3346 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL - (773)665-1100
I decided to try a completely new dish and came across this African restaurant while out for a stroll so I stepped in for a bite. I had dinner plans in an hour's time, so I only ordered a soup (yes, I went out to eat right before I went out to eat).
I haven't the faintest idea about African food, so I asked the waiter to pick out a soup and he recommended the Ewedu soup which is "whipped Jute leaves cooked with spices" and chose the goat meat and pounded yam to go with it. After ordering, a woman came out of the kitchen and asked if I was sure I wanted that because it's a slimey soup, and I told her I would be fine because I wanted to try something new.
I guess she wasn't convinced I could stomach "something new," because she came back with the soup separated in parts. In addition, she generously threw in another plate of something spicy for me to try. Unsure of how to go about eating it, she told me they eat with their hands.
First, she took a spoonful of the lumpy orange concoction, which appears to be a tomato based soup with chunks of goat meat mixed into it.
Then she dumped it over the slimey green stuff, which from what I can gather, is the whipped Jute leaves and also the "slimey" part she warned me about.
Then she told me to take my right hand and tear a bit of the white pounded yam, which has a texture similar to mashed potatoes, but firmer. And then I was to take that bit and scoop up the mixture with it and that's how it's eaten.
This last picture is the bonus plate she let me taste, and honestly, I have no idea what it was, except that it reminded me of spinach, and it was very spicy.
Unfortunately, a few pictures turned out blurry and I'm going to blame it on a) being in a hurry to go to dinner and b) my camera being on the verge of breaking (it broke on the very next picture).
All in all, the meal had a very Indian feel to it, except instead of dipping nan into everything, it was dipping pounded yam instead. It was nothing that really knocked my socks off, but I'm definitely interested in trying some more dishes now.
4 comments:
Awesome. That looks interesting and yeah it reminds me of Indian food to, Northern Indian specifically. The "green slimey" thing reminds me of one of my favourite northern Indian dishes, Palak Paneer (basically spinach in mush form). Anyways, first pic is good, 2nd and 3rd pic is shit, you need to start listening to me and get that new camera DAMN IT.
besides this, the menu mentioned plantains on many of their dishes and a few of the other soups involved watermelon seed. i don't recall any indian dishes based on those so those were some of the others i thought were worth checking out.
Cool pics. Any idea which african country these dishes are from? Given the foufou(the pounded yam thing), i would guess west african, like Nigerian or something. I've seen food truck that also says Bolat African Cuisine parked near downtown chicago. Seems like it caters mostly to cab drivers.
i saw a newspaper clipping on the wall stating that Bolat's "Nigerian" food was full of flavor, but there's also a section on the menu for Ghanian food so it might be a collection of foods from different countries.
Post a Comment