literally Ethiopia.
What kind of spices do you use?
The spice we use is called Berbere. Berbere has over 17 kinds of spices in it to make that different, distinguished taste.
I love that.
Yeah.
And tell us a little bit about the bread.
We call it injera bread. It’s made out of Teff flour, and it’s gluten-free, so it’s pretty much a healthy food to have.
I really enjoy that…the bread and all the spices and all of that. It’s probably good I don’t live nearby, because if I did live nearby I’d be here all the time because the food is so good here.
Yes, it is.
And the people are so good here. Both mean a lot to me.
All right, thank you.
Please tell us a little bit about your journey here as owner. What did you do before? How did you become the owner?
It’s a family business. My uncle is the one who started Lalibela. The opportunity came, and I just jumped in. And now I’m the owner, and we’re running it as a family. Even though I’m the owner, it’s just a family business.
The family touch is really evident in everything.
Yes.
Like you see right here, this is pretty much a display of how Ethiopians drink coffee. This is for a ceremony, a holiday ceremony. People gather…family, friends, they come together like me and you right now.
And somebody sits down right there, you see, like the lady, pretty much somebody sits right there and makes coffee from scratch. They brew, they grind it, and what you see is they understand coffee. The smell puts you in a good mood, good spirit. That’s how people start their morning. They drink coffee with the family, and they go about their day, and they come home at night.
Any foods or dishes that you would like to talk about a little bit more? Or anything you want people to come here to try?
I would say the vegetarian is really good food. I recommend the vegetarian and the combination because it’s really different. I don’t know how to explain it, but like so many flavors in one big plate, so the experience is something you never had before.
I haven’t had the vegetarian one since you became owner, but there’s this cabbage…
Yeah.
I love that.
It’s the same thing …
Family recipe?
Yes, family recipe is passed down, so yeah.
I think those are always the best.
Yes, they are.
You have tea and do you have coffee now?
Yes, we have Ethiopian spice tea, and we have Ethiopian coffee, too. So the coffee is a little bit strong, but it’s really good. The originator of coffee… really, coffee comes from the region of Kaffa. That’s the original coffee. That really came from the Ethiopian word Kaffa. So we’re known as coffee drinkers. Yes.
Thank you very much.
All right, thank you, thank you.
Visit for yourself and enjoy the great food and hospitality of this Omaha restaurant.
Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
4422 Cass St, Omaha, NE 68131
