LAGOS, NIGERIA
I had no idea about this restaurant. It was mentioned to me by an old high school friend when I said that I was coming in to town. I had looked at the menu online and was not particularly impressed by it because there were too many options from diverse cuisines. Now you might think, “what is wrong with that?” The answer is nothing. In my personal experience dining out at restaurants like this, I have found that they pull in a number of options across the board and are just okay in what they deliver on execution. While the food might taste good, it just does not wow me. There is a difference between this and fusion restaurants when different cuisines are pulled in and combined together creatively… now those I thoroughly enjoy when they are done right.
I am rambling a bit now so let me get back to this restaurant. I came in to the restaurant looking to just sit at the bar and have a drink while writing some fabulous stories for you all but I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed by my initial experience of the space. The building is white with raw black text displaying its name boldly up front. There is something so sleek about it. Upon walking in, I found everyone to be wearing all black which added to the feel of elegance. I have to say that Lagos is expansively impressive with light fixtures that they have in their restaurants. This feeds into the overall ambience that is almost perfected in every restaurant that I visited on my trip.
I wanted to just have the Negroni and then move on to my main restaurant of the night where I had made an actual reservation but looking at the menu, it was completely different from what I had seen online. Maybe this was just the bar menu but I really did like what I saw. So I surmised to order just one dish. It could not hurt and besides I was starving from not eating all day. Perusing the menu, I decided on the burrata. Small, light, rich and fatty which should ideally not fill me up before my actual dinner. It came with marinated roasted red peppers, cherry and Roma tomatoes with basil all sitting on balsamic vinegar. There was a flavored crisp but I am not sure what it was made of. I was also supposed to get a warm baguette but that did not make it out. I overlooked it as I was not going to eat it anyway… saving my carbs for the next restaurant of the night which was going to be Indian. The burrata itself was fresh-ish. Yes I know that is not a word but it was the only way to describe it. In places it was solid but in others is was creamy and silky and soft as you would expect from freshly made burrata. Despite this, on flavor, I found this to be spot on for a great burrata small plate. The balsamic pairing with the sweetness of the tomatoes with the creaminess of the cheese… it was in fact magic in my mouth.
Since I had given up on finding a good glass of wine in Lagos, I figured I would stay safe and stick to cocktails. The only place that I went to that had good wine was at The House, another restaurant that I visited while in Lagos. I had a French Cabernet Merlot blend and you really cannot go wrong with that. Everywhere else had non-existent wine by the glass lists and by that I mean it was always just one bottle of South African red or white wine that was far too fruit forward. I looked at the cocktail list but decided to start first with my standard initiation cocktail test for any restaurant… a Negroni. What they gave me was SOLID! Miles better than what I had at Eko Hotel. I generally try to avoid criticizing but in this case I will ask that you please do not order what they serve as a Negroni there. This RSVP negroni was definitely comparable to what I have at Crown Shy in New York and just shy of the perfection that I get at Le Bernadin. With this success, I decided to give the menu a try and order one of their actual cocktails.
For my second cocktail, I ordered the Elder Sour. This is a play on a whisky sour. I have never had one before so I really do not have a baseline to compare it too. First impressions, it is sweet but not in a manner that is overbearing. I do not have a sweet tooth and I have a palate that is rather sensitive to it. This had a long lasting sting of alcohol and ginger on the palate… but in a very good way. It was kind of a little tingle with a little heat that builds. This wanted me to order another cocktail I must say but as I said this was just the first stop of the night.
So this is it for my RSVP visit. I think I would definitely pay it another visit to try out the food menu when next in Lagos. So people, go ahead and enjoy sipping their cocktails
Odabo 🙂