New vegan-friendly Oxford café/restaurant: Lula’s Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine

Exciting news this week as Lula’s Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine opens the doors to their brand new permanent space at The Community Works, a Makespace Oxford initiative, at Frideswide Square on Park End Street. It is conveniently a short walk from the train station, and opposite Saïd Business School, making it a great spot for an affordable lunch break meal or quick bite to eat on the way home from work.

Lula’s Ethiopian Cuisine has been trading in Oxford for a couple of years now, mainly offering street food and catering for events. Lula’s weekly stand at Gloucester Green’s Oxford Outdoor Market is one of the most popular, and her regular pop-ups at Tap Social, Common Ground Workspace, and The Jolly Postboys pub, are always well-attended. During lockdown Lula launched a home delivery service, to make sure people wouldn’t miss out on their favourite Ethiopian and Eritrean comfort food, and now things have reopened that delivery service has wound down to make way for this: a permanent location in the city of Oxford, open six days a week for lunch and dinner. Lula’s Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine is now more accessible than ever, and I know I’ll be a regular.

The menu is packed full of vegan-friendly options, with lots of my favourite dishes that I can happily order again and again, and find myself loving them just as much as the first time I ever tried it. The red lentils are richly spiced with Berbere and have a decent heat running through, whereas the milder yellow split peas are equally delicious mopped up with Lula’s handmade injera (Ethiopian flatbread). I honestly couldn’t tell you whether I prefer the gomen, fosolia, or shiro and luckily there is an option to try all of them on one sharing plate so I’d recommend going with a foodie friend. The flavours in Lula’s dishes are something else – being packed with veggies and pulses, most of the dishes are really nutritious, but with the seasoning and spice blends they taste like such a treat.

The bonus with Lula having a permanent premises is that they can play around with the menu, so you can expect to see different veggie specials on the blackboard on a regular basis, including some completely new dishes on the horizon. As we head into the winter months, it’s also great that there is a spot with ample indoor seating to enjoy their food, while the prospect of visiting the outdoor market during winter is a bit less appealing.

If you’ve never tried Lula’s food, I highly recommend. Their vegan meals are all super affordable, but if budget is an issue, they do a student discount, or you can pop by their stand at Oxford Outdoor Market on a Wednesday and grab a flyer for 10% off.

Full disclosure: I support Lula with the marketing for her business. HOWEVER I have eaten and enjoyed Lula’s food before this was the case and am a huge fan so I didn’t want you to miss out on the news!