Folks in the loop would regularly stop Sosina Mekonnen on the street and ask her: “When are you gonna do Ethiopia Nights?”

She was born in Addis Ababa and the traditional dishes from her homeland had been a monthly highlight at Muse.

When the Front Street restaurant closed its doors about five years ago her doro wot, kosta bedinich and injera became treats offered only to close friends.

“People kept asking but unfortunately, I didn't have a restaurant so I was like, OK, I have to be creative,” said Ms Mekonnen, who works in finance and is not a trained chef.

The idea then came to approach Jean Claude Garzia, a friend who was also a restaurateur.

He gave Ms Mekonnen free rein at JC's Café on Victoria Street.

“Usually they're closed for dinner on Saturdays but he said, ‘OK, let's try it’. He completely opened his door, with his team.”

Ms Mekonnen posted about Ethiopia Nights on her WhatsApp status and was thrilled by the response.

“I immediately got the attention of so many people. In two days, we were at capacity,” she said.

Friends shared her post on Instagram,“the buzz was going”.

“We had to actually decline so many people for the first opening, which was October 5. It was very overwhelming for everybody,” Ms Mekonnen said.

Despite that, the event was a success with “all types of people from different sectors of the community”.

“It was a very nice, but overwhelming experience. To see old faces, new faces; people from the past that have been waiting for this experience, people who have been calling me and trying to give me support – it was a very humbling experience for me.”

Ms Mekonnen “cooks with her heart”, using recipes that are part of her African heritage.

She believes that the key to a good Ethiopian dish is having the right spices. Whatever she cannot find here is sent from Ethiopia. The key flavour comes from berbere, a spice made from chilli peppers, coriander, ginger, Ethiopian holy basil seeds, nigella and other ingredients.

An essential ingredient in many dishes, it takes a few months to prepare. Her family sends a bulk supply once a year that she stores in her freezer; she was able to use it to prepare the meals for Ethiopia Nights at JC’s Café.

People seem to like that Ethiopian food is “spicy” and “aromatic” rather than hot and spicy.

“I think the berbere makes the difference because if you substitute it with cayenne powder from a shop, the flavour is not the same. But the berbere I use, I think that is the secret ingredient that makes the food taste completely different from other cuisines.”

As for the menu at JC’s Café, she drew on the tested and tried as it offered dishes for meat lovers, vegans and, bar the injera, people who were gluten-free.

“It’s the same exact one I was using in the restaurant because it has a chicken dish, lentils, spinach and potatoes, cabbage and carrots. I have rice for people, even though it's not traditionally consumed, but I have that option [for people who don’t eat gluten].”

The plan is to keep the buffet running “indefinitely”, through the winter season.

“You can choose and taste and go back again,” she said.

Although cooking has nothing at all to do with her full-time job or other business interests, she loves that Ethiopia Nights gives her a chance to share her heritage with people who might not know anything about it.

“Sharing my culture is important to me. In Ethiopia, we usually actually eat from one plate. In a family, you have this big plate of food, and you eat from the same plate. It's a part of our tradition of sharing – people feed you with their hands – we call it ‘gursha’,” Ms Mekonnen said.

Her ideal set up would be to have a communal table with long benches but the structure of JC’s Café did not allow for that.

“It’s such a nurturing experience for me – seeing people coming together, eating the food, talking about it. And there's a whole different vibe for me every time I do it so it's a different connection I see with people.”

She loves that the meal is a buffet because it allows her to greet her guests and talk with them about the food and its origins.

“It was a different experience. I wanted to record it, because everybody was giving me these nice compliments; I wanted to capture that point – what people actually feel when they share.”

As each weekend has been solidly booked since Ethiopia Nights started at the beginning of October, Ms Mekonnen recommends that people make reservations well in advance.

“It's also a good experience if you have a group of people. So if your company wants to organise a social outing. I think that it's also a good experience for a group of people to go out and dine together,” she added.

• Reservations for Ethiopia Nights can be made on 232-0503