Soma Cafe

Soma Cafe is a Somali cafe tucked inside the Soma Retail Center (the “Somali Mall”) off Independence Avenue in the Historic Northeast, known for jabati and beans, hot beef/chicken/fish sambusas, and richly spiced gingery chai.¹²

• Name: Soma Cafe
• Type: Somali cafe / breakfast and lunch ◐
• Owner: ◐
• Established: ◐
• Address: Inside Soma Retail Center (“Somali Mall”), ~2325 Olive Ave (off Independence Ave), Kansas City, MO 64124¹
• Signature: Jabati and beans; beef, chicken and fish sambusas; spiced chai¹
• Status: Active ◐
• Tier: 1 (local immigrant-owned independent) ◐

Description

Soma Cafe is tucked away inside the Soma Retail Shopping Center, locally known as the Somali Mall, near the corner of Olive Street and Independence Avenue.¹ Its jabati (flatbread) and flavorful beans are a go-to for breakfast or lunch, served alongside piping-hot beef, chicken or fish sambusas. The cafe’s chai is a draw in its own right — rich, deep, and gingery.¹

Ownership and history

Soma Cafe is listed with the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce under “World Direct Link / Soma Cafe.”² It was featured in KCUR’s November 2023 guide to the best places to eat in the Historic Northeast, which places it inside the Soma Retail Shopping Center (“Somali Mall”) and singles out its jabati, beans, and sambusas.¹ The individual owner name and the cafe’s founding date are not yet documented in a primary source.

Menu

Somali breakfast and lunch. Documented items: jabati with beans; beef, chicken and fish sambusas; spiced gingery chai.¹ Full menu and prices. menu_status: unverified

Links

• Northeast Kansas City Chamber directory listing²

Sources

Footnotes

1. “Food recs: Kansas City’s best places to eat in the Historic Northeast” — KCUR / Up To Date, 2023-11-04. https://www.kcur.org/podcast/up-to-date/2023-11-04/food-recs-kansas-citys-best-places-to-eat-in-the-historic-northeast — asserts: Soma Cafe inside the Soma Retail Shopping Center (“Somali Mall”); jabati and flavorful beans a go-to for breakfast/lunch; beef, chicken or fish sambusas; gingery chai. (No owner name given.) — Corrects a prior mis-citation: the jabati/beans/sambusa/chai description had been attributed to a Northeast News article that is actually about a different Somali Mall business, Hamar Weyne Restaurant; KCUR is the source that describes Soma Cafe by name. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce directory, “World Direct Link / Soma Cafe.” https://nekcchamber.com/directory/world-direct-link-soma-cafe/ — asserts: Soma Cafe listed as an active chamber-member business. ↩ ↩² ↩³