Beloved African and Caribbean Market Is Opening a New Restaurant in Oakland

A few weeks ago on a formerly quiet corner near Lake Merritt, anyone buzzing by on 18th Street might have spotted a freshly painted building in juicy mango yellow. A small crowd gathered around a colorful mural while tables and umbrellas spilled across the parking lot and the smoky scent of jollof rice and jerk chicken filled the air.

Welcome to the new flagship for Man Must Wak, one of the few African and Caribbean markets in the Bay Area. The store celebrated the grand opening of its new Oakland location on Saturday, June 15, and announced plans to build out a fast-casual restaurant on the premises by summer 2025. “This is a decades-long dream,” says owner Queenkay Amamgbo. “I wanted a place where I could have a kitchen and a parking lot.”

Man Must Wak has been serving the community for 26 years. “It’s one of the first African grocery stores in the Bay Area,” says Kemi Tijaniqudus of Jollof Kitchen, the Nigerian food truck. “That’s where I started going since the minute I stepped into this country.” She’s one of many local chefs who are regulars, along with Frantz Felix of T’chaka and Roxanne Mosley of Sweet Fingers. The original market on 8th Street in Old Oakland is the place to go for hard-to-find ingredients that offer a taste of home, like goat, stockfish, egusi (melon seeds) and plantain chips.

Amamgbo, the owner, grew up in Lagos and comes from the Igbo tribe of southeast Nigeria. She moved to the States when she was 18 to live with an aunt in Washington, D.C., before continuing to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting. There she met her first husband Charles Emeka Amamgbo, a businessman headed to Holland or back to Nigeria. The couple compromised and settled in the Bay Area.

Charles opened the original Man Must Wak in downtown Oakland in 1998. Amamgbo says he was tired of working for European companies and loved serving the West African community. “He liked to help people. People came in for advice and to seek solace,” Amamgbo says. “I learned a lot from him, that you should have a safe space for people to come to.” The name Man Must Wak literally means “man must eat” in Nigerian Pidgin, so it’s slang for a universal truth: “Whether you’re paying with EBT or an Amex Black Card, we’ve all gotta eat.”

Charles died from leukemia in 2007 at only 43 years old. Amamgbo became a young widow at 33, with their two little boys then six and three. She had been busy working a corporate job and taking care of a sick husband. She knew the vendors and customers at the market but hadn’t looked at the books. When she inherited Man Must Wak, she realized the business was $100,000 in debt, had not paid taxes for four or five years, and was behind on payments to vendors.

She ran Man Must Wak by herself as a single mom for the next decade, with the support of close family and friends and loyal employees. In the beginning, she heard some people placed bets on how many months she would last before she closed shop and moved back to L.A. “I just went tunnel-vision and focused on survival mode,” Amamgbo says. “It’s through tragedy or loss that you know who really cares about you.”

Years later, a lady from church told Amamgbo to get coffee with this “really nice guy.” Amamgbo recognized Dennis Itua, a former customer who had moved away for a few years. She liked his dimples and creative streak as an interior designer, but wasn’t convinced — “he was very quiet.” When they did finally get together, Itua said, “You just be your Oprah, and I’ll be your Stedman,” referring to the TV star’s longtime partner. A couple of years ago, when the real Stedman Graham came into Man Must Wak, Itua happened to be in the shop to casually greet the celebrity. Shoppers in the store were delighted and it blew up on Facebook.

The couple got married in 2017, and Itua has been an integral part of the business ever since. Along with their three boys: Chika Amamgbo (22 years old) recently graduated from Howard University, Lota Amamgbo (19) is going to study arts at SF State and Ero Itua (20) is at film school in L.A. They’ve all worked weekends and summers stocking shelves and bagging groceries. “We want to build a strong, solid legacy,” Amamgbo says. “You don’t have to work here, but this is going to be something you can be part of and run.”

The new market by Lake Merritt will eventually be triple the size of the original. Amamgbo took out an SBA loan to buy the entire standalone building. The market itself is 7,500 square feet, the parking lot is 2,000 square feet and they plan to build out and up, adding an extension and rooftop deck. For now, they started with a fresh coat of yellow paint and rolled in shelves. Amamgbo’s nephew, the artist Gabriel Olubori Babaoye, painted the mural on the storefront, inspired by an African woman wading through a bustling market. The big renovation is still to come, but the vision for the fast-casual restaurant is a hot bar lined with steaming trays of grilled meats, fried rice and more. So you’ll swing through the door, hit the hot bar right in the center, peruse the market over to the left, and snag a seat at one of the tables outside.

They plan to add the restaurant by summer 2025. Itua, the chef of the family, grew up in hospitality — his father owned hotels, restaurants and bakeries in Nigeria. He’s been cooking behind the scenes for years, handling all of the prepared foods and catering. “It’ll be a fusion of African and Caribbean cuisine,” Amamgbo says. “The best of both worlds.” She’s already talking big game about their jollof rice. “The best Nigerian jollof rice. Period.” Itua’s specialty is a whole fish which he seasons and grills “to perfection.” Jamaican favorites will include curry goat and jerk chicken, along with spinach sauce, okra sauce and moi moi (bean pudding).

For longtime fans of the Man Must Wak, it’ll be exciting to swing by and try hot items for the first time. And for a whole new audience of Oakland diners, it’s a rare opportunity to taste West African home cooking in a central location. Star chef Pierre Thiam, who just made the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, says he can’t wait. “West African cuisine is finally getting recognized worldwide,” Thiam says. He cites restaurants like Tatiana in New York, an impossible-to-get reservation, and Ikoyi and Akoko in London, which finally snagged Michelin stars, and insists it’s just as important to have an accessible market and restaurant in the heart of Oakland.

“She’s a strong personality. She’s a queen,” he says of Amamgbo. “You have to respect that … Culture is so powerful, and that really is a blessing for us West Africans to have a place like that, and it’s a blessing for others who haven’t experienced it before.”

In the meantime, while the restaurant is still in the works, Amamgbo plans to get this party started. The new market is already fully open for business, and Itua will be firing up the grill for more events in the parking lot this summer.

“We are your home away from home, a place where you go to feel loved and accepted,” Amamgbo says. “You’re not judged for being too loud, because we are loud.”

Man Must Wak’s new market and forthcoming restaurant is located at 401 E. 18th St. in Oakland, near Lake Merritt; its current hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily. The original Old Oakland location remains open 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily at 547 8th St. Follow the market’s Instagram page for updates and details about upcoming events.