Top 5 late night food spots in Addis

For those of you who have moved to Addis after living/partying in other large metropolitan cities, you’ve probably noticed that there’s usually something missing at the end of a late night out. What is it you ask? Well, it could be your favorite 24-hour diner where you love to order pancakes at 4am. It could be your favorite kebab cart/cart owner who knows your name and your exact order when you see him outside of your favorite club. Or, it could be that random pizza place you discovered years ago, that you’ve never stepped foot in during the day but has never failed to disappoint in the wee hours of the morning. If you’re a very “social” person, who loves to go out all the time, you know that more often than not you want a little bite to eat before heading home at the end of the night. So, to help nourish that late night hunger, we’ve brought you a list of the top 5 late night food spots in Addis.

1. Gas Light
For those who don’t know, Gas Light is the nightclub located on the grounds of the world famous Sheraton Addis. Aside from being a great place to dance or be seen on a Saturday night, they also serve some of the best tibs you can get in town past 10pm. And guess what….they serve you as much as you want for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! That’s right, once you pay the 60 ETB cover, you can slide over to the patio on the right side of the entrance and eat your fill of beef tibs. They also make a great awaze (hot sauce) that you must make sure to get in large quantities.

2. Illusion
Given that Illusion is the best place in Addis to go between 2:30am and 5am, odds are you’re probably going to leave extremely hungry. Well fear not my friends. As soon as you walk outside of the club and make a quick right, you’ll be greeted by an extremely friendly staff frying up amazing chickena (beef filet) tibs and burgers. What sets these tibs apart is the quality of the meat and the awaze (hot sauce). It’s served up hot, tender and delicious and in my opinion tastes slightly better than the tibs at gas light. You will have to pay a nominal amount for them, but it’s totally worth it.

3. Grand Bakery
What’s that you say? You don’t want to at a ton of Ethiopian food at 5 in the morning? Well don’t stress. Grand Bakery has you covered. They serve a selection of 10-15 different types of pizza, all with fresh ingredients, a soft yet moderately crispy crust (hopefully that’s your thing cuz they don’t make crispy or thin crust in Ethiopia), and topped with an abundance of mozzarella cheese. While not number 1 pizza place in town (Effoi takes that spot), I wholeheartedly endorse their food and respect the fact that my pizza is always served hot, quick and tasting exactly the same as the last time I was there no matter what time it is.

4. Memo’s
For those of you who have lived in Addis for awhile, you know that the only good reason to go to Memo’s is for the shiro. I’ll just leave it at that. Prior to moving to their new location, Memo’s shiro was a staple meal for the every night out party monsters in Addis. If you were sick of tibs you would make a line to the Memo’s outdoor dining area to feast on Shiro (with or without butter) and possibly sip some traditional Ethiopian coffee to make the next morning a little less painful. Now, to be honest, no one really knows exactly how good the shiro at Memo’s actually is, but if you’re a late night/early morning customer, you’ll have no problem taking down an entire portion by yourself (although it’s much more fun to share so I would definitely bring a friend and order 2). Just one cautionary piece of advice – if you decide you want to go inside the club…make sure you’ve asked around town about the place. You definitely don’t want any surprise

5. The Living Room
While the Living Room and Jolly serve great food all night, but not quite into the wee hours like the 4 places above, I did need to highlight one of their Saturday night offerings. If you go to the Living Room on a Saturday night between 9pm and midnight, you will likely be greeted with a tray of Italian fusion hors d’oeuvres made by Chef Santino; the owner and head chef of Il Posto, a great new Italian restaurant located in the Old Airport/Laphto Mall area of Addis. For a limited time, the Living Room has hired Chef Santino to prepare some of his best appetizers for the Living Room’s guests to enjoy free of charge (Thanks Bobby! Love the customer appreciation). And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally skipped dinner before going to the Living Room and have been very pleasantly surprised to find that I ended up having a better dinner than the one I forgot to eat. So don’t miss out on this nice treat before it goes away.