This little place at the corner of Bishop Lane and Newburg Road features west African cuisine. Which I am told is totally different than east African, served locally at Queen of Sheba on Bardstown Road. They've been successful enough to move from their former location, that could only seat a dozen to a former Long John Silver's. Last night we showed up as a party of 9 and did not overwhelm the seating or the one person working...at least we only saw one, and he was wonderful. Our server was friendly and very helpful with questions about the menu and the food and had a sincere smile while doing so. He even shared some of our laughter when a friend didn't heed his warning to be careful with a particular item being hot...as in spicy.
The menu is very limited, but was sufficient for everyone to find something to try. The main menu includes appetizers; entrees of chicken, lamb, fish and kabobs (beef/chicken); along with daily specials. By 7:30 on a Friday night, the daily specials were gone.
We started off with neems, an appetizer that resembles an egg roll, and another that was a deep fried turn over filled with spicy (but not hot) beef. The neems were especially good.
With nine of us we managed to order a nice variety, and as we have a tendency to share...I got to try a little of everything. (The only entree not ordered was the fish). The chicken, a whole chicken, was dark brown from being deep fried and smelled wonderful. It did not disappoint. The seasoning had been stuffed into the meat and it retained the flavor. It was a little spicy but not hot. The lamb was a little tough, but that may be the character of lamb...as this is not usual fare for me. It had a grilled over charcoal flavor. The beef kabob was very good, but the piece I tried was a little undercooked for my taste. The entrees were served with an onion side dish, grilled onion in a spicy sauce with olives. We each opted for couscous or rice as a side. A nice balance to the spicy food.
There was a couple of unusual options on the beverage list, one made from hibiscus was an unusual but not unpleasant flavor. The other was a tea that we were warned was very strong and would keep us up all night. We didn't get it to find out.
The desert offered was a vanilla and sour cream concoction that was a thin, soup like consistency. Very odd by our standards of dessert. But again it seemed a balance to the spiciness of the food...we opted for the Homemade Pie & Ice Cream Kitchen not far away on Bardstown Road.
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Ignite the Night