R.S.V.P – THE REVIEW

Sunday,  7.35 p.m

Happy New year!!!

How are you all doing? I have been very lazy to blog about food and other things i love doing. To those that have asked if I have lost the passion for food blogging , it’s an absolute No…I have just been caught up with all sorts. I will endeavour to do better this year… 1 post at a time, so help me Lord.  🙂

I am always skeptical about reviewing new restaurants but I didn’t have a choice in this case. My dear friend “uncle J”  goaded me into it.  We reviewed R.S.V.P restaurant . It has only been opened for about seven weeks or thereabouts.

R.S.V.P restaurant is a mid sized  fusion restaurant that sits about 40 people. The decor had this minimalist monochrome feel to it…you know that barely there , no fuss but elegant feel to a room? That is it! The dinning area had several long line tufted sofas with individual tables that were neatly laid out with personalised napkins and well polished cutlery . To a corner, sat a mini bar and a cashier’s desk.

A waiter introduced himself and handed us the menus. The dishes listed on the menu were a breathe of fresh air. It was somewhat tilted  towards the middle eastern cuisine. It didn’t have the fancy exaggeration of a typical restaurant menu in Lagos. Straight to the point , no fuss descriptions. I do not remember what the drinks menu listed but we sha ordered something.

For our drinks, we ordered the Pina colada and the Naija spritz. For food, we asked the waiter for recommendations and he told us everything was delicious. To me , he sounded like he was not conversant with the dishes on the menu. Uncle J took laws into his hands  and almost shut down the kitchen with all the food he ordered. Our starters were the Salt & pepper cauliflower, the Quinoa crunch salad and the fish machos. For mains, we ordered the fish fillet & chicken tajeen. For dessert, we had the chocolate almond tart a la mode. Hmnnn, all these for 2 people?

I don’t know why I bother ordering mocktails in restaurants. They always fail to impress me. My Pina colada (N1,900-$10) was too watered down to make sense to me, it had more ice than the drink mix itself. I was told the Naija spritz (N2,200) was watered down too. So there’s nothing to review here. Why do these guys charge premium for drinks and still can’t get it right?

When the starters came, I was confused for a second. The three came together. The question was which to start with. We went with the fish machos. The fish machos (1900-$10) was flaked sauteed fish mixed with cream or mayo, spring onions and thinly sliced red peppers . It was served on crisp plantain tacos. It was finished off with delicious sun dried tomatoes. The combination worked so well. I found the plantain crisp a tad oily.

The second starter was the Quinoa crunch salad (N3,400- $17). Before this review, I had been anti – quinoa… just because it’s usurping my beloved rice’ s place, all in the name of fit fam and this healthy eating fad. I am not anti healthy eating but biko leave my rice. Anyway before I digressed, this quinoa crunch salad is the best thing I have eaten in a while. It seemed rather simply done but it had the right balance of everything. The cooked quinoa was tossed with juicy tomatoes, apples, olive oil, watercress and spring onions. Sesame seeds were supposed to make an appearance somewhere in the mix but I didn’t see it. This dish is not something I would have ordered on a regular day but I am glad I did. We both decided it deserved an ace!

The third starter was the Salt and pepper cauliflower(N2200-$11.5). If you have read enough of my post, you would know I don’t fancy breaded foods. I didn’t have a problem with this because the menu said the batter was light. If you are doing fit fam ,“don’t tink it oh”..Yes it’s vegetables,  but fried vegetables with batter on it equals a milli calories. Or you can be like me, you eat it and pay the penance later. This was cauliflower seasoned with salt and black Pepper, lightly battered and fried. It was crunchy and fresh. I found this a little oily as well. It was served with chili tahini dip. I had not heard of this dip before but I didn’t like it because it had a somewhat bitter after taste. It looked and tasted kinda like hummus but it didn’t work for either of us so we left it.It was nice even without the tahini dip.

The mains were brought and we started with the fish fillet (N6200-$33) served with steamed rice. The plating was a problem here, see picture below. The rice was in a small cast iron skillet, the sauce in a bowl and the fish fillet on the plate. The plate looked stark. I don’t know what they could have done better but this plating didn’t werk for me. The concept behind the dish was nice but it was bland. This dish was two breaded fish fillets, sandwiched with a spicy filling in the middle and then baked. It didn’t have salt and it was overcooked . The sauce that accompanied this was not properly seasoned and it was not reduced enough so it was too light for the fish. This did not work for me. I also felt this was overpriced.

The menu described the chicken tajeen (N4500-$24)  as pomegranate chicken served with couscous and Moroccan spices.This was  iffy for me. The sugar/sweetener in the sauce used to marinate this chicken was over the top. I didn’t fancy this at all. The chicken was tender but the sauce  was poured over it so we didn’t eat it. We could have sent it back but we decided to let it slide.

 

The dessert menu was not particularly interesting so we settled for chocolate tart a la mode (N3000-$15). When you order dessert a la mode it means that it is served with an accompaniment i.e ice cream or sorbet. The waiter brought our tart and it was not a la mode, I asked him why, he said that was the way their a la mode was served. I asked him to go back to the chef to ask . He came back to retrieve the plate. He came back with the tart served with vanilla ice cream. This is one of the best desserts I have had in a restaurant in Lagos!!! The chocolate filling was rich, smooth and not too sweet. If you have trained palette for chocolate, you will know premium chocolate was used. The tart shell was crisp and nice. The ice cream was smooth and creamy. We thought it was a known store bought brand but the waiter said it was made on site. Who were we to argue? Errr, I had a problem with the pricing. I wasn’t expecting a whole tart or anything of that sort but this dessert for N3,000 was pricey!

I took a trip to the restroom and it was spotless..

Would I go back there? For that quinoa crunch salad and chocolate tart? Oh yes!!

We paid N24,650-$130 for 3 starters, 2 mains , 1 dessert and 2 mocktails

 

MY SCORE CARD

Layout / Ambiance / Aesthetics- 9

Quality of food- 7

Value for money- 6

Customer Service- 8

 

R.S.V.P RESTAURANT

9, Eletu Ogabi  street,

Victoria Island

Lagos

Thank you for always reading.

 

DISCLAIMER: These reviews are my opinion of my dining experiences at these restaurants. They are not sponsored by any establishment unless otherwise stated.

LA TAVERNA – THE REVIEW

Hello Ladies & Gentlemen,

It’s been a longggg time.  I have missed you guys oh. I don’t have many excuses for not blogging in almost two months. It’s just been one thing or the other! To the dear faithfuls that checked up on me one way or the other. Thank you!!! And even those of you who didn’t. ..I nor fexx.

I recently watched the movie The Chef and it opened my eyes to how I might be perceived by some establishments/chefs. If you have watched the movie, you would understand.  I would like to reiterate that I am not out to witch hunt or malign any food catering establishment. My posts are about my dining experiences. I once described it to someone as giving people informed choices about where to eat in Nigeria and I am sticking to that. I have never been paid a dime to review these places. I do it on my  free volition so why should I be biased? The movie has further hardened my resolve to believe that my wishes and aspirations will come to fruition  if I work hard towards them . Hard work & persistence does pay. Phew!! rant over (I need the sweaty emoticon here ).

I was out on a dinner date with Mr U to La Taverna– a Chilean/Spanish/Italian fusion restaurant.  It’s deeply tucked into one end of Balarabe Musa Crescent in Victoria Island. As always, we didn’t have a reservation but it didn’t seem to be a problem. The decor was basic. A bit rustic like a typical spanish trattoria. Nothing fancy with traditional chairs and tables with a wine “cellar” to one end . The other end had  arranged wine barrel tags from different wine manufacturers around the world. There is an area for alfresco dinning but it had some sort of private party going on there on the night we visited.

The menu was quite extensive with fusion Chilean/Spanish/ Italian staples. This was my first experience with Chilean menu. I wasn’t sure what to order, so we agreed on ordering from the 3 countries.

Whilst we waited for the food, I ordered a glass of moscato which was delicious. I don’t remember the name though.The appetiser was Camarones a la parmesana. The mains were Prawns ravioli and Grilled salmon with mashed potatoes. And dessert was Tiramisu. (They had  desserts du jour written out on a board in the corner).

Next came a basket of bread with some tomato dip. I am not sure I can describe this properly but I was dazed by how lovely the combination was. I had to ask the chef what he put in. The bread was soooo darn good. It was a Chilean staple called Marquetta. It’s dense and sweet kinda like agege bread but far better- perhaps it’s agege bread’s posh cousin. They bake it fresh every morning. With the tomato dip? Heavenly. No it didn’t taste like bread and stew 🙂 . I did oliver twist , I asked for seconds and I still got take away. This appetizer  deserves an ace!!!

Then came the starter- Camarones a la parmesana. This was prawns baked in cream and cheese. It was baked with a slight crust so it was slightly crispy on the outside and stringy like hot cheese on Pizza. It was served in a seashell. I thought that was quite original. In the looks department, it wasn’t grand but it tasted amazing.

The mains came and they did not look too happy either…hahaha. To me, it seemed like they made them and just slapped them on the plate. Starting with the prawns ravioli, looking at it did not impress me one bit. It was basically ravioli pasta ,stuffed with prawns and cooked in tomato sauce. Here plating was non existent. It was just poured in  bowl, no garnish whatsoever.When I tasted it, I was quite surprised because the tomato sauce was good . The pasta on the other hand, had a bite to it, somewhat chewy.Like it had been frozen and not properly thawed. I am trying to convince myself that a restaurant that sells seafood pasta would make their own ravioli fresh. My conclusion was that it had been previously made and had just been hurriedly thawed before it was tossed in the tomato sauce…I could be wrong.

The salmon.. Hmnn, I need to remember when next I go out to review that it don’t have to have  seafood.  The Salmon did not look interesting either. As always, I added black pepper to the mashed potatoes. The never judge “a book by its cover” rule applied here. The mashed potatoes was creamy, fluffy and no lumps! Yes, no lumps, that’s a breathe of fresh air in Lagos.   The menu stated that the salmon would be served with lemon sauce but when it came, there was no lemon sauce.. It came with some sort of creamy sauce but definitely not lemon sauce. I think it was a little overcooked but it still tasted alright. Yet again, it was slapped on the plate. So if per chance they happen to see this review, PLEASE your meals are too nicely made to be slapped on the plate! You can do better with your food presentation.

For dessert, I had requested for Tiramisu, unfortunately, it had finished before we placed our order. I didn’t feel like I wanted anything else so we skipped it altogether. Sob….

I got a chance to speak with the chef- Cristian who was  friendly. I discovered that they offered cooking classes. That’s a date idea for those that send mails asking what they can do for date night, you can both learn to cook and then eat your creations afterwards. Win-win situation if you ask me.

We paid about N14,000 for 1 appetizer, 2 main entrees , a glass of wine and a bottle of water

P.S : I apologise about the quality of these pictures. I could not adjust my camera settings with the lighting.

MY SCORE CARD

Layout / Ambiance / Aesthetics- 7

Quality of food- 8

Value for money- 8

Customer Service- 9

 

LA TAVERNA

48, Balarabe Musa Crescent

Victoria Island.

08051788782

.

 

VILLA MEDICI- THE REVIEW

Monday 11.42 A.M

Hello Valentine and Valentinas ,

Sooo, the Love season is here again . There are all sorts of deals on dinning, flowers , romantic getaways etc. Shall we say Valentine’s day on a Friday will be plenty chaos in this town? Plenty nlaru (sp)  things* winks*. I sometimes get uneasy with all the commercialization going on with Valentine’s day. I recently read an article where there was some sort of bidding contest on who would “win” the services of a Michellin star chef that would  dinner cook a four or five course meal  for 2 people for $100,000. yes you read right, 100 grand!!! Biko wetin he wan carry cook am? I am not being  judgmental  but that will feed all of us from my village. LOL.

It was my Sugar’s birthday recently and we went out for dinner at Villa Medici. It used to be known as Medici to the best of my knowledge so I guess the name change  occurred recently. Villa Medici is a fine dinning  restaurant that serves intercontinental dishes leaning ever so slightly to the french cuisine. It doesn’t have a set theme  but it’s quite well put together : contemporary paintings on the wall, an odd mask here, antique light there. It all worked  together nicely. The table setting was informal- neatly laid out. I would like to describe this restaurant as an upscale  and romantic restaurant.

I must say, that for a Monday night, Villa Medici was packed.  Some  sort of private party I  later figured. We were given a table in a quiet corner. Our assigned waiter  handed us the drinks menu. The drinks list was quite extensive.  We ordered the Virgin Bellini (N1000- $5.5) and the Apple Colada.(N1,800-$10.5) He came back swiftly with a basket of artfully wrapped  toasted garlic bread and some dinner rolls.

Whilst we waited for the drinks, he handed us the food menu. The food list was extensive. They had quite a number of  dishes that were different from the norm for Lagos . This was the first time I was seeing Carpaccio and Frog legs on a menu in Lagos ( I am not saying it doesn’t exist).  We ordered a smoked Salmon and Prawn salad, Seafood ragout, and the Fillet Steak Royale.

The starter was the smoked Salmon and Prawn  salad (N3600-$21).  The picture shown below doesn’t do this plate justice at all. I was too impatient to eat to have gotten a better shot. I apologize.  I liked the presentation. Most restaurants where I’ve had this salad,  serve the  prawn and salmon on a bed of greens but this was the reverse. The salmon  and prawns were served as the bed with the greens in the middle. The greens were tossed in some sort of vinagriette . I didn’t bother  asking the waiter what it was . Miss gulu had reared her ugly head. I added a dash of  lemon juice to it and gobbled it in no time.  I found the prawn perfectly cooked. The salmon was  a tad too salty from the curing i guess. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The 1st main course was the Seafood Ragout (N5,750-$33) served with Potato Tatin and steamed vegetables. The first thing that came to mind was that I had ordered seafood stew, it looked just like that. Hmmnn, It wasn’t slapped on the plate just like that but it was not that interesting to look at as well.  The menu stated that  it was light Prawn broth with Seabass , mussels, Prawns  and calamari. It was chunks of  sauteed Calamari , Prawns and Fish tossed in tomato sauce garnished in parsley.. It wasn’t a broth and there was no mussel in the dish. The seafood was well cooked  but I found it to be a bit under seasoned. When it comes to potato tatin, I am quite queer, I like it with a crust. I would prefer to eat the crust than the baked potatoes itself, This had a bit of both, so I loved it.The steamed vegetables was fresh and crunchy and it added the some colour to the dish.

The second main course was the  Fillet Steak Royal (N6,750- $40) served with Potato Tatin and steamed vegetables. When I placed my order for this, the first question  the waiter asked was how well done I wanted it to be. If you are a regular reader of my posts you probably know the automated answer by now. Steak well done please. I am a typical naija chic that must eat all things overcooked . hahaha. Well he said to me ” ma’am may I suggest that you  try the medium -well done  so that you can enjoy it better. He explained that  steak well done  often tastes tough to chew. Hiaaan see me  see wahala oh? Well, I agreed to steak medium well. When it came it didn’t look too bad,it had mild  traces of pink. Four  thick slices  of span seared  steak was served with  reduced mushroom sauce. It was well seasoned and flavourful . I hate to admit that it was actually less chewy than what I normally had.  I shall do medium – well from now on. It was served with the same potato tatin and vegetables. I absolutely loved it. If only I could “thief ” that reduced mushroom sauce recipe… Note worthy is the portion size , it was not baby portions like most restaurants  in Lagos serve.

Whilst  going round taking pictures for this post , I got talking with the manager of the restaurant. He was a charming chap who asked if everything was alright. He was probably wondering why I was taking the pictures. I later introduced myself to him and he instantly recognized the  name. Hmnnnn…endangered species move. I need to start thinking of disguises when I go out to eat now oh or else…….Anyway, I introduced him to the hub and told him it was the hub’s birthday.

When we called for the desserts menu, the waiter left like he was going to bring it. Some minutes after, no waiter, no menu . As if on cue, the lights dimmed  and the husky voices came up with the birthday song, we were pleasantly surprised. It was such a thoughtful gesture .  He was given a  chunk of cheese cake with Happy birthday written on the plate. With the free cheesecake, we didn’t need to order desserts again. Just by some stroke of luck they read this, Thank you guys. I still called for the menu to see if there was anything interesting on it. There was no list, it just said desserts from the trolley. It was (N1,800- $11). I was able to get a picture of the trolley whilst another table was being served. I am not one to look a gift horse in the teeth but the cheesecake would have been nicer with a little less gelatin.

For lovers of alfresco dinning, there’s a lovely outdoor area .

For 1 salad, 2 mains, 2 cocktails and a bottle of water , we paid N23, 280-($137) inclusive of all taxes.

I went to inspect the restroom, yes it was clean and the mini sitting area was daintily done up but it had a smell, like disinfectant had been used. The connector pipes for the WC  were rusty. I know this will be overlooked by some but its a fine dinning restaurant, its not appropriate .

Would I go back there? Oh yes!

MY SCORE CARD

Layout / Ambiance / Aesthetics- 8

Quality of food-  9

Value for money- 8

Customer Service- 9

VILLA MEDICI

1, Babatunde Jose  street

Victoria Island

Lagos

08191495381

DISCLAIMER: These reviews are my opinion of my dinning experiences  at these places. They are not sponsored  by any establishment unless otherwise stated.

THE HARBOUR – THE REVIEW

Hey People,

Monday 11.30P.M

Recently, I came across an article about a deli owner closing his restaurant briefly for attitude adjustment of his staff. Read  here . Attitude adjustment?! Is that remotely possible in this clime? I am not sure about that. I came across an acquaintance’s rant on twitter some time  ago on  a highbrow restaurant  she went to in Lagos. Whilst dinning, a fat rat  ran across the dinning room. Her friend who went there at a different time had a similar experience.  she said the restaurant offered them 10% discount on their meals  which they declined and business continued . Question is, what stopped them from closing temporarily to fumigate their business premises? Things you see and hear in this town.

I recently discovered  what I would like to call the best kept secret in Lagos. A friend of mine told me about it actually. The Harbour at the Westforsters . It was a bit tricky getting to the location because the numbering is quite haphazard and  it is tucked away on Queen’s  Drive , Ikoyi. Initially, I thought it was a hotel, I later found out that it was short let  serviced apartment whose  restaurant and bar were open to the public.

This building  reminds me of those charming mansions on Bishops Avenue that make you drool and think of how big you would like to be when you “ grew up”.  The dinning room was not particularly large, it would probably sit about 30 people, what it lacked in size , was made up for in the  simple Victorian décor which was  tastefully done. The lounge music playing and low lights here gave off that romantic vibe. You know the kain place wey na wantintin thoughts go full your head? It was that kind of place. The view was amazing! They also had an alfresco dinning section overlooking the Lagos  lagoon and the swimming pool.

Hint hint : To all those lovers out here if you want to go  somewhere romantic for valentine’s day, here’s free advise, this is the place for you.

A smartly dressed waiter  introduced himself  and handed us the drinks menu. It was not extensive , just bit and pieces of different  kinds of drinks. Mr U & I ordered soda……double side eye.  After ordering drinks ,we were given the food menu.  They  had sandwiches, salads, pizzas and soups , pastas , stuffed chicken, and a few desserts. In as much as I was not particularly pleased with menu listing, I quite appreciated that they kept it simple enough i.e no fancy name that I couldn’t pronounce.

For the starters,  we ordered  the Prawn Salad with grape fruits. For the mains, we ordered   Seafood Pasta and  Baraccuda fish with sautéed potatoes and vegetables.

The Prawn Salad (N3,000-$17) came first. I liked the plating, simple yet interesting to look at. This salad was sautéed prawns served on greens, with a side of grape fruit and oranges.  I asked the waiter for the dressing  and he said there was none. Hmmnn .  He said we should try it first to see if we needed any more dressing. The chap was sure right. The salad had just the right amount of  dressing. I don’t know the exact dressing but  it  worked so well with the salad. He came back to ask if we still wanted it and we said No. He had this “yeah we got them”  look on his face as he walked away. The salad was served with toasted baguette.

The main courses came together. We decided to start with Seafood Pasta (N,4600-$26). You know when you look at food and your mouth waters? That’s what happened when  I saw the seafood pasta. The plate looked like it had too much going on but believe me when I say it all worked well for this dish.  The pasta was tossed in spicy cheddar cheese sauce and Asian sugar snap peas,carrots, shrimps, mussels and  broccoli. Right in the middle of this was a sauteed jumbo Prawn with a side serving of cheese. Tres delicieux !!  I would definitely give it an ace.

The Barracuda  with vegetables (N4000-$23). The fish was pan seared and served atop seasoned fresh vegetables. It was served with  herbed baked potatoes , garlic butter and some pepper sauce that I refused to touch out of fear of  it being spicy. The fish was  a bit under spiced on its own but the garlic butter and a bit of salt perfected it . The herbed baked potatoes was  nicely done. slightly crispy on the outside  and and soft inside.  And those vegetables, crisp and nicely seasoned!

Worthy of note here is the  portion sizes, it was  just right. By the time I was done sharing  the three dishes  with Mr U, I didn’t have room for water not to talk of dessert. Yes I skipped on dessert. Even I was taken a little aback about that decision. Besides the desserts menu, was quite uninteresting and expensive. Why should I buy 2 scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream for (N2,200–$13)? The jazz no catch me reach. I am beginning to think I need emoticons for such situations as this. Ishhh.

For 1 salad, 2 main dishes, 2 bottles of  soft drinks , we paid N 14,735. ( Taxes were included) And NO! the waiter didn’t bring my change! After such nice service? Booooo.

Would I go back there?…. Absolutely.

MY SCORE CARD

Layout / Ambience / Aesthetics- 9

Quality of food-  9

Value for money- 8

Customer Service- 8

THE HARBOUR

70, Oyinkan Abayomi street ( Formerly Queens Drive)

Ikoyi.

Tel: 07046126577, 014484100-3

DISCLAIMER: These reviews are my opinion of my dinning experiences  at these places. They are not sponsored  by any establishment unless otherwise stated.

EKAABO RESTAURANT- INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL

Hey lovelies.

How have you all been?  I hope you  have been treating yourselves well, remember you only live once.  Recently, I came across an article on huffingtonpost.com for the lover of cocktails. It was titled “What your cocktails say about you”. Please click here to read about it. I found it funny but it was kinda true….

The hub and I met up with our dear friends for lunch at Ekaabo restaurant at the Intercontinental  hotel, Lagos. I had heard so much about Ekaabo  sunday brunch  but I didn’t take it all too seriously because it was still new so I figured it was  still “initial gra gra” that they  were doing. I bet you know all about the Lagos fad mentality. Also I wasn’t too keen because one of their restaurants didn’t live up to its billing. If u missed my review of Milano Restaurant , please click here.

The dining room at Ekaabo Restaurant  is well apportioned  with optimum use of the space. The layout was tastefully done with gorgeous white skylights suspended from the high ceilings. They also had the imposing champagne wall at the bar like they had at Milano Restaurant.  The most outstanding piece of the décor here is the fountain out on the terrace. With the right lighting, this should be a romantic spot  in the evening for the lovers of alfresco dining. So, to those that have sent emails asking for nice spots for dinner and  romantic spots to propose, this wouldn’t be a bad idea. Did I mention that  for Sunday brunch, there was a live band with one sisi eko  singing sonorously?

We were greeted by a warm and well clad waitress who showed us to our table. As if on cue, a waiter walked up to us to ask what we would like to drink. He reeled out the list of drinks and I was quite impressed. Well, just so that plate- washing mode won’t be activated after eating, I asked just to be sure that drinks were covered as part of the buffet charge… and yes it was. I believe this  is taking buffet  dining to a whole new level. Your girl ordered  a mimosa whilst we waited for the rest of the clan.

Well, the clan was taking forever so we decided to start without them ( yeah! shoot me Kimps, FBI, Seun  and Funmi)  When we got to the food displays, for a second I was disoriented! There was such a wide variety to choose from. How did these guys pull this off? Talk about being spoiled for choice.  The name needs to be changed from Ekaabo Restaurant to foodie’s paradise  or maybe even chop till you almost quench place. I loved it already. I went to the soup section first. I possibly can’t state everything they had  but I will mention just the ones that caught my attention. Not all the foods were labeled though so I might mix them up.

I   was a bit confused on how to do this post; do I write everything they had or should I just write about what I ate there?  I decided to do a little bit of both. They had quite a number of soups… goat meat peppersoup, fish peppersoup, and seafood chowder to mention a few.  I started with the goat meat pepper soup , For me it was perfect. It was boneless goat meat with just the right amount of spice in the broth…very well made.

a.  My saImon and salsa salad  b. Pasta salad  c. Potato salad  d. Greek salad

I drool even as I write this.   I moved on to the salads, they had about 8 different types, and there was a create your own salad bar as well. I had some of the Greek salad, potatoes salad, the mixed vegetable salad with thousand island sauce. I created one with pasta salad with salmon and salsa sauce…you see why I  suggested that they should rename it the chop till you almost quench place. The salads were amazing, my favourite here was the one I created with the pasta salad, salmon and salsa….that salsa was divine.  I had my salad with sourdough bread. They had about 10 varieties of bread .

To one corner sat a cooking dock with chefs willing to answer questions  or whip up  something different from what was available at the display stands. At this dock sat quite a variety. They had shish kebab, barbecue chicken, shish tawouk ,  waffles, pancakes, sausages,  naan bread, spring rolls, etc. They had  all sorts of dips and dressing accompanying  them.  I had some waffles with maple syrup with grilled chicken and some sort of kebab. I had no complaints whatsoever.  It was all nicely done. At this point my glass had been refilled about thrice. It was time to sit and let my bits and pieces digest a little bit.

I moved to the mains, I had some fried rice, herbed potatoes with steamed vegetables,  grilled chicken, grilled beef fillet and some sautéed lamb.  I didn’t fancy the fried rice, It was bland.  The sautéed herbed potato and beef fillet were quite nice and well seasoned too. The chicken was a bit dry. And that lamb, was the highpoint for me. It was nicely seasoned and moist…yum! The guys decided to do some local delights , when I saw the assortments of meats, and the variety of local staples available, I knew these people  had “bad” plans for us. Where was all this food supposed to go? Hian! If you know you suffer from gluttony, be well guided that you should steer clear of Ekaabo restaurant otherwise, you’d blame yourself later.

a. fried rice b. lamb c, beef fillet d, grilled chicken e. herbed potates f. steamed vegetables.

I moved on to the desserts, there were quite a number of them. The problem here was that they weren’t tagged so I wasn’t sure of some of them. There were fruit platters, mousses, puddings  and gateaux, See my selection below. I had some black forest gateau, chocolate mousse, strawberry swirl cheesecake and some combination gateau that I couldn’t put a name to. It wasn’t all wow but from my selection, the strawberry swirl cheesecake , the  white chocolate mousse were really nice. ..you know that melt in your mouth goodness.

I could go on and on with the number of  fabulous things I ate here but I would be doing them great injustice if i fail to mention the  customer service here. One word describes the  service here- outstanding! The waiters were polite and attentive to a fault. They are definitely in contention for best customer service restaurant. A friend of mine felt it was because they were relatively new  , she was of the opinion that the Naija factor would soon set in … well if that is the case, I would enjoy it while I still can but I doubt it though.

Sunday buffet costs N9500 per person, drinks were included. On a good day i ‘d scream blue murder but I believe this was  good value for money.

Would I go back there? … Absolutely!

MY SCORE CARD

Layout / Ambience / Aesthetics- 9.5

Quality of food- 8

Value for money- 8

Customer Service- 10

EKAABO RESTAURANT (INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL)

52, Kofo Abayomi street

Victoria Island,

01- 2366666.