Tuesday, February 07, 2006

The Weekend

I'm normally a homebody, so this was my "going out" weekend. I went "out" everyday from Friday through to Sunday - and by "out", I mean I went places that required me to be somewhat social, and not just to buy my weekly supply of yogurt and snacks for work (which I also did, BTW).

On Friday, I had dinner with friends at Yellow Chilli. This restaurant is tucked away somewhere behind Bar Beach Towers in a very low-key area. I had heard good things about the food there and was happy to discover that they were all totally warranted. The menu was Nigerian and my food was off the hook, so I will be back there. Afterwards, it was off to Thistle Bar for drinks and music. The crowd was somewhat older than I expected, but also far less pretentious. The bar obviously has its devoted crowd, who return there week after week - or at least so it seemed. The easy camaraderie was unlike anything that I had seen in any other Victoria-Island establishment. Aside from having to fend off a couple of slightly inebriated admirers and being subjected to deafening arguments about the energy and telecommunications sectors and (what else?) politics at the next table, I enjoyed the vibe there.

Saturday saw me attending an afro-salsa concert put on by the band Salvador Sango at the Goethe Institute. Salvador Sango, as the name implies, plays a fusion of African and Cuban beats and is led by Sotiris Papadopoulos, a Greek musician who has lived in Nigeria for the last 17 years. (This is totally off the topic and deserves it's own post, but foreigners who choose to live in Nigeria really intrigue me – particularly foreigners who are not making boatloads of money here. Nigeria is a beautiful country, with great weather and, mostly, friendly people, but it IS a tough place to be. Consequently, I have always thought of Nigeria as a place that only a Nigerian could love enough to live in, but of course I know enough people to disprove that notion.)
Afterwards, at Prime Chinese, I got an eyeful of something that I REALLY did not need to see: a girl wearing her jeans so low that her butt crack was in plain sight for all to see. Now WHY did we need to see that????

Moving on very swiftly .... on Sunday, courtesy of friends, I discovered an oasis of Indian food in Lagos. Hmm, the name fails me now, but it's called Bombay something or the other. I’m a big believer that all-you-can-eat offerings are usually not as well prepared as dishes that are specially prepared for you, but this buffet was actually quite good, so I can only imagine how good their food would be were I to go there at any other time. It was, all in all, a great weekend, though it felt very weird to have barely touched my computer or a book.

8 comments:

Frances Uku said...

Sounds like it was a fab weekend - when you "go out", you really do it big-girl style! =)

What sort of food is on the menu at Yellow Chilli? 'Nigerian' doesn't tell me much - I need specifics!

Ore said...

Oh, yes indeed, girl! I had a lot of fun.

Re: the food at Yellow Chilli, they had a good variety of Nigerian dishes (Uh-oh! That word again). I had Obe Dindin (translated = "fried stew") with white rice, which was VERY good. One of my friends had pepper soup and the other a mixed platter of fried plantain and different types of meat.

Now, I can't remember a lot of the other items on the menu, but I remember they had many different types of soups with eba or amala; jollof rice; and probably fried rice. They served easily recognised and popular dishes, and not those "fusion" dishes which many high-brow restaurants tend to serve.

uknaija said...

I love Thistle bar..the highlife there...

Ore said...

The highlife @ Thistle was great! Later on in the wee hours of the morning, the band started doing Bob Marley covers. By the time we left, my friends and I were the only people still there.

Pilgrimage to Self said...

Next time you go to thistle bar, try their Ise Ewu with hot white rice. Hmmmmmmmmm, to die for!!

Ore said...

@ Pilgrimage: Oh, I didn't know they served food too. Thanks for the recommendation.

Jeremy said...

Dear Ore

please can you find out the details of the Bombay ... restaurant. We will put it up on Lagos Live.

JW

Ore said...

Jeremy, it's the Bombay Palace Restaurant at Hotel Victoria Palace and located at Plot 1623, Saka Jojo Street, VI (Tel: 01 - 262 5901-08)