Restaurants serving African food often focus on a single region, but Pan Africa is honestly named, making this one-stop shopping for titillating your taste buds and expanding your horizons. Since eating with your fingers in public is rarely encouraged in adults, the flavorful Ethiopian vegetable and meat combo platters are favorites, served with injera (the spongy, flat, perforated bread made from tef) to transport bites to your mouth. Also try groundnut (peanut) stew with chicken, carrots and yams, a West African staple. Hailing from Senegal, chicken yassa, fragrant with lemon, olives and onion, has an essence of the Mediterranean, as does chicken with dates and apricots. Even southern Africa is represented in a seafood stew originating in Madagascar. Some dishes rotate, so come often to check out the latest. Regulars come and go in this cheery room, more like it’s a neighborhood haunt, not situated in the bustling heart of downtown, and staff is genuinely warm, even on gray days during the frenzied lunch rush. If all seats are taken, settle for takeout. Either way, there will almost certainly be enough for a second meal. — Ginny Morey