Milki Ethiopian Cafe Takes Over Old Yigebe Space in Portland

Milki Ethiopian Cafe opening announcement on a temporary sign, sitting over the more established Yigebe Coffee sign.

There’s a new cafe in Rose City Park: Milki Ethiopian Cafe, which was, until quite recently, the old Yigebe Coffee location on NE Sandy Blvd (also formerly Sandino Brother’s Coffee). They are offering coffee, some other drinks, pastries, and will have Ethiopian food, too.

Yigebe’s Closure

A reader sent me this photo in late September—a note on the door of the cafe announces Yigebe Coffee’s closure (we mentioned it in October 10’s Small Bites column).

About a week an a half ago over on Nextdoor, someone asked, “Anyone know more on Yigebes closing? They just built that extension and added a cart. So sad!”

Another person responded a few days after, “Change of ownership, but it looks like they are going to keep everything the same, including menus for both the Ethiopian cafe and the food cart outside.”

So yes, Milki Ethiopian Cafe has taken over that location and is in soft opening mode as of the writing of this article.

Milki Ethiopian Cafe

As I was driving down Sandy toward breakfast with a friend a Cozy Congee, I saw out of the corner of my eye a sign announcing their arrival, with a grand opening on Saturday, October 25.

On my way back, I stopped in and felt chatty. I asked the woman behind the counter why they named it Milki Ethiopian Cafe and she said, “It’s named after my daughter. She’s six months old.” She showed me a photo of her—adorable! And she told me that “milki” means “fortune” in her language (possibly Amharic).

To Drink

You’ll find hot and iced drinks on the menu. For coffee, they’ll have drip coffee, the usual suspects of espresso drinks, chai, hot tea, and cold brew. And while it’s not on the menu display, matcha is an option.

The right side of the menu has a mix of things: Flu Tea, which is tea (your choice) with fresh ginger juice; Ethiopian Spice Tea, with the spices being cardamom, cinnamon, and clove; blended juices of pineapple, mango, and avocado; and Ginger Lime Tonic, which I is what I chose.

Ginger Lime Tonic

It’s fresh ginger juice, lime, and tonic water heated up with the steam wand on the espresso machine. Heated up?!? I was expecting it to be iced, so this was a surprise. I mentioned as such, and they said it’s usually made hot. They could do it iced, but I was intrigued and decided I wanted to try it in this hot form.

I really enjoyed it. It is a little bitter, and the barista told me I could add some honey to it if I liked. But I had eaten some sweet things prior to stopping in, so the touch of bitterness was welcome; I expect the bitterness comes from the tonic water itself. Overall, the drink was warming and refreshing all at once.

Food

They had some pastries in the case on the counter, just as the Yigebe folks did. And they will have Ethiopian food available next week at their grand opening. Sounds like they’ll be using the food truck that remains there, too.

As for the interior, it looks pretty much the same as it did before, though I expect them to remove the Yigebe branding.

Milki Ethopian Cafe: Welcome To Rose City Park

Another Nextdoor member commented, “It was so nice having a sweet coffee shop in the neighborhood, and we wanted to try the Ethiopian food too! Really hope they can reopen.”

I, too, am glad to see this place remain a cafe—plus, now the work the previous owners did to get part of the immediate area vacated is not for nothing. The access to Ethiopian food is a big plus, too. Wishing owner Muhidin Abbachabsa and his team all the best as they bring tasty coffee, drinks, food, and a sweet space to Rose City Park.

Milki Ethiopian Cafe [soft opened October 18, grand opening October 25]
5730 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
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