Camberwell, London · ላ ቤላ ሓበሳ

La Bella Habesa Café & Bites

Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking served the way it is at home — one warm injera, many hands, and coffee roasted in front of you until the whole room smells of it.

See the menu Reserve a table
Open
Daily, 10am – 11pm
Kitchen
Until 10:30pm
Buna ceremony
4pm & 7pm
A shared injera platter laid with stews and greens

Our story ታሪኽና

Cooked from family recipes, carried across a continent, set down on a table in Camberwell.

La Bella Habesa began the way most good things do — with too much food and not enough chairs. What started as Sunday cooking for friends grew into a café built around the habit we grew up with: everyone eating from one platter, no one reaching for their own plate.

Our berbere is blended and ground here rather than bought in, our injera is left to ferment for three days, and the niter kibbeh is clarified slowly with black cardamom, korarima and fenugreek. Nothing on the menu is rushed, because none of it was ever meant to be.

Love & Family since 2026

The kitchen at La Bella Habesa story.jpg portrait, 4:5
One platter

Dishes arrive together on injera, meant to be shared across the table with your hands.

Buna, twice daily

Green beans roasted, pounded and brewed at your table in a clay jebena. It takes as long as it takes.

Fasting food

The whole vegetarian side has been vegan for centuries — lentils, okra, greens and shiro, never an imitation.

Ground in-house

Berbere, mitmita and shiro are blended in our kitchen, in small batches, every week.

The coffee ceremony: a clay jebena over coals with small cups coffee-ceremony.png portrait, 4:5

The ceremony ቡና

Coffee, the long way round

Coffee was found here first, and we still make it the way it was made then — three pours, one conversation, no hurry. Ask, and we will set it up beside your table.

Roasting

Green beans go into a flat pan over a flame and are turned until they darken and crack. The pan is carried around the room so everyone catches the smoke.

Pounding

Still warm, the beans are crushed in a mukecha with a heavy pestle — coarse, uneven, and far more aromatic than any grinder manages.

Pouring

Brewed in the clay jebena over coals and poured from height into small cups, three rounds: abol, tona and baraka. Leaving before the third is considered rude — happily so.

On the table መኣዲ

What lands in front of you

Every platter is built on one injera, with each stew given its own place. You tear, you scoop, you share — and whatever soaks into the base is the best part of the meal.

Beb'aynetu — vegan stews, greens and salad on injera
Beb'aynetuThe vegan combo
Derek tibsi — grilled meat with peppers and rosemary, on injera
Derek TibsiGrilled, peppers, rosemary
Gored gored — cubes of tender beef
Gored GoredBeef cubes, butter, mitmita
Kitfo with ayib and greens on injera
KitfoMinced beef, butter, mitmita

Reserve ቆጸራ

Hold a table for your people

Tables of one to six can be booked here. For seven or more, for the buna ceremony, or for anything with candles on it, give us a ring — we like to plan those properly.

Large tables & events

Whole-room hire on Sunday evenings, and set feast menus from £28 a head.

020 7946 0812 hello@labellahabesa.co.uk

We confirm every booking by phone within the hour, between 10am and 10pm.

Find us ኣበይ ኢና

Come and eat with your hands

Address

12 Denmark Hill
London SE5 8RZ

Buses stop at Camberwell Green, a minute away; Denmark Hill station is a ten-minute walk.

Get directions ↗

Hours

Monday – Thursday10:00 – 23:00
Friday – Saturday10:00 – 00:00
Sunday10:00 – 22:00
Kitchen closes30 min before

Talk to us

020 7946 0812 hello@labellahabesa.co.uk Book a table

Collection and local delivery daily from noon.

Good to know

Step-free entrance · high chairs · dogs welcome at the front tables · most of the menu is vegan · card and cash.

Inside La Bella Habesa Café interior.jpglandscape, wide