Urbana’s Best of Africa Food Store has a new spot — still in Urbana. The African grocery store has relocated to what used to be I Heart Mac & Cheese right next to Po’ Boys restaurant in the same plaza as the new Aroma Garden Chinese restaurant and Shawarma Joint.
Owned by Congolese immigrants Memoire Budimbu Mabiza and Lisette Mbaki, the store was named the 2020 Illinois Family-Owned Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Illinois District Office and the City of Urbana. The grocery offers African products, pantry goods, and a small selection of fresh produce in addition to housewares and clothing. Browse the products online here.
The new space is smaller than the Griggs Street store was, but it still offers a wide variety of goods.
In the back right corner, find fresh foods like onions, garlic, spinach, ginger, eggplants, and more. The bulk in-shell peanuts looked too good to pass up, and so I scooped a nice helping of peanuts with a well-loved pink scoop that rang up for only $2. The bunch of green onions cost $1, my ginger root a quarter, and three little habanero peppers 50 cents.
On the left side of the store, there were refrigerators and freezers with a variety of vegetables and meat for sale including this beef meat.
Canned tomatoes and beans were available in a few brands.
There were big containers of garlic powder, red onion powder, cayenne pepper blends, and more.
And spicy spices, too.
Hot sauces, pasta, jams, candies, and more lined the shelves.
Plus big bags of flour and garri.
For more about Urbana’s Best of Africa Food Store, check out the grocer’s website, our 2018 interview with the owners, and Paul’s shopping (and cooking) experience.
At this time, the store is open everyday, and Best of Africa’s restaurant Mama’s African Kitchen is temporarily closed. The restaurant will reopen inside the new location at some point in the future, but Mama’s African Kitchen’s food will be carryout only.
Best of Africa Food Store
Mama’s African Kitchen
202 E University Ave
Urbana
M-Sa 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Su 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
