Buka has closed on 1st Avenue

Photo by Steven

A for-rent sign now hangs on the storefront at 137 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street ... marking the official end of Buka in this space.

This was the second outpost for Buka, the Bed-Stuy-based restaurant serving homestyle Nigerian cuisine.

Buka debuted in the East Village last October... unfortunately, we hadn't seen the space open for business here since late June. 

Buka bringing Nigerian cuisine to 1st Avenue

Photos by Steven

The Brooklyn-based Buka is bringing its homestyle Nigerian cuisine to 137 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street ... 

This will be a second outpost for Buka, which has a new location on Fulton Street in Bed-Stuy after launching in 2010. (This piece at Eater offers more details about what to expect from Buka.)

Per the Buka Instagram account, this East Village spot is expected to open on Oct. 1 with hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can find a menu here.

The space was previously home to Drunken Dumpling, which debuted in the fall of 2016 and received favorable press for its gigantic soup dumplings created by the mother-son team here. The restaurant was closed for a good part of the pandemic, reopening back in November before going dark again in the spring.