This place is amazing. Super welcoming and friendly owners and staff. We got the veggie balls and meat pastel to start. Wow. The fried dough of the pastel was insane.
We also got the chicken and peas, jerk and jollof and the veggie national dish. Everyone loved theirs! I can speak to the chicken and peas - it was 1000% one of those craveable dishes that will follow you around for the rest of your life. Perfect mustard and wine based sauce, tender chicken and super savory jollof rice on the side. Damn.
Highly recommend - we wanna try their whole menu!
Oh, and the hibiscus drink was amazing! Get some to go and mix with some white wine and La croix - chefs kiss!
Oh my Gosh. What a wonderful surprise. I went there not expecting anything fantastic to happen. Not good, not bad. Just expected to get a meal after a long, hard, day at work. Well Surpise, something fantastic did happen. The food was delicious. I have to put this on my list of places to revisit. I ordered Jerk Chicken and Jolaf Rice. The chicken was spiced just right and the rice was fresh (not that hard, bottom of the pot stuff. No this was a softer texture and was very flavorful). I'm sure they can bring spice flavors down if you don't like spicy. But check their menu. The have lots of flavorful looking dishes.
Caffeinated Excursions
+5
Ordered their Thiebou Djen Jolof (fish with rice) and chicken pastels and loved both dishes! The rice especially stood out as having a full flavor. Can't wait to go back and try more!
Takeaway: Strong flavors, perfectly cooked meat, and reasonable prices combine for an incredible dining experience
Context: Dined in for dinner with a friend. I effectively have no experience with West African food and especially with Senegalese cuisine
What I Got:
Pataya (8.5/10)
Perfectly flaky (and so hot) pastry dough filled with spiced chicken, tomatoes, and onions. The stand-out part of this dish, which reminds me a lot of an empanada, is just how great the crust / dough is. You can tell it was freshly baked (fried?) and that made a massive difference. The filling was also great - despite it being a more "wet" mix due to the tomatoes, it held up really well, likely due to it being freshly made. I would go back just to eat more of these.
Diby Yaap (8.5/10)
Spiced grilled lamb, onions, & carrots over saffron rice. Everything was basically seasoned perfectly here and want to call out the lamb specifically for also being just the right amount of tender. Saffron rice was great with the rice at an ideal texture - not too mushy and not too hard. This was the spiciest dish we got, but definitely not anything crazy. My only complaint is that I wish there was more of it!
Jerk Chicken with Jollof Rice (7.5/10)
Jerk chicken paired with jollof rice, plantains, cabbage, & carrots. My favorite part of this dish were the vegetables - the plantains, carrots, and especially the cabbage could be a standalone dish - as with everything else, perfectly seasoned and cooked. My main complaint, if you'd call it that, here was with the jerk chicken. Don't get me wrong, it was still great and cooked / seasoned well, but maybe pales a bit in comparison both to the other dishes I tried as well as some of the more dedicated Jamaican restaurants in town.
Favorite food in Chicago after 11 years in the City. The owner is the nicest man you'll meet, and cooks the best peanut butter curry you could dream of. Definitely get the Pastels and ginger juice!!
I ordered the vegetarian national Senegalese fish with pastels.. first time trying Senegalese cuisine.. loved it!! The spice, the caramelized onions and the pastels with the sauce.. wow!! Friendly and talented owner/chef.. So glad I stopped by.
Wow. This place was great! They recommended popular dishes for us and they were all unique and amazing. I encourage you to share and try everything!
Paula was so kind to us! This was our first time and she recommended the dishes for us to try - everything was so tasty! The mafe was especially delicious
Tabia Ayesha El Hilali
+5
The flavor of everything was perfect and the spice was just right. I had the Yassa Chicken and tried the Pastels. I enjoyed every bite. The staff was very friendly and attentive. I look forward to coming back with all my friends!
One of my favorite restaurants in the city! Extremely flavorful with lots of good vegetarian options (I especially like the mafe & yassa dishes). Reminds me a lot of places I used to eat at in the Château Rouge neighborhood of Paris.
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