Abdul Rahman Hatimi and his wife are the owners of Yasmeen Cafe, located at 1447 Independence Avenue.

Translating to “Beautiful Flower,” Yasmeen Cafe serves traditional African and Mediterranean fare including sambusas, mandazi, and deliciously rich, piping hot chai tea lattes.

The restaurant has been open since December 2018 and Hatimi said business has been excellent in the last year.

His decision to place his restaurant in the Northeast was to serve the East African community that live in Historic Northeast.

“I have lived here for a long time,” he said. “We have a big East African community here and there wasn’t enough representation in this area. We have three restaurants that are just focused on just the Somali community, but I wanted everyone to taste my food. I created this place for everyone to come in and be able to taste East African food.”

What he loves about the Northeast, he said, is the diversity.

“It’s a good place,” he said. “It’s a very diverse, mixed community area. We have Americans, East Africans, Asians, so it feels more at home here.”

To those who have not crossed the threshold into his restaurant, he gives one piece of advice:

“Please come in and give it a try. Most of the people who come and give it a try become regulars.”

To learn more about Yasmeen Cafe, visit their Facebook Page “Yasmeen Cafe,” call 816-216-1615, or email yasmeencafekc@gmail.com.