Alamerew and her husband, Berhanu Demisse, opened Sara Ethiopian Restaurant at the beginning of May, the city’s first restaurant serving Ethiopian food.
The husband and wife pair got the idea to open a restaurant after they came to the country late last year to visit a friend. Seeing the high volume of tourists and a dynamic and international food scene, they decided to leave Addis Ababa, where power cuts and other struggles had forced them to close their existing restaurant.

Alamerew is quick to explain that her mother, Semira Sred, holds the culinary genius behind the operation. After more than 35 years in business, Sred still runs her restaurant in Sana’a but she joined her daughter and son-in-law in Phnom Penh to help them set up before returning to Yemen later this month...