Delicious spaghetti |
The last blog post i wrote focussed on very affordable restaurants in Lagos , Nigeria and this review will touch on a slightly more expensive restaurant called Craft Gourmet by Lou Baker based in Victoria Island’s Mega plaza mall. It was quite a surprise that a gem of a place was hiding in what i can only describe as an outdated looking mall. You pretty much know you are in for a treat however on entering the restaurant. Wide open spaces, tons of lighting, white table tops, wooden floors and potted plants makes you feel like you walked into an upmarket restaurant in London bridge. I had to look behind me as the door felt like something out of Narnia.
Now i mentioned wide open spaces with tons of lighting because we Nigerian’s have made eating in the dark an art form. Blame it on electricity issues, but most Nigerian restaurants have visited in Lagos or London tend to focus a lot on bold colour schemes with black uninviting windows. The food’s always decent, but the actual decor itself always fall short. So in a way i was glad to see that Craft Gourmet managed to marry up all the good ideas that create a decent restaurant.
Narnia’s cupboard : Craft gourmet |
Crafts gourmet |
My cousin was in a bit of a rush so we ordered 2 quick dishes , a craft peppercorn steak and a spicy shrimp pasta. My pasta was swimming in a spicy tomato sauce with strong hints of basil and garlic. A toning down of the heat and basil would have elevated this dish a bit and a squeeze of lemon would have added an extra dimension to the flavours. That said however it was a solid plate of food with a generous portion of tasty shrimps to boot. The smile on my face while staring at the plate speaks volumes.The shrimp pasta came in at a modest 8500 Naira ( £21).
Tons of spicy shrimps in tomato sauce: Spicy shrimp pasta |
How to get my cousin to share his steak |
The next dish we had or should i say my cousin ( Segun) had , was a creamy peppercorn steak that excited my tastebuds. I had to use the ” i need to taste this for my readers line” a few times during the meal. The creamy peppercorn sauce was simply perfect. it was rich and ridiculoulsy moorish. The welldone steak and sauce combination complimented each other perfectly. The craft peppercorn steak set us back about 6000 Naira ( £15 ).
Cream heaven : craft peppercorn steak |
Moorish dish indeed |
There goes our quick meal at this lovely restaurant. I hope to visit again in August as there were quite a few things on the menu that stood out. The leg of lamb sounds delish. Hope you had a nice read and see you soon readers. I have a brunch post in mind, so look out for the next post. That said, if i do visit somewhere that catches my eye then things will quickly change ofcourse 🙂