One of my brothers is ALWAYS accusing me of not going to enough African restaurants. He trolls me constantly on instagram (and off) about this so I hope HE (who shall not be named) is reading this and is happy about this representation 😒

More and more “modern” West African restaurants are popping up in London and I’m so here for it! Give me all the fancy jollof and hibiscus mocktails!

Before you go out to eat, do you stalk the menu and insta of the restaurant or are you a weirdo who just shows up on the day with no prior menu info?

I do A LOT of stalking and reading to decide what I want before I go to eat. I like to anticipate!

I had read a lot about the dishes I had to try at Chishuru and I was ready for the waina and for the chargrilled cauliflower. I was VERY VERY ready and excited. Unfortunately, they weren’t on the menu when I went 😩 The menu is updated/ switched around which is fair I guess, but sad for me and my taste buds that had been anticipating having masa (or waina).

I had come all the way to Brixton and I wasn’t gonna go look for something else to eat when there were other perfectly fine options on offer.

After being greeted by very friendly wait staff, I sat and googled words I saw on the menu cos I didn’t quite know what they all were.

“Ekuru” – what is that? I thought. White moi moi! 🤯 Didn’t know that existed. I only knew moi moi that was orange so this sounded very foreign to me. Read on to see if I got it and what I thought!

One thing about all the food at Chishuru, everything was well seasoned and we love that over here! Say no to bland food kids.

To drink, I got the “hibiscus” drink which is zobo/sobolo for those who know. BANGED! Was perfectly sweetened too.

As I was patiently waiting for my food, the chef wanted to know if there was anything she could offer me in the meantime and 🥺🥺 These good vibes? 💉💉LOVE THEM

Okay, back to this Ekuru that had caught my eye..

Made from black eyed peas and watermelon seeds, what makes it different from moi moi according to google is that no red pepper mix is added to it. Maybe no palm oil as well? (if you know more, educate me pleaseeee). It’s served here with a pumpkin seed pesto and a scotch bonnet sauce. I really enjoyed this even though it was a bit spicy for me (my spice tolerance is quite low FYI- don’t judge).

Next up, the grilled prawns with pepper soup spices.

With flavourful seafood dishes like this, the pescatarian life really doesn’t look too bad you know? Might try it out soon.

Time for the mains.

I got the Kedjenou. Which is a creamy Ivorian chicken stew (google to the rescue again 😊) I really feel like not enough people use google just to do some basic fact checking. Why this?

The sides on offer come as a set of 3. Rice, plantain and a cucumber salad. Sign me up!

The plantain wasn’t as ripe as i like 😔

No individual pic of the cucumber salad so here’s a “summary” pic of my main course!

I was expecting something more tbh. This is an iteration of rice and stew, which i don’t mind but was expecting something more for sure. The vibes I get from the food at Chishuru? Good home cooking vibes.

And now, dessert time!

Plantain (!!!) and baobab ice cream with lime granita. I LOVEEEDD this so much. The contrasting flavours 🤯 The ice cream was sweet and creamy and the granita had just enough tang to compliment it. SO SO GOOD. Gonna need a tub of this pleaseeee.

Not only do I stalk restaurants on instagram before I go, I do it after as well to see what other people are eating and what else is on offer! From my post-meal stalking, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to go back to Chishuru and try everything on the menu! Hoping that the next time I go, the waina and peanut cauliflower are on the menu 🤞🏽

And with that, I bid you goodbye for now.

See you on the next post ✌🏾

Tysm for reading!