Ethiopian restaurant to open on Minnesota Avenue

Dec. 28, 2018

A Sioux Falls couple is opening an Ethiopian restaurant on Minnesota Avenue.

Hagere Ethiopian Restaurant will be in the former Old Soul Cafe spot in the Southway Center at 31st Street.

Chani Liben and his wife, Sifrashi Mengistu, hope to open the restaurant at the end of January or in early February. Everything is ready to go except for some of the equipment, Liben said.

Hagere will serve “African cultural food,” Liben said. “We’ll have lots of different kinds of food.”

Entrees will include traditional Ethiopian recipes such as tibs, doro wat and kifto. Meats will include goat and lamb, along with beef and chicken. Many dishes will feature vegetables such as lentils, yellow split peas, beetroot, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and collard greens. Everything will be served with injera, the traditional bread that’s used as a utensil.

The restaurant will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., Liben said. Hagere will have a beer and wine license, but coffee from Africa will be the featured drink.

Liben and Mengistu are from Ethiopia but met in Kenya where they were living as refugees. They got married 15 years ago, and shortly after that, Liben was able to come to the United States. Mengistu wasn’t able to join him until 2012.

Liben also owns Multicultural Barber Shop near 10th Street and Wayland Avenue.

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Ethiopian restaurant to open on Minnesota Avenue

An Ethiopian restaurant is coming to South Minnesota Avenue.

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