buku | Global Street Food

About Us

Located at the corner of Wilmington and Davie Streets in the heart of downtown Raleigh, bu•ku is a local restaurant that tells a global story. The name "bu•ku" itself is an international slang twist on the phrase, "Merci, beaucoup" meaning, "Thank you very much." Inspired by the pushcarts of street vendors in cities across the globe, our chefs harvest an array of unique and distinct flavors and present them authentically, in a virtual kaleidoscope of plates.

The common link: these are foods that people love.

Working within different regional traditions, our menu brings together complex and flavorful dishes and that have been honed over generations. Foods like Polish pierogis, Colombian arepas, and Thai barbecue snapper served in a banana leaf with green papaya salad can be found on the street corners of Warsaw, Bogota, and Bangkok. Their predecessors, prepared in kitchens and over outdoor cook-fires for hundreds of years, are popular favorites that have transformed into street foods to meet the demands of changing times. We strive to convey the immediate thrill a traveler feels eating foods like these as they first cross over the cart and exchange hands into the urban setting.