If you like bold flavors—whether it’s the spicy punch of Sichuan food, the complex masalas of India, or the deep umami of Thai curries—then you’ll be a fan of African cuisine. Because compared to African spices, those flavors may seem humble.
After spotlighting popular Frankfurt eateries like African Queen and Erta Ale, this time we’d like to introduce you to Mommona.
The name itself carries a sense of warmth—some say it evokes a sheltering tree, others a maternal embrace.
Step inside and you’ll find the paintings of sunset over the savanna, leather sofas, walls decorated with hand-carved ebony masks, all pulsing with the warm vibe.
Restaurant Profile
🏷️ Name of the Restaurant: Mommona African Restaurant (incl. menu)
📍 Adress: Große Rittergasse 58, 60594 Frankfurt am Main
🍜 Style: African (Ethiopian, Eritrean) Cuisine – rice dishes, dumplings, soup, stews, injera bread, vegan & vegetarian dishes etc.
💰 Price: around 20 – 30 EUR per Person (incl. Drinks and Tips)
African specialties aren’t just about stews and spices, their Dju Dju beers are like liquid name cards from the tropics – fruity, refreshing, subtly wild, and dangerously drinkable.
Dju Dju Mango Beer
It’s a combination of juiciest, ripe mango, caramelized, then shaken awake with a splash of earthy fermentation. You’ll taste lush, honeyed sweetness up front, followed by a hint of bitter hops and that distinct funky tang of natural fermentation.
Dju Dju Pineapple Beer
Less sweet and more crisp, this brew is bright, tart, and breezy—like freshly pressed pineapple juice with a squeeze of lime, mellowed by gentle carbonation and a touch of grain. The sourness is mild, not puckering, and the lightness makes it airy and cooling.
Dju Dju Banana Beer
This one is like a liquid comfort, with a deep, caramelized sweetness of ripe bananas, smooth and slightly earthy. It has a mellow richness, a round, almost creamy body that soothes the palate. Sweet, but not cloying, it carries a subtle vanilla taste, grounded by a faint, funky fermentation note, with a subtle sourness humming in the background.
Passion Fruit Beer
This drink takes lush, tangy punch of ripe passion fruit and spins it into something fizzy and refreshing.
The first sip hits with clean, electrifying tartness of fresh passion fruit. As the acidity tingles your tongue, a subtle sweetness peeks through, balancing the sharp sharpness. Unlike other more sugary fruit beers, this one keeps it crisp and lively, with a clean, dry finish.
These are our top picks, but Mommona has more to offer—like palm beer, and other African brews.
Pumpkin-Mango-Chili Soup
This bowl is like the coziest embrace with a fire brewing within. It combines velvety squash sweetness, mango bright lift, ginger’s warmth, and chili’s subtle sting.
Silky pumpkin purée swirls with mango’s fruity sparkle, while fresh ginger prickles your tongue. Just as you sink into comfort, red chili gives a slow, tingling buzz. The heat level is enough to invigorate, not overwhelm. A cool swirl of white yogurt cuts through like a cloud with its creamy sourness.
The smoky, sun-dried chili threads add a spicy umami crunch.
Tear off a piece of airy, crisp-edged flatbread, drag it through the soup, letting it soak up the golden purée and yogurt swirls. A bite of the bread – simple, yet so satisfying.
North African Hummus (Vegan)
This dish is a cold, silken pureed chickpeas, mixed with nutty sesame paste, lush olive oil, and warm North African spices.
The puree is unbelievably smooth, blending whipped tahini and chickpeas into something softer thanmousse – exquisitely delicate and melting.
The hummus at Mommoma is gentler, less punchy, with a creamy, milky mildness, a subtle nutty sesame sweetness and a hint of garlic. A generous pool of golden, fruity olive oil on top seeps in, adding richness and a faint peppery finish. A dusting of rusty-red spices (likely ras el hanout) lends warmth without heat, while Briny green olives pop with a salty contrast.
The cold temperature makes it refreshing, perfect for loading onto warm bread to indulge the palate.
Gored Gored – fat-free beef cubes, lightly braised and refined with various traditional spices
Moving on to the main course, this dish features completely lean cubes of meat, lightly braised, firm yet tender.
Rolled in berbere (Ethiopia’s legendary spice blend), the meat gets a smoky, earthy, slightly floral taste, where chili heat mingles with fenugreek’s bittersweet warmth, garlic’s depth, and the citrusy lift of korarima (Ethiopian cardamom).
Tangy, vinegar-dressed side salad cuts through the meat’s deep flavors with a refreshing acidity.
The dish is served with Injera, the iconic spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from teff flour. It’s airy and absorbent, perfect for scooping and swiping.
To enhance the flavors, you can ask for extra condiments:
- The Brown Spice—a thick, smoky-spiced paste with a deep, complex, and a slow-building warmth.
- The Red Spice (Mitmita)— Ethiopia’s fiery red chili powder (with cardamom and cloves). Just a pinch delivers instant lip-tingling thrill.
If you’re dining with others, you can share everything on a large communal plate, and mix and match flavors by wrapping different bites in Injera. An authentic Ethiopian feast is an interactive dining at its best.
No forks, just hands – tear off a piece of Injera, scoop up a beef cube, add some salad, and fold it all into a flavor-packed bite. Heat, tang, smoke, and umami—all in one mouthful.
Zigni Derho – chicken leg and boiled egg in a spicy tomato sauce, seasoned in a traditional way
This fiery stew features chicken leg and boiled egg, simmered in a deeply spiced, smoky tomato sauce.
Deep in color and flavor, the thick tomato sauce is slow-cooked and darkened by berbere spices and caramelized onions. It’s smoky, tangy, and layered – berbere brings chili heat, while korerima (Ethiopian cardamom) and fenugreek add earthy sweetness, with hints of cumin and cloves lurking in the background.
The chicken leg, bone-in and skinless, is gently simmered until fork-tender, soaking up the sauce’s rich complexity.
A hard-boiled egg, mashed into the sauce, further thickens the darkly addictive stew. And of course, always with injera — the sourdough flatbread that sops up the sauce like a flavor sponge.
Keyh Kiwa -lamb or veal, tenderly roasted in traditionally clarified butter, with onions and chilies
This East African dish takes succulent lamb or veal, slow-roast it in golden-brown, spiced niter kibbeh – a traditional clarified butter, enriched with garlic, ginger, fenugreek, and turmeric. It has a fragrant richness that’s deep, warming, and almost dreamlike in flavor.
Onions and chilies, caramelized until jammy, add a sweet-spicy backbone.
We tried both versions:
- The lamb is bold and chewy, carrying that signature deep, gamey lamb flavor —the kind of lamb that announces itself with every bite. The meat is firm and hearty, with a satisfying pull that keeps you engaged.
- The veal has a subtler but profound flavor. It’s soft, silky and tender, with veal’s natural sweetness and velvety mouthfeel.
Both versions are super tasty, with a touch of spice and a nutty, spiced, buttery richness that coats your mouth.
This dish is paired with crisp, vinegary salad, and traditional injera flatbread to scoop up every last bite.
Quanta – bold, sun-dried beef with chopped injera and a boiled egg
Imagine beef jerky, but darker, smokier, and packed with umami, spice, and fire —that’s quanta.
It features thin strips of beef, salt-cured, sun-dried, and smoked, until they turn into deeply concentrated, jerky-like bites. The meat becomes dark purple-black from the drying process and spice rubs, offering a chewy, intense and addictive mouthfeel.
The thick and glossy sauce, nearly black or dark purple, likely comes from slow-cooked tomatoes, onions, and a heavy dose of berbere. It’s rich, smoky, slightly sweet and earthy, clinging every strip of meat with layers of warmth, tang, and umami.
Simply grab a quanta piece with injera and chew slowly—let the spices and smoke unfold.
Mommona Probierplatte – A constellation of various dishes, vegan or with meat, for one or two persons
At Mommona, the variety is wild. If the menu overwhelms you with too many options, let the Probierplatte (tasting platter) be your answer — it curates some of the restaurant’s finest offerings into one epic feast.
Our platter arrives like a colorful mosaic of deliciousness laid out over soft injera bread.
It includes –
- Earthy, slightly creamy red lentils in a berbere-spiked sauce—smoky, slightly sweet, and creeping with heat.
- Homemade spinach sauce – bright and tangy, with a mild spice kick, it’s silky with a slight chew from the greens.
- Mild vegetable curry with potato, cabbage, and carrot – like comfort in a bite, with golden turmeric warmth, sweet carrots, and soft cabbage melding with tender potatoes.
- Roasted chickpea powder – fine and slightly grainy in texture, savory, nutty, and spiced in flavor, perfect for spreading over injera to combine with other flavors.
- Xaeda Klwa – rich, bold, tender lamb stewed in clarified butter, together with caramelized onions and pepper, until it turns falling-apart tender. With subtler seasoning, the meat’s natural funk shines through.
- Beef in spicy tomato sauce – rich, slightly sweet, and deeply savory, similar to Chinese hong shao (红烧, red-braised) dishes, but with berbere’s fiery aroma.
- Spiced ground beef – smoky, fiery, and intensely savory. The tomato sauce clings to every crumb with warmth and spice, smoothed out by rich, nutty clarified butter.
All served on a communal platter, with injera as your utensil and a crispy, tangy salad to balance the heat – simply dive in and get messy – mix, match, and wrap flavors at your heart’s will!
We love the pillowy injera, which is why the dishes we introduced here come served with it. But at Mommona, you’ll also find plenty of options paired with rice, as well as a great selection of vegan dishes.
Africa’s diverse landscapes, climate, and cultures have given rise to an abundance of native spices, vegetables, and fruits – remarkable in their variety. This natural bounty shapes its signature cooking style that combines multiple ingredients – think grilled meat, enhanced with curry sauces, creamy dressings, or tomato-based preparations.
Further enriched by historical influences from French, Italian and Middle Eastern traditions, African cuisine has become a “melting pot” of roasting, boiling, braising and stewing, showcasing its distinct beauty of harmony in chaos.
