Flavors From Afar is a globally-inspired restaurant in Little Ethiopia that’s one of the most unique places to eat in Los Angeles. Started as a catering company in 2018 before transitioning to its current brick-and-mortar space in 2020, the menu at this warm, quaint cafe changes monthly, with new chefs—all of whom are refugees and asylum seekers—rotating in and out of the kitchen. Past menus have highlighted cuisines from Kenya, Venezuela, Syria, Haiti, Eritrea, and Palestine, with 40% of all profits going toward the Tiyya Foundation, a non-profit organization creating economic opportunity for refugees and other members of displaced communities. 

Though social activism is at the core of what Flavors From Afar does, the icing on the cake is that the food here happens to be incredible, too. On any given month, you might eat succulent Venezulean goat stew and deep-fried plantains, savory West African beignets, or Palestinian maqluba, a layered dish filled with lamb, rice, potato, and eggplant. If you’re the kind of person who easily gets attached to certain dishes, the menu does have six or so “classic” dishes that are permanent fixtures, including Somalian fried rice, Egyptian lamb shank, and a crispy, pan-fried Kenyan tilapia with coconut that we think about hourly.