Dama Bakery

This place is the sleeper bakery in Northern Virginia.
I went there initially for a cake because I was desperate. It does not look too inviting from the outside. Passed it so so many times and never entered. But little did I know!!!
Parking can be a real bitch. That is the only downside.

Delicious Tiramisu! With a dusting of Ethiopian coffee powder, a moist and not so cloyingly sweet center, this is a great option if you’re looking for a birthday cake for grown-​ups.
Most of us ended up getting a second slice at our friend’s 30^th birthday. Talk about portion control and New Year resolutions. Everything went down the drain thanks to Dama Bakery (just kidding).

5 star for the cakes! Amazing cakes! I drive long distance just to eat the cakes! They also have nice coffee! Affordable bakery! Also traditional Ethiopian cuisine! Kitfo and tibs are my favorite! Even tho there was one close by, I drive here!

Love Dama Bakery. They have some really tasty vegan cakes (they sometimes leave you wondering if it is really vegan). The attached Ethiopian restaurant is quite good as well, with great vegan options too.

Came here specifically for the baklava but also left with a slice of Tiramisu. The baklava was not the best I’ve had but the tiramisu is a different story! The size of the slice was a very generous one. Parking was all full when I got there on a weekday around 1 but I found parking a block away. Definitely will be back to try more!

Great local bakery with amazing cakes. This is our go-​to for special occasions. I highly recommend the white chocolate cake.

We tried three different breads/​cakes, all of which were almost as beautiful to look at as they were good to eat.

I absolutely love their deserts! Tiramisu and millifone (Napoleon) are two of my favorites. I’ve been going here to get pastries for several years now. its so yummy and the prices are great! I need to try their main course as well sometimes.

I found out about Dama Bakery on
. We are always looking for vegan options for my daughter who is allergic to milk and egg. We were so happy to find eight different types of vegan cookies (chocolate swirl, raspberry jam, anisette, etc.) available as well as three different types of vegan cakes and vegan baklava. She said that the cookies were the most delicious cookies she’s ever tasted. I cannot describe the joy in my daughter’s face when she took her first bite of baklava! The rest of the family also enjoyed the treats. We will definite be going back!

This place is classic European style baking with Ethiopian flair — meaning, they make things vegan to align with their beliefs. How great is THAT?! I like that people can try the food and not know it’s vegan until after, then think: wow, I can do vegan. This place gets top stars for being that kind of a bakery.
All the items are created with a light airiness about them, thanks to some nice leavening techniques. However, they do have the classic white flour in them, so sorry for those seeking gluten free items.
For vegans, feel free to ask what they have that’s vegan as they are definitely not labeled. As others have mentioned, they are so friendly, they’re happy to answer your questions! You may want to stay to eat some and then take more to go. Since it’s out of the way and reasonably priced, I’d suggest that!
Two cake slices and 6 cookies for under $ 10 — wow, that’s a bargain. I almost feel bad! My fav cookies are a toss up between the chocolate vanilla swirl or the raspberry jam filled cookies. My fav cake is between the vegan velvet cake (chocolate and vanilla) and the mocha cake (chocolate and coffee!). However, the fruit cake and rum cake are good choices for a lighter option, or for those who don’t like chocolate. It’s surprising how airy they are, and it’s even more surprising when the cake slice is gone in a minute…
I go back as often as possible — I love their baked goods! Best non-​vegan bakery outside of DC, and maybe in the DC area for classic European style vegan items!

Delicious. I stopped in to buy a cake for my co-worker’s birthday and walked out with 9 cookies, a chocolate cake, and a slice of fruit cake. At 3 cookies for $ 1.25, how could I not get 9? I bought almond cookies and raspberry filled, both were so tasty. The almond cookies would be perfect with coffee, just sweet enough without being like a cookie cookie. I didn’t plan on buying that much and I didn’t plan on eating the entire slice of fruit cake in one sitting but I did! And I don’t regret it! The cake part was fluffy and moist enough and the flavors were just right. The birthday chocolate cake was also quite the hit at the office, with shaved chocolate covering it and the perfect icing. Again not too sweet, you know how sometimes cake can be sickeningly sweet, this was a good balance of sweetness and moistness (totally made a face typing moist, which I’ve now used twice). I was told the work birthday cakes should always come from Dama now and not wherever we order them from downtown. Yum yum yummm!
The older couple working behind the counter was so friendly and patient with me as I made my selection, too. Parking isn’t ideal, the lot always appears full (I drive by every day).

A great hole in the wall spot for Ethiopian food! The menu has some great vegan options and lots of variety! The sambusas were ok, a bit dry I thought! We got an assortment of dishes, all of which were amazing! We got the Veggie assortment platter and some Tibs! I also enjoyed the Red and Yellow lentil dishes wer ordered. The wait wasn’t too long and I would definitely go back, especially with all my vegan friends :)

Don’t be deceived by the modest appearance of the bakery — their mille-​filo and Napoleon ARE TO DIE FOR!

Like others, we nabbed the Groupon to Dama and set off to try as many different bakery goodies as our $ 20 would allow us. Turns out, that was a LOT. The cakes and pastries here are ridiculously well-​priced ($ 2.25 for baklava, $ 3.25 for any kind of cake, around $ 2 for coffees, etc). Dama is also clearly a favorite with the Ethiopian community — the place was PACKED at 6:30 pm!
Despite these things, the food is just OK. I realize the food is vegan, and therefore not entirely equitable with regular baked goods. The best item we tried was the tiramisu, which my hard-​to-​please-​with-​baked-​goodies husband deemed «great». The others, however, fell really short. The baklava was super gooey, and not in a good way — the flakiness was completely lost in the syrup. The chocolate cake was just too wet. The Napoleons are pretty decent. I guess this is a good option for vegan people, but I don’t think I would travel out here just for another slice.

This place makes you want to become a vegan! But then you realize there’s the traditional Ethiopian restaurant right next door that is also run by the same owner, and so you order the lamb tibs: l
I came here originally because I’ve heard of their great pastries. If you know anything about Ethiopians then you know that they don’t play about dessert. Baklava, tiramisu, and other familiar Greek and lots of Italian related treats. Everything is fresh, flaky if that’s a feature it should have, moist where necessary .and perfect for vegans… although i am not vegan, i like the idea that my food, especially my dessert, is ‘incident’ free. Lol!
So i noticed the first time i visited that there were all kinds of happy people enjoying breakfast/​brunch and raving about their meal when they would come up to pay. I immediately made a mental note to come back and try the breakfast menu myself.
So i came back here about 4 days ago, on a Friday, looking for a place to study and have a yummy breakfast. I called at noon to confirm if breakfast was still available and what do you know it ends at 12:30pm…perfect! I drove like a mad woman in the rain, got here and was pleased to find just a few people hanging about.
Ordered the Dama platter, mainly because i didn’t know what to get or what many of the items were and the owner mentioned that the platter was the most popular. And I can see why, it came with «Ethiopian style» scrambled eggs (which looks like it just has green peppers and other goodies mixed in); some grainy wheat thingy (sorry I have no clue what it was) but it was plain and healthy tasting/​looking; but the bang came with the potatoey side which was clearly seasoned up with some serious spices.
All in all, yummy and fulfilling. Not heavy at all but very flavorful.
Btw, I stayed there nearly the whole day to study and went over to the restaurant and did, in fact, order the lamb tibs. YUM-​REAL! Just have it, your heart will smile :)

Stayed at the Sheraton National Hotel next door, and often found myself here for coffee and an occasional breakfast. This place is were the locals go for great coffee and I can see why. Great customer service! They serve standard bakery items and a few Ethiopian breakfast dishes.
They also have an attached restaurant which serves traditional Ethiopian dishes. AMAZING

So this place was featured in a Washington Post article about random ethnic markets in the greater DC area, and it mentioned that there were vegan options available. Not being vegan myself (but knowing someone who is – shout out to Lauren C), I figured we should check this place out. Our first impression was that the parking around this place was absolutely filled with cabs, which is always a good sign when you’re looking for a local and inexpensive favorite.
Once we had parked and gotten to the front door, that’s where the confusion started. There are three distinct businesses within one small building: a bakery/​café, a restaurant, and an Ethiopian grocery store. We only sampled some yummy pastries from the bakery, but did peruse the restaurant’s menu and were impressed. Definitely going back for some spicy lentils and collards at some point!
The pastry options were plentiful with the requisite fruit tarte and black-​and-​white cake with shaved chocolate on top. Being coffee whore that I am, I got a cup of coffee to go with my lovely fruit tarte, but the server didn’t bring us any crème. I took a sip and to my satisfaction their coffee didn’t need anything added.
Ultimately the lesson learned from this experience is to explore more! I thought I knew most of the gems of DC (at least on the Virginia side), but there are always new places to explore. The restaurant and market staff we talked were friendly and welcoming, so I really am looking forward to going back.

Perhaps it was here that I read that the pastry chef once worked at the white house. If not, then I’ll say it.
This place is one of the reasons I love Unilocal — I would never have come here otherwise, or even known that this place existed. It’s located either in or next door to a co-​owned restaurant, and there are always a lot of Ethiopians outside or sitting down, but just go up to the counter and take a look.
Often times, I have no idea what I want, but the ladies are always friendly and willing to give you a small taste — especially when you’re buying a whole cake.
Anyways, the cakes are absolutely delicious, and I look forward to special occasions, which give me an excuse to try out another one.

Not everyone knows this, but Dama Bakery has great vegan options as well! All of the cookies (raspberry or apricot jam, chocolate swirl, almond, and anisetee are my favorites) are always vegan (not that anyone could tell), as is the baklava, and they generally have 1 – 5 vegan cakes available as well (fruit, lemon rum, mocha, velvet, milefolle, and raspberry lemon are the most common). Occasionally they have special custard tarts or fancy cookies, and during lent they offer even more vegan items (they are working on a raspberry mousse to be released soon). Anyway, the pastries are delicious and pretty cheap, and the folks working here are incredibly friendly and helpful.
Definitely a must for any vegan dessert-​lovers to try!

Most people recoil and watch their appetites run out of the door, at the mere mention of the word ‘fruitcake’. The fruitcake served at Dama is by no means the dry, brick-​hard version people have such a strong distaste for. It is quite the opposite, in fact.
I have had a whole cake for myself — on more than one occasion. The combination of almonds, strawberries, kiwi fruits, peaches and pineapple should let you know just how tasty and beautiful this cake is. I was never one for a whipped cream frosting, and grew up demanding the most sugary and butter-​rich confections to adorn my birthday cakes. However, Dama Bakery’s light and airy (albeit, moist & creamy) cake tastes just how I imagine a slice of heaven would; that is, without all the unhealthy, concentrated sweetness.
The customer service at this establishment also takes the cake. One can sit and have coffee or tea, after a great meal next door, while waiting for his/​her favorite baked goods. Five stars — and I’m being modest.