African Cuisine and our Restaurants in London Part 2 (The Squires Restaurant Experience)

The African food is a delight and our spices, whether hot or mild are truly special. I am now on a mission to identify the best places to eat African Food in London, I love eating out and I want to let my friends know without a shadow of doubt the place to catch the best ambience, fantastic service, money well-spent food, authentic African cuisine that surely reminds one of home, clean environment you are not going to worry about food poisoning and the place you feel like its home away from home.

I have had several meals at Squires Café and African Restaurant, it’s just opposite the popular MacDonald’s in Canning Town off Barking Road in London. They serve a variety of Nigerian food and only recently started serving breakfast too. You know the Yam with Fried Eggs or Fried sauce type, the Ogi and Moin Moin with Carnation milk and all that stuff, well, they do that and more. They are most popular for what is called ABULA, that is Amala with tomato sauce (Obe Ata), diced assorted meat, ewedu and Gbegiri (made from beans).

I opted to check out Squires last weekend for the purpose of this review. As stated earlier, I have been there several times, on one occasion with a good friend of mine Yemi Shodimu, a renowned broadcaster, Actor and currently Special Adviser to Ogun State Government. Please note that on all occasions I have paid for my meal and this review is completely independent.

The location of Squires Café and African Restaurant is good in that it is truly difficult to miss because there are several landmarks around it. Their ABULA, which I thoroughly enjoy on every occasion, gives one the authentic taste of home cooked meal from the western part of Nigeria.

They did well in ensuring the quantity of ewedu and gbegiri were spot-on so you get the flavor of both and when you mix both with the “pepper sauce or tomato sauce” as some would call it, the blend and taste is obviously classic. They serve this in a big china bowl with the sauces covering the Amala completely. What you see is the mouthwatering assorted diced meat, which includes, shaki (Tripe), ese-eran (cow-leg), beef and other meaty stuff, that with every spoonful you take, a piece of meat goes with it J

I had a taste of my friend’s Tuwo in Abula style and on this occasion it tasted a wee-bit like ground rice rather than cornmeal. The Squires’ Jollof Rice has a good balance of mild and hot. If you do not have the stomach for hot pepper you may be able to handle the fairly mild power that hits the back of your palate, so you are not likely to go watery-eyed or red-faced (in the case of our Caucasian brothers/sisters).

The food that my friends and I ate were quite good, but I spoke with another client who had just finished the breakfast at Squires Café and African Restaurant. The couple said they were not happy with their meal. The gentleman said the Yam and Egg was good but not much better than what his wife would cook, makes me wonder how good or bad his wife is J

Meanwhile the wife with a grim look on her face said she came just to enjoy the Ogi (Pap) and Moin Moin, but was disappointed by the fact that the Ogi was a bit on the cold side and too thick. Infact, her words were that it was more like Eko than the usual lighter Ogi she looked forward to. She also complained that the Moin Moin was not rich, as it only had tiny piece of Sardine and a bit of egg in it. Their experience was not great, but I must balance that with the fact that I have enjoyed all meals I had at Squires.

The service is good as I recalled the staff checking I was happy with our meal a couple of times and even offered extra meat because he heard me saying the quantity of their meat seem a bit less than previous times. The meals range from about £5 to £8 depending on what you are eating and the portion size is truly African. I could not finish my Abula and I think it may be a good idea to reduce the portion and the pricing to make it greater value for money.

The environment is quite clean and the staff clean up quickly after clients to ensure they maintain the tidy look. The have sky tv on and you can request a channel to watch, but the audio is not on so you have to make do with the text on screen to know what is being said while African music is on in the background.

I would rate it as a 3 Star because of the size and ambience, though the food and service will be more like 4 star. The only others are that African Restaurants have to work on is the presentation of food and Squires Restaurant does not stand out either. The presentation is just average. My rating is based on the fact that I am a fan of nouveau cuisine and would love to see African Restaurants aspire to presentation of food and creation of restaurant ambience that will enable them compete with any eatery anywhere in the world.

OK, next port of call, I am not sure yet, but will surely write another review shortly. I will at some point soon be looking at analysis that will highlight how African Cuisine could be presented to enable international community reckon with and appreciate what we have just as they now do the Indian Curry and Chinese/Japanese Cuisine.

Please comment below and suggest restaurants in London you would recommend I visit next. To be continued, Part 3 next…