Words by Nicole Letts
More than 100 international restaurants dot Buford Highway in Atlanta, Georgia. The 50-mile, 7-lane corridor runs from Midtown to Gainesville, connecting the outskirts of the city to the northeast suburbs. Neon signs illuminate with various languages, each one enticing eager diners through its doors. For English speakers, the characters and words on the signs might not always be outwardly familiar, but they represent a different kind of shared language, one of good hospitality and great food.
Across cuisines, you can expect a comforting dining experience that mimics the common Southern table you’re used to. Portion sizes, like at your own mother’s house, are generous. Leftover boxes are encouraged and expected—don’t you dare refuse them or leave them behind—as is saving valuable stomach space for dessert. As it turns out, we aren’t so different from each other after all.
So where do you begin? Along Buford Highway, the world unfolds one unique restaurant at a time. Here are a few must-stop tables along this international corridor, bringing global flavors to one unforgettable stretch of Atlanta.
Han Il Kwan
Cuisine: Korean Barbecue
Must Order: Marinated Beef Rib
The first question you’ll be asked upon walking into Han Il Kwan is simple but important: “Dine-in or barbecue?” Choose barbecue. Once the ember coals are delivered to the tabletop grill, it’s ready for action. Your personal chef prepares everything tableside, and marinated beef goes straight onto the flame. While the meat sizzles, the table fills with an array of fermented and pickled banchan: green beans, kimchi, cucumbers, and more, each one a bright, acidic counterpoint to the smoky meat. Fried eggs, bean sprouts, bean paste soup, and corn round out the spread.
Matcha Café Maiko
Cuisine: Japanese
Must Order: Matcha Soft Serve
Faux cherry blossoms and colorful Japanese parasols, called “wagasa,” are suspended from the ceiling at Matcha Café Maiko. It’s a serene, peaceful environment ideal for a late-afternoon snack or after-dinner dessert. Like the ambience, the Maiko Special is a work of art. Ube and matcha soft serve are swirled together and topped with shiratama mochi balls, brown sugar crystal boba, pound cake cubes, adzuki red beans, and cornflakes. It’s sweet and earthy yet creamy and chewy.
Kamayan
Cuisine: Filipino
Must order: Sizzling Lechon Sisig
By 5:30 on a Sunday night, Kamayan is bustling with families and groups celebrating over shared plates. Awards hang on the walls, and the vibrant, coastal atmosphere feels energetic and welcoming. The menu delivers robust flavors and shareable portions. The Sizzling Lechon Sisig—chopped, slow-roasted pork, topped with a sunny-side-up egg—hisses dramatically, accompanied by savory Baguio green beans and fried lumpia. Each dish feels like comfort food, prepared with love and intention. Complimentary ube flan cake is an unexpected finale.
El Taco Veloz
Cuisine: Mexican
Must Order: Chorizo and Egg Tacos
This staple has anchored Buford Highway since 1991 and now boasts seven locations throughout the city and beyond. While the restaurant’s menu features a litany of tacos filled with everything from carne asada to lengua, the breakfast tacos deserve your full attention. Double corn tortillas are stuffed with generous, flavorful portions of eggs, meat, and crisp, fresh vegetables. Between tacos, sip on horchata, a sugary, cinnamon-laced milky beverage that’s cool enough to temper the heat.
LanZhou Ramen
Cuisine: Northwestern Chinese
Must Order: Vegetable and Egg Hand-Pulled Noodles
Through the kitchen window, a chef works with stern focus, pulling noodles gingerly by hand, dough laced between his fingers, transforming it into miraculously consistent strands with the right al dente snap. This is noodle-making performance art. As the chef works, bowls of Lanzhou-style ramen, named for the Northwestern Chinese region known for its clear, beef-based broth and stir-fry noodles with colorful vegetables, are placed in front of eager diners. Some bowls are accompanied by other dim sum favorites, like steamed pot stickers and fried pork buns, each forkful a satisfying textural treat.
Lee’s Bakery
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Must Order: Pork Banh Mi
The parking lot at Lee’s Bakery is full at 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday, a testament to its well-deserved reputation. Inside, two lines form: one for dine-in and one for carry-out. Choose dine-in for the pho and banh mi combo, served at communal tables where children eat in parents’ laps and strangers become neighbors. Bean sprouts, basil, and lime arrive tableside, where family-sized bottles of Sriracha and hoisin sauces are already waiting as accompaniments to your bowl of noodly, beefy broth. First-timers, take note: Pho is supposed to be messy. There’s no polite way to eat it.
Food Terminal
Cuisine: Malaysian
Must Order: Salt & Pepper Chicken Nuggets
The menu at Food Terminal is like a glossy fashion magazine for food. It’s thick and packed with photos, making ordering a visual feast. Some dishes arrive via robots on wheels, their touch screens glowing as they navigate the dining room with surprising precision. The salt-and-pepper chicken nuggets and sambal okra both hit that perfect sweet spot: crispy and familiar yet laden with aromatic Malaysian flavors. Here, novelty and nostalgia meet over shared plates.
Kategna
Cuisine: Ethiopian
Must Order: Veggie Platter
Cerulean blue walls and a casual, vibrant atmosphere set the stage at Kategna, where the flavors of Ethiopia arrive layered and without apology. Start with the veggie platter, a colorful spread of aromatic lentil stews that eases you into the cuisine’s spicy depths. The table centerpiece is injera, a spongy, gluten-free fermented flatbread that doubles as both utensil and vessel, scooping up every morsel. For the full experience, add the doro wat to your order: chicken slow-simmered in a deeplyspiced stew, finished with hard-boiled eggs.
Taqueria La Carreta
Cuisine: Mexican
Must Order: Quesabirria
At this spot, traditional tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas are made with fresh ingredients. The star, though, is the quesabirria tacos: Crunchy, flash-fried tortillas are stuffed with tender, shredded meat and Oaxaca cheese, topped with diced onion and fresh cilantro, and served alongside a brothy beef consommé for dipping. Order them, and you’ll understand why this place has been packing tables for 40 years. And if the craving strikes late, you’re in luck because the kitchen stays open until 12:30 at night.
