Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Burqitu Restaurant



If you want to have some great Ethiopian food, check out Burqitu East African Restaurant. It’s a cute little restaurant recently purchased by Kamso and Zubeda (it used to be The Horn of Africa).
Now, before I tried Burqitu, I had never tried Ethiopian food. And since I’m kind of a picky eater, and I HATE spicy food, I was a bit hesitant to try it out. OK, I was A LOT hesitant. But, I figured I’d better try it here in the States before traveling to Ethiopia so I know what I’ll be in for. Well, I can tell you that not only was I pleasantly surprised, but my mom and my sister were as well. In fact, we were more than pleasantly surprised….we were amazed at how much we liked the food.
I’m so happy I have found this restaurant. My Mom came to Portland on Mother’s day since my sister was in town visiting from Houston, and we decided to finally try some Ethio food. We had no idea which restaurant to go to, but I literally have 6 to choose from in a two-mile radius from my house (apparently I live in the heart of the Ethiopian community…..I didn’t plan it that way, but what a blessing that will be for me and for Sprout). So anyway, we just drove down the road till we found one that was open. The only one we found open was Burqitu, and I’m sooooooooooooo glad we did. Kamso has served us (and cooked for us) each time I’ve been there (4 times now since mother’s day) and she is so friendly. She makes me not want to try the other restaurants and keeps me coming back to hers. I always order my food VERY mild, and she has always tried to talk me into spicing it up “just a little bit”, but I’d always said no. That was until last night. We finally told her to go ahead and spice it up a bit, but to not go crazy. It was so so so so good, and not too spicy. She said “see, I told you you would like it”. She was right. THANKS Kamso.
So, for all you Portlanders out there, please go and try Burqitu. They are at 3939 NE MLK (503-288-3366). And if you aren’t in Portland, I encourage to find an Ethiopian restaurant near you and give it a try. You just might be pleasantly surprised too!

The picture turned out a bit blurry, but here is a sample of their delicious food.

6 comments:

Robbin Hopkins said...

it looks so Yummy! I like it really really spicy lol.

Good luck on the prints, they took mine like 3 or 4 times each, but I didn't complain because I went early! It took about 6 weeks to get the "golden ticket" but certainly worth it. Maybe we will travel at the same time.

Robbin

Rebecca and Andrew said...

Hey! I'm so grateful that you posted about this place! We will definetly go there soon. The other ET restaurants in Portland are sketchy and don't have consistant reviews so you made my day!
What dishes do you recommend?
Our appt. tomorrow for fingerprinting is at 9am. I'm not shy, if I see someone who looks like you, I'll introduce myself!
=) Rebecca

hazel said...

Hi Tania,

Thanks for your comment on my blog yesterday. It's great to find yours - yet another single mom-to-be - yay!!

I'm glad you found a Ethiopian restaurant you love. I have a fave too. I have cravings for their food. Someday I hope I can make it properly. Here's to the day we get to pig out on injera in Addis Ababa, with our babes in our laps!

Kim said...

Hi Tania,
Thanks for your post on my lonesome little blog, it brightened my day!
It's nice to see another single mom's blog and journey to her little babe...
I have added your blog to my favorites and will take a read through it this weekend.
Your neighbour up North!

Rebecca and Andrew said...

Hi again,
We tried to check out the yumminess at the restaurant but they closed at 9pm! We got there tonight at 8:40! Oh well, guess we'll go earlier next time! We instead went to The Green Onion (our FAV. persian place) and stuffed our faces w/ Kabob Koubedeh.
Maybe next time we'll plan our outing better and I'll send you an email first!
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

Community member

Community at large please support Zubeda and Burqitu...the quiet gem on MLK.