Street Food - Episode 2

Pepper Soup with Agidi

I was in my office on a lovely afternoon and saw this girl by the corner delivering meals to other offices. And off course, curiosity got the best of me and I asked WWABD (What would Anthony Bourdain Do)? So I called up the girl and asked what she was serving. I found out that she was serving pepper soup and agidi. The price sounded decent (250 naira) so what the heck, in through Anthony Bourdain fashion I asked her for a plate. I was giddy with excitement I didn't even think pepper soup could be considered street food. I guess you could call this an evolution of street dinning hehehe.
My meal arrived and well it was not what I expected. Yes it looked and tasted like pepper soup but the agidi just threw me off (P.S. before I placed my order I was trying to remember if I liked agidi or not, apparently I don't). If you're familiar with pepper soup, it's either prepared with fish, meat or the other stuff (cow's intestine, stomach and other innards). Mine was prepared with the other stuff. Some were tasty and the others well not so much. Even the pepper in the dish couldn't help with the offensive taste and my need to just puke the stuff out. But in true heroic fashion, I gobbled up the soup (not the agidi- would have definitely thrown up if I attempted) and washed it up with a bottle of water.
You are probably wondering, would I suggest this dish to a friend? the answer is no. To my enemies hells yes hahahahahaha!!! But in all seriousness if you don't mind going all Andrew Zimmerman then throw caution to the wind and take ur taste buds on  an adventure. If you want to try authentic pepper soup look for a place that prepares it well. My overall experience will be within the ewwwwww range. Yes it was that bad - thank God for Orbit Spearmint gums.

The white stuff peaking out from the dish is the Agidi. I'm not quite sure how to describe it but it has the consistency of Jello. It is prepared with maize,  wrapped in banana leaves and cooked. I should also say that Agidi comes in jollof form that is its prepared with stew (that's the tastier form).

Restaurant Review #3

Chinese Xpress Restaurant & Takeaway - 44 Monrovia Street, Off Amino Kano Crescent Wuse II Abuja. Opposite Banex Plaza

I was so excited to come across a Chinese restaurant. It's been a while and I was really looking forward to having some noodles or crab ragoon. The restaurant itself is pretty spartan in style. Not a lot to it. Just an overall decent place for a quick lunch or dinner. Their eat in meals which was served buffet style (not actually buffet) had a decent selection and most of meal were any where from 500 -700 Naira. Which in my opinion was quite affordable. They had sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, fried rice vermicelli and a host of other stuff. I had the fried rice vermicelli and sweet and sour chicken. As I waited for my meal to be served I used that opportunity to glance through their actual menu. The meals listed on the menu was a bit more expensive. As the waiter delivered my meal I asked him why the meals listed on the menu was higher than the meals currently being served. According to him when you order from the menu, the meal is usually prepared in a much larger quantity than what they already have prepared. Their cheapest meal on the menu is the fried rice combo with either beef or chicken and the most expensive meal is their roasted duck which is a whooping 15,000 naira. You know what just hand me that 15k, if I have to hunt and cook my own duck I will. What is the duck prepared in? Liquid gold abegi.
The meal- It wasn't bad and it wasn't great. I've had sweet and sour chicken and I remember it being tastier. I mean I loved the fact that I could see huge chunks of pineapple in my meal but I don't remember it being that way. The noodles was prepared quite well and I actually enjoyed it. My meal cost 1420 naira including a bottle of water and VAT (value added tax). So I would say that it was quite decent. There are still a bunch more on their menu that I'm looking forward to trying so I'm not done with them yet. They should better get used to seeing my face more often now hehehehehehehe. All in all not a bad experience.
Cost - low - high range
Here are pics of my meal and of the restaurant. They also have outside seating but I didn't get a picture of that

Snacking on Budget (Approach with Caution)

Today I decided to pull a Rachel Ray. She has this particular show where she tries to spend only $40 a day on her entire meal for the day from breakfast to dinner including snacks too. Well in my case I didn't have $40 but 80 naira instead. And no it was not for the whole day just to snack. I actually try to budget only 200 naira per day while at work but have never succeeded in pulling that feat. Anyway, I decided to try this lady across from my workplace who sells meat pie and puf puf. One of my coworkers has been giving rave reviews on how good her meat pies are. Well I'm not sure if you could accurately call it meat pie. The filling had sprinklings of meat which I could not taste but knew it was there by sight alone and then  heap full of mashed potatoes (well that's the closest description I can give- please Lord I really pray it was potato). It tasted like utter crap. The dough tasted like crap and the filling was even worse. What I had wasn't meat pie more like crap pie. I can't believe she sells that stuff to people. She should be arrested for crime against food!!!! I had half a mind to return it back to the lady but considering my location i.e being in naija and the massive sun outside, I decided to toss the remaining crap away and wash the grimy taste off my tongue.
The moral of the story is that if you must snack on a budget please be wary of what you are buying and where you a buying it. Or better yet just make your own snack and bring it with you. If that's out of the question, stick to what you know and avoid all pastries (yes I said it, pastries are not our forte in naija)

Street Food- Episode 1

Yahuza Suya- Various Locations in Abuja

Every time I think of Yahuza the song Yahooze by Olu Maintain pops into my head. The same thing happens when I hear the word "Pop" NSync's Pop starts playing in my head (oh crap it's happening now). Please tell me that I'm not the only one this happens to hehehehehe. I digress, back to Suya. Before leaving the States, a friend of mine suggested that I check out Yahuza Suya in Abuja. I considered that one of the best send off advice I got hahahahahahaha. But on a more serious note, once I touched down in Namdi Azikiwe Airport the hunt began. I came across one location in the Central Business District across the street from SilverBird (there are bunch of other locations which I frequent too). I have only two words to describe their suya PURE AWESOMENESS. Everything from the spices to the cut of the meat was exceptional. There are a lot of Suya stands but you just have to try suya by Yahuza.
Quite alright this was not one of the street food or road side suya but in Naija it's always associated as such. This is an establishment. And they do provide for both indoor and outdoor dining. But most of the time you will see people eating suya and  having a bottle of beer outdoors. That's just the way to eat suya right :-)

Restaurant Review

Jevnik - Wuse 2

This is a restaurant that serves mostly Nigerian menu. If you're looking for authenticity look no further. My sister and I went to visit my uncle at his store and he decided to take us for a late lunch/early dinner. When we got to the restaurant, it was packed full a reflection of how good their food is. My uncle was explaining that it wasn't that packed, however, if we came during the actual dinner time that we will not be able to find any available seats. So we were quite happy to be seated. We placed our order and in no time, our food was already served. The service was super fast seeing how busy they were. I went with the plantain porridge, my sis with the fish pepper soup, and my uncle had swallow and vegetable soup.
My plate was overflowing, wow! the look on my face must have been sending them a code red - starving chick alert treat with caution hahahahaha. My meal could have lasted me for 2 extra meals and if I was still leaving by myself I would have had enough to feed myself for at least 2 straight days hahahaha. Oh did I mention that I also ordered their grilled fish (I think it's grilled can't remember anymore) but it was hmmm hmmm good. I managed to get thru half of the meal, it was so tasty but I really had to stop myself. My pant's zipper and button were already giving me the signal. My sister had to help me out with the remaining portion. Now the interesting thing to me was that the plantain used in this dish was unripe and I usually like my plantain porridge made with ripe plantains (I have a very sweet tooth) but I still found the meal enjoyable. It was just spiced to perfection.
I tasted my sister's fish pepper soup and it was not bad at all. Once we cleared off our plate and settled our bills it was time to get up and lets just say it involved a lot of belly holding. Okay I was overstuffed. This was the kind of meal that once you are done, the next thing you should be looking for is a bed. Kinda reminds me of the Boondocks episode "The Itis" - hillarious episode.
This is definitely going down as one of my fav chow spot in Abuja. But then again there are still a lot of restaurants out there waiting to be checked out.
Cost: low - medium

How Do You Like Your Fish?

Located in Kubwa at the Miliki Junction

I'll have mine roasted with ripe plantains, carrots, onions, and topped with tomato stew and wrapped in foil. Make that to go too. For dinner today, my sister convinced me to try the roasted fish. She's been going on and on about the fish so I just had to try it and it was pure awesomeness!!!!!!!! Even before we unwrapped our lovely steaming packet, the sweet aroma emanating from it was just too good to put into words. The fish was cooked to perfection, the tomato sauce/stew complemented the fish perfectly. The ripe plantain provided just the right amount of sweetness to the dish. I can honestly say that I've never had fish prepared in this manner. It was just utterly perfect. The fish itself was huge but maybe because it tasted so good, my sister and I felt that we could have gone for a second round. I believe I could live on this stuff for a couple months (no not a lifetime, I'm sure I'll get tired of it by then hahahahaha). The fish is prepared by the roadside by guys dressed like chefs and they were actually wearing the white hats too. Now if that doesn't prove their authenticity as professional chefs, I don't know what will hahahahahaha. I thought it was quite cool though.

Cost- 1500 naira

Restaurant Review

Hits the Spot - PEB 04 Plaza, Plot 2027 Dalaba Crescent, behind PDP National Secretariat Wuse Zone 5, next to NAPTIP 

So this is a really cool place in my opinion. It's a quaint restaurant with a mini book store/library and they actually let you sit and read their books while you wait for your meal.They have decent food selection - Nigerian dishes and sometimes some continental dishes. Their menu is quite impressive but unfortunately not everything on the menu is readily available. What really got me was their drink selection. They had Strawberry Daiquiri, Margarita, Tequila Sunrise, Bloody Mary and some other mixed drinks. And get this, they were 500-600 naira a glass!!!!! This is probably one of the most reasonable prices I've seen in Abuja. The last time I requested for a Cosmo at a bar in Abuja I was told it was 2000 naira!!!!!!! Now that is just too bloody expensive. Any way back to the review. I tried the Strawberry Daiquiri and Margarita and I was not disappointed. Off course, it took them quite a while to prepare, I guess they are not used to people ordering their mixed drinks. On certain occasions, they also have free wine tasting. I haven't actually attended any of them. Overall, this is a very decent place. Check it out if you're around the area.
Cost - low - medium range, 200 naira and upwards

 So I cut out early from work (shsssshh don't tell my boss) to grab a drink at Hits the Spot. Had me a virgin Pina Colada. I could have gone for the alcoholic but I was already feeling guilty for leaving early. Not that It matters much here, there were a bunch of my co-workers there drinking alcoholic beverages. I still have my in built American work ethic in me hehehehehehe. Any way that's the picture of the Pina Colada above. Yummmy and get this, it cost only 300 naira. It's that awesome or what????

Nkoyo Restaurant- Wuse 2, K-City Plaza last floor

This is a classy restaurant with a nice ambiance.  Hardwood floors through out and very well decorated. The customer service is just the best I've witnessed in my little time in Abuja. I went shortly before the lunch rush and it was quite scanty as a result. A look through their menu revealed that this was somewhere I could afford to go to once in a blue moon or if a friend out of the goodness of his/her heart decided to take me there hahahahahaha. The menu consisted of local dishes and non local dishes. Once I found a cozy table, there was already a waiter there to take my order. I decided to go with the fish and chips (cost 1650 naira). They started me off with plantain chips with a very interesting sauce - tasted really good. After a few minutes, my meal arrived. The chips were crispy and hot just the way I like it and the fish was okay, I didn't care much for the mayo sauce and would have preferred a crispier batter. The waiters were very pleasant always checking in to make sure I was having a good dining experience- which I was. After the meal I was served a lime sherbet ( actually this was more of ice shavings flavored with lime). Bottom line, I would definitely check this place out again. A very nice place indeed.
Cost -  High range, 1000 naira and upwards

The picture above is a pic of the restaurant. That's towards the entrance. And the picture on the left is the Olive Bruschetta I had when I visited Nkoyo Restaurant earlier this week. Can I say yum!!!