Outing in Lagos meant going out to dine. Be it Chinese, Nigerian or Lebanese, Lagos boasts of its finest cuisine that is exclusive in taste and its presentation.
On the road, they would run behind our cars to sell the plantain chips which were very delicious. I would also see the locals roasting corn, yam and fish at every street corner.
Eating in restaurants is a treat. Every restaurant had its own specialty and it was quite an experience trying out the various dishes. I loved the Nigerian cuisine that comprised of hot pepper soup (the best that I have ever tasted), Suya (roasted meat on bamboo sticks), Jellof rice (rice cooked in stew) fufu of cassava, Garri (mashed yam) and charcoal roasted fish. The best Nigerian cuisine were served at Ikoyi Club 1938 (a local club) and in Terra Culture (a cultural centre)
The Chinese cuisine that I tasted in Lagos was superb. The meat so tender that it just melts in the mouth. There were three main Chinese restaurants that we visited: Jade Place, Pearl Garden and Golden Crown. When we go to a Chinese restaurant, they serve the condiments of onions, ginger and capsicum. We can combine these condiments with chilly sauce and Soya sauce to suit our taste. A hot and sour Peking Chinese soup with crispy rice is the specialty of all Chinese restaurants in Lagos. Other dishes that were on their menu included Sesame Puffs with the filling of minced chicken, fantail prawns, reddish cake, chicken dumplings, crab balls, spring rolls with the fillings of mayonnaise and prawns. (These were real good and just melted in the mouth).
There were many Lebanese restaurants spread all over the city and enjoyed by all Indian society. The most famous Lebanese restaurants were ‘Double Four’, 'Oasis' and 'Goodies'. My cousin was mentioning that she had tried Lebanese at many places around the world but nothing could compare with the Lebanese cuisine of Lagos. And she was right. I tried Falafel, Kibbeh (lamb kheema), Hammus, Babaganoush (brinjal dip), Potatoharra, Shovarma (meat roll) Istanbulli Kababs,and Shishtaul (chicken Kabab) Fatoush salad (salad of cucumber, tomato, lettuce and fried bread) Tabouleh (salad of Parsley) garlic sause and Tatashe sauce (chillies sauce, which we would often pack and take it home).
I was amused with the menu card in the restaurants. All the restaurants had colorful menu cards with the photograph of the actual presentation of the food that will be served. It would be easy to decide what we could expect on our table and we were never disappointed.
Once, on my visit to Lagos market place, I was fascinated by this girl selling crabs. Nigerians don’t like their pictures to be taken without their permission and they may get offended if they see you shooting their pictures. Some of them would run behind our cars and make noise, abusing us if they saw us focusing our cameras on them.
However, I took permission from this girl before I took her picture, she agreed but she pulled her cap down covering half of her face, and asked us to remove the picture of her crabs.
Now how do we do that? Can we? Not when she had such a beautiful skin….couldn’t resist…
