Downtown Raleigh’s newest restaurant, bu•ku is now open for business. The restaurant will be located in the same spot as Fins in the Progress Energy Building on Davie Street in what they describe as the “quickly emerging, food-conscious Wilmington Street District”. I assume by this they mean Busy Bee, Gravy and Sitti which are located a few blocks North and actually on Wilmington Street. bu•ku hopes to bring “global street food” to the locals in a restaurant type that has little precedent in our area.
Dean, over at VarmintBites has more on the restaurant’s opening. According to Dean, as well as a few messages sent out by bu•ku, the restaurant will only be open for dinner for the first bit of time, opening for lunch later on. We are looking forward to checking out Chef William D’Auvray’s dishes which sound delicious (below is Dean’s quick summary of the menu).
The menu is an eclectic assortment of exotic soups, breads, and other street foods, focusing primarily on Asia, but with a great mix of other regions including Eastern Europe (pierogi), South America (empanada), and Mexico (cochinita). Everything is made in-house, including the fantastic cha siu bao, the steamed barbecued pork buns from China, and the paneer, served with kale, sweet onion and cardamom. Indian chapati and papadum are also made fresh, in house.
UPDATE: bu•ku has launched a new website today with a handful of new features, including news about their grand opening celebrations this weekend and a look at their menu options.
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