{"id":212894,"date":"2026-04-28T18:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/212894\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T18:11:27","slug":"makina-cafe-brings-eritrean-ethiopian-flair-to-sunnyside-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/212894\/","title":{"rendered":"Makina Cafe brings Eritrean-Ethiopian flair to Sunnyside \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new restaurant serving Eritrean-Ethiopian fusion has quickly become one of the most popular spots in Sunnyside<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Makina Cafe,<\/a> which opened its doors in the neighborhood shortly before Christmas last year, stands as the only brick-and-mortar Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant in Queens, but Makina enjoyed a long history before opening its doors at 46-11 Skillman Ave.<\/p>\n

The concept was launched as a food truck by Eden Gebre Egziabher in 2017, bringing Eritrean-Ethiopian cuisine to the New York City food truck scene for the first time. Gebre Egziabher, who moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia as a child, said Makina\u2019s position as the first Eritrean-Ethiopian food truck on the market presented both an opportunity and a challenge.<\/p>\n

\"MakinaMakina owners Renny Itwaru and Eden Gebre Egziabher. Photo courtesy of Makina<\/p>\n

\u201cI left my job to start the food truck and it was something that hasn\u2019t really been done before,\u201d said Gebre Egziabher, who also has Eritrean ancestry. \u201cWe were the first Eritrean-Ethiopian food truck, so it wasn\u2019t like I had somebody else to look at and say \u2018oh, this works.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of that challenge, Makina proved an instant hit, offering a variety of Eritrean and Ethiopian staples such as sambusas, a flaky Ethiopian pastry filled with beef or lentils.
\n\"SambusasSambusas (left) and injera bruschetta at Makina. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien\n<\/p>\n

Gebre Egziabher and her partner Renny Itwaru later opened a location on Governor\u2019s Island before setting their sights on a brick-and-mortar location in Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people had gotten to try our food\u2026 but there was no place where they could come and sit down,\u201d Gebre Egziabher said.\n<\/p>\n

The couple eventually settled on Makina\u2019s current home in Sunnyside, overlooking the then-condition of the space because of the connection they felt with it.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just an automatic connection,\u201d Gebre Egziabher said. \u201cAnd it certainly wasn\u2019t because the place was in good condition. It required gut renovations, but there was just an energy and we really felt that it would fit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itwaru, meanwhile, recalls visiting the space for the first time on a sunny afternoon, stating that he instantly fell in love with the neighborhood\u2019s character.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe landed up in Sunnyside on a really beautiful day,\u201d Itwaru said. \u201cIt was bright and people were walking and we were like, \u2018why have we not found this earlier?’\u201d\n<\/p>\n

After undertaking extensive renovations at the space, Itwaru and Gebre Egziabher finally opened Makina to the Sunnyside community last December, and the restaurant has gone from strength to strength ever since.<\/p>\n

The expansion to a brick-and-mortar location has allowed Makina to expand its menu offerings, including Ethiopian and Eritrean staples such as lamb alicha, a slow-cooked stew; berbere-spiced prawns; fish tshebi, a fish dish cooked in a spicy tomato-based berbere sauce; and awaze tibs, a vegan sampler featuring spiced lentils, turmeric cabbage and string beans.<\/p>\n

At the heart of every dish at Makina\u2019s new location is injera, a type of Ethiopian bread that is central to food across the nation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cInjera is the number one food that separates Ethiopian food from the rest of the world,\u201d Gebre Egziabher said. \u201cIt\u2019s our sourdough flatbread. It\u2019s as thin as a crepe and has a taste of a sourdough bread.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained that injera is a substitute for rice, which largely does not exist in Ethiopian cuisine. The bread also serves as utensils in Ethiopia, allowing people to eat with their hands.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a culture that eats with our hands,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t usually utilize utensils, so injera is something that is used instead.\u201d
\n\"KeysirKeysir Salata and injera bruschetta at Makina. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien\n<\/p>\n

Injera serves as the base of most dishes in Ethiopia \u2013 and at Makina \u2013 allowing guests to scoop up their meals. Tables at the newly-opened hotspot are laid without utensils, although guests can request knives and forks from staff.<\/p>\n

Makina also serves its food family-style, allowing groups to sample a wide range of dishes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to continue that communal dining known from Ethiopian culture,\u201d Itwaru said.. We wanted to continue that tradition. While we\u2019re limited with the amount of space we have in the restaurant, we\u2019re still trying to make sure that we are staying true to the communal feel, the sharing of cuisine amongst friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Makina stands as the only Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant in the entire borough of Queens and one of the few such establishments in New York State, but Itwaru and Gebre Egziabher would both be happy to see other similar locations open their doors in the future. Even if it means they will face more competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love to see more Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants,\u201d Gebre Egziabher said.\n<\/p>\n

Itwaru, meanwhile, believes that there is an enormous \u201copportunity for growth\u201d in the city, citing the prevalence of Thai restaurants throughout New York.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a Thai restaurant on every corner in New York,\u201d he said. \u201cThai cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in the city and that\u2019s one of the reasons why Thailand was one of the most visited countries in the world last year\u2026 I believe Ethiopia and Eritrea could benefit from that as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more restaurants that pop up , the more awareness that this cuisine exists,\u201d said Itwaru, who is of Guyanese descent. \u201cThese people are amazing. This culture is fantastic, and this food is damn delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gebre Egziabher, the opportunity to showcase the cuisine of her homeland is central to Makina.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always in the back of my head that this is something that the world needs to know,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s such an ancient culture, but because it has been so submerged in conflict, the stories, the beauty, the culture, the food have been overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be able to share that story.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Although Gebre Egziabher and Itwaru have found a brick-and-mortar location, they still operate their food truck and their Governor\u2019s Island location. They are also not against expanding to other brick-and-mortar locations in the future.<\/p>\n

For now, however, the couple is happy to lay down roots in Sunnyside, stating that they have been embraced by the local community since opening their doors half a year ago.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we\u2019ve received a warm hug from the community,\u201d Itwaru said. \u201cWe\u2019ve really felt the love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new restaurant serving Eritrean-Ethiopian fusion has quickly become one of the most popular spots in Sunnyside. Makina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[310,84051,45032,84052,45034,9,24,63,122,124,123,84053,13558],"class_list":["post-212894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-daily-newsletter","tag-eden-gebre-egziabher","tag-eritrean-ethiopian-food-nyc","tag-makina-cafe","tag-makina-cafe-sunnyside","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-renny-itwaru","tag-sunnyside"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}