September 30, 2015
Minority & Small Business Week
Page 19
The Horn of Africa brings East African cuisine to the Vanport Square shopping complex on northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Chefs Grow Popular Restaurant
Putting down
roots at
Vanport Square
An African immigrant cou-
ple is bringing generations of
experience in cooking East
African cuisine to Portland
food-lovers. Horn of Afri-
ca owner-chefs Khadija and
Mohamed serve traditional
cuisines of Ethiopia, Somalia,
Djbouti and the Middle East
every day at their restaurant
in the Vanport Square shop-
ping complex in northeast
Portland.
Horn of Africa began in
1994 as a booth at down-
town’s Saturday Market, but
the story of how it came to be
starts much earlier.
In the 1980s, Mohamed
fled civil war in Ethiopia and
ended up in a Sudanese refu-
gee camp. He was fortunate
enough to receive a United
Nations scholarship, allow-
ing him to study English and
business in Cairo.
After marrying Khadi-
ja, Mohamed immigrated to
California, while his wife
remained behind, working as
a chef to foreign diplomats.
Eventually Mohamed saved
enough to bring Khadija to
the United States. After vis-
iting family in Portland, the
young couple decided to put
down roots and open their
Saturday Market kitchen.
After the food booth gar-
nered loyal followers and
great reviews from press and
patrons, a formal restaurant
became the couple’s next
goal. In 2007, Mohamed and
Khadija opened up at their
current location, 5237 N.E.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The restaurant is open for
lunch and dinner six days a
week, closed Sundays, and
orders can be called in at 503-
331-9844. To learn more, vis-
it hornofafrica.net.