Long before Serengeti Kitchen found its home in Charlotte, Ammalu Saleh was a child in Tanzania, watching her mother cook in a narrow kitchen.
“She would be making samosas, rice cakes, fish cakes and chapati,” she says. “I always enjoyed helping her.”
That kitchen — small, busy, and sometimes without running water — was where Saleh’s love of food began, shaped not by perfection or ease, but by process and effort. Years later, after moving across continents, raising four children and navigating personal challenges, that same love would lead her back to the kitchen. This time, not just to cook, but to share her story with a new community.
A LAYERED CUISINE
Today, inside The Market at 7th Street, Serengeti Kitchen draws people in with aromas that feel both familiar and new. Warm spices, the flavor of coconut and slow-cooked dishes create an experience that often begins with curiosity and ends with something deeper…