from “le détroit” · the strait
Baobab Fare's fast-casual East African offshoot is building out the longtime deli storefront at 2465 Russell Street, with chapati, brochettes, and counter service for about 30.
A corner of Eastern Market that sat dark for years is coming back as a counter for East African street food. Waka, the fast-casual offshoot of Baobab Fare, is moving into 2465 Russell Street, the storefront that housed Russell Street Deli for more than three decades before it closed.
The deli's exit left a gap that regulars felt. Waka does not try to be a replacement. It is a different concept from owners Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, the couple behind Baobab Fare, the Burundian restaurant they opened in New Center in early 2021. Waka started as a food truck, debuting at Detroit's Noel Night in 2022, and the Russell Street build turns that mobile menu into a permanent home.
The format stays simple. Order at the counter, eat in or take it out, with seating for roughly 30 in a space of about 2,056 square feet, per the restaurant's listing. The menu centers on chapati, the East African flatbread wrapped around stewed chicken, beef, or eggplant, and brochettes, the charcoal-grilled meat skewers, in lamb and chicken. Plates come with a side and a fresh red cabbage salad. The official Waka page lists hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. The buildout was pegged at around $600,000.
For Mamba and Nijimbere, both refugees from Burundi, the location was the point. "We didn't want to go anywhere else to start this," Mamba told BridgeDetroit. "People here in Detroit take care of us, so this idea of bringing East African street food to America has to start here."
Nijimbere framed Waka as a quicker companion to the flagship rather than a rerun of it. "All of the flavors that people love from Baobab Fare are here, but Waka is even more fast and accessible," she told BridgeDetroit.
The Eastern Market storefront is one piece of a wider expansion. The couple has also been building out a second Baobab Fare on the city's east side, and they run Soko, a retail line of East African coffee, chocolate, and beverages. Baobab Fare has drawn national attention since it opened, and the Russell Street project extends that run into a new neighborhood and a faster, lower-cost format.
Waka by Baobab Fare, 2465 Russell Street, Detroit.
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