You see, I try to remain objective, especially when critiquing food from a different culture. It's almost like you invite for a traditional home-cooked meal, but get a tirade when you ask how it was. With all that, I'll award them some benefit-of-the-doubt, but still, the stew remains inedible. To be fair, this has as much to do with me (and my tastebuds) as it does with the food.
Ordered: Ginger Beer (nonalcoholic), Liberian Jollof Rice, Egusti Stew (comes with pounded yam).
Ginger beer was perhaps my favorite thing that night. Some sweetness, hearty amount of spice! No carbonation in this one, but considering it is house-made, carbonation is a bit tougher!
Jollof rice (Liberian variant) was uninspired. I was expecting something different and with oomph, this wasn't it. It was rice mixed with veggies and some meat. Solid for sure with decent albeit mild flavors, but not much else. Again, nothing wrong per se, just not worth the trip. Oi, and the fried plantains and fried dough balls were similarly humdrum, only they felt like they'd just swam laps in a pool of oil.
Egusti Stew... there's something fishy about this one, REALLY fishy. so much so, it made the stew inedible. For lack of a better description, it was meat (chicken, maybe?) and stockfish in an insanely strong fish sauce/broth. Then there were the bones... I don't mean large chicken bones (these were there too), but these tiny little bones you have to fish out of your mouth with your hands. It doesn't help that the stew was extremely heavy on the oil either. I could tell there was some good spice there, but the fish quickly gulped it all down.
Pounded Yam was an interesting starch! I will say it could benefit from some spice, though to be fair it is meant to be eaten with the stew, which was flavor by itself.
The owner, who took care of us was extremely nice and sweet.
So, because I want to see this place thrive, my advice: a key to get people in the door and loving this stuff would be to make it more approachable. Don't misunderstand: I'm not saying to replace the pounded yam with french fries, I am saying know your audience.
There will be people who will extol the Egusti stew until their last day... but they are the minority (citation needed) compared to others who cringe at the sheer memory of the flavor.
I'm beating around the bush with this advice, aren't I? Here are the specifics: Have dishes that are at least somewhat familiar and "comfortable" to the American tastebud, and add some traditional flair, but do not go overboard on it. Better yet, do what a Korean place I love did, have dishes with various degrees of funkiness (I mean this positively) so the guest can decide.
Unless the menu is revamped, I don't see myself returning here. My taste-buds won't have it. read more