Detroit's Baobab Fare offers extended hours for Ramadan, family-style dishes

Detroit's recently opened East African restaurant, Baobab Fare, is extending its hours through the month of Ramadan, which is from April 12 to May 12 this year.

Since Muslims who practice Ramadan fast from sunrise to sundown, the restaurant will be open from 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Fridays. (Starting April 18, the restaurant's Sunday hours will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it will be closed on Mondays.)

During the extended hours, Baobab Fare will only offer a special menu of family-style dishes, no single plates. They're also offering a new menu item, iced hibiscus tea.

Reservations are encouraged.

"Baobab Fare is more than a place to eat — it's an experience," the restaurant says in a statement. "We are a celebration of East African food and culture fused with the essence of Detroit."

The restaurant also says it will do "education around specific menu items, and provide another angle to the narrative of Muslim customs."

The restaurant opened in the New Center area earlier this year, run by Burundi immigrants Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere, with the help of a $50,000 Hatch Detroit grant.

"We didn't see any East African restaurants around here," Mamba previously told Metro Times. "And so that is how the idea started."

Baobab Fare is located at 6568 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-800-5111; baobabfare.com.

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