Tutu Melaku, the founder and owner of Tutu's Ethiopian Table, was born and grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. She was one of a large and happy family, living outside the city in a pleasant house where cooking was a real family enthusiasm.

Tutu and her sisters spent many hours learning the basic skills from their ever-energetic mother and family meals were the real focus of the day when everyone would sit round the large table and share the delicious and varied foods that were on offer.

Tutu brought her cooking skills with her when she moved to Reading in 1992 and she soon had her own family to appreciate and enjoy her talents. Tutu's daughter, Bethlehem, is only 11 years old but she is already beginning to learn those skills, and certainly all the family enjoy the subtle flavours that Tutu brings to her cooking.

Tutu has been sensitive in adapting to British tastes while staying close to the genuine flavours of Ethiopian food. No-one need fear that she will over-use the herbs and spices that are so typical of good Ethiopian food - she uses them with a real and instinctive knowledge for subtlety and care. The result, as all will know who have already tasted her food, is stimulating, delicious and certainly varied.