When you enter Brisbane restaurant Yeshi Buna, you are greeted with the smell of roasted coffee, frankincense and berbere, the fragrant Ethiopian-Eritrean chilli and spice blend. Marigold-coloured walls enclose a tight space, with utilitarian plastic cloths on the tables and an exuberant Ethio-jazz concert streaming from the television above the cash register. (Co-owner Workneh Engida says the concert lineup features Mulatu Astatke, who he has personally hosted on the musician’s tours of Australia.) It is immediately homely and inviting.
Yeshi Buna is run by husband and wife team Workneh and Yeshi Belihu. After running cafes in Ethiopia and Uganda, the couple migrated to Australia in 1999. In 2012 they opened Yeshi Buna in Moorooka, a suburb that is home to a growing number of Ethiopian, Eritrean and Sudanese restaurants and a large portion of Brisbane’s African diaspora. “Buna” means coffee in Amharic, and the restaurant gives reverence to Ethiopia’s coffee heritage with traditional coffee ceremonies on special occasions.
