Wass Ethiopian Restaurant

At Wass, the coffee is something you order before dinner, not after. The traditional ceremony runs about twenty-five minutes — organic beans roasted through their full cycle at the table — so the kitchen asks guests to call for it at the start, and that one instruction sets the pace for everything that follows. This is downtown Hamilton Ethiopian cooking built around a shared table on James Street South, where stews and vegetable dishes arrive over a communal round of injera to be torn and scooped by hand. The meal is made to be lingered over, and it opens with a choice most places save for the very end.

The menu is at its most generous in the Vegetarian Combo. It gathers Misir Wat, Yekik Alicha, Yemisir Alicha, Goman, Tikel Goman, and Keysir & Dinich onto a single platter — red lentils, yellow split peas, collard greens, cabbage, beets, and potato, each in its own turmeric or berbere register — so the plant-based plate carries the centre of the meal rather than a corner of it. From there the menu branches into the slow-cooked wats. Doro Wat simmers chicken with seasoned butter, onions, and a boiled egg in berbere; Lamb Wat takes the deeper red-stew route with garlic and ginger, finished with cottage cheese and collard green. Tibs pulls the other way — lamb sautéed with onion, tomato, and peppers in a rosemary sauce, ordered mild or spicy — while Wass Kitfo lands at the bold end, minced beef served raw or lightly cooked in a seasoned, buttery sauce.