Budapest Finally Gets an African Oasis
I have to admit that I was so excited to discover Savannah Africa, a cavernous new restaurant-café-nightclub near Teréz körút, that I immediately blew my cover as a food reviewer, and thus can't promise that your experience will be as friendly as mine. It is the mission of Savannah, and owner Ekiudoko O. Frank, a former professional footballer from Nigeria, to showcase the best dishes of Western African nations, with an eye to include food from all over Africa. Currently on the menu are samples of Senegalese, Tanzanian, Nigerian, Namibian and Ivorian cuisine.
Senegalese, the only West African cuisine I have any experience with, makes use of roots, leafy green vegetables, nuts and an array of spices, and employs a French Moroccan love of citrus and couscous to compliment the lamb, fish and chicken that are mainstays of the region. Despite the fact that my favorite dish: maffe, a grilled fish or chicken with peanut/tomato sauce over couscous, was not available, the cook was happy to prepare a grilled fish fillet and coconut rice that is offered each Friday until three in the afternoon as part of the daily lunch menu (FT 1,250/€4.2). I also tried the akara, doughy fritters of bean, pepper, and onion (Ft 450 Ft) that came freshly fried and packed with spice. The fish fillet, a type of shark (I was told) suffered for being frozen and served fairly unadorned (it really takes a piece of fresh fish to stand alone as such). That aside, the rest was wonderful. The guacamole-like avocado sauce balanced the fish's blandness, and the fried coconut rice was also wonderful. There is no shortage of spice used at Africa Savannah, many of which are imported from Austria, where African spices are far more available than in Budapest.
As far as the lunch menu is concerned, it changes daily and ranges from Namibian spicy chicken wings, to chicken with Lagos salad (yams, greens and a spicy pepper dressing), to Ashanti chicken (drumsticks with peanut and tomato sauce). The regular menu is much more extensive, though with the restaurant just a few months old, not everything is available (when I was there, but two out of seven or so appetizers were on offer).
To my mind, there is there is no such thing as a pan-African cuisine, though a reliance on yams and cassava seems like on commonality. But the rest can vary widely, from the Creole-like Ghanaian dishes to Tanzanian, with its use of heavy spicing and coconut milk. There are even a few penne dishes. I will be particularly excited when the ostrich steaks are made available, as the bird's meat is touted as low-fat and tender. But on my visit, I was lucky enough to sample Nigerian palm wine, which is really more like an alcoholic ginger ale than wine, for Ft 1,450 bottle. Also expected soon is an arrival of African Vita Malt beer, Mango wine, and an African brandy. I am not sure if they are biting off more than they can chew with such an extensive menu, but the place is entirely African run, and the food I had was well worth another visit.
Not surprisingly, the venue also serves as a meeting point for students and immigrants from around Africa, and there are African dance events on weekend nights in the huge backroom. Let's hope that the adventurous spirit of African Savannah isn't dampened by typical apathy local tastes bestow on unknown, ethnic cuisines. We don't really need more Turkish fast food, do we?
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Yes, we could use better turkish fast food: if it were good I'd eat it! How can you ruin Turkish street food?
As for African: there used to be a Mazambique owned eatery behind Keleti thta tried hard for three years. It was to spicy for local tastes, while the majority Nigerian clientele didn't want east African style food. If you de chop, you de go waka for egusi and gari-oooo. Na so, abi? Enjoyment, i de!
I don't know about that, D. The worst Turkish meal I have had was in Turkey.
I have nothing against this idea, but I am just wondering about the "African" theme. Is there anywhere in the world that you find a "European" "Asian" restaurant? Africa is a freaking HUGE continent and each country has their own special foods. As stated in your article, one of the reasons the Mozambique restaurant didn't work was because Nigerians didn't like the food. The only thing I would advise the owner of Savannah (who is a Nigerian), is to concentrate on Only Nigerian food....and rename the restaurant to Savannah Nigerian restaurant (The same way there are Chinese, Turkish, Georgian, Thai restaurants). I know that to the average Caucasian, anyone who is black is from Africa and we cannot be differentiated from one another.But I can say that even within Nigeria, there are many dishes that are region specific(Eko:Yoruba,Ofe-nsala:Igbo,Touo Sinkafa: Hausa...etc).
So Mr. Frank, focus on Nigerian foods, don't be a "jack of all trades and master of none". There are numerous challenges dealing with Nigerian foods alone, not to talk of African foods. Be proud of your country and don't be pushed into deceiving your self and naming anything that has to do with Black people...'African', this is just a recipe for disaster.
@Someone: Yeah, you are right that attempting a "pan-African" menu has risks, but I'd say Budapest is just waaaay too small for an eatery focused narrowly on one particular African cuisine. (Note that a Senegalese place I used to go in Vienna recently closed.) While I have not been to Savannah, I'd say I am the target audience for this, and I am okay with the idea of an okay or better (but maybe not 100% faithful) selection of different "greatest hits" from the continent. However, maybe a slight refinement on the idea would be to narrow it down and focus on West African food... chicken/fish yassa, jollof rice, etc. Anyway, all of us who love Africa and African food need to make sure we are constructive in our criticism of this, because it is going to be difficult for them to make it no matter how great it is. And I give my congrats for them even trying. Wonderful!
I recently took a trip to the restaurant with a few friends of mine. Our group included three Americans and one German (sorry, we'll bring a Hungarian next time). Our waitress was very sweet with good English. We asked her for recommendations and after a trip to the kitchen to consult with presumably the chef, she returned with a list of recommendations—all of which sounded delicious. I ended up ordering a roasted chicken dish with coconut rice, while my friends' dishes included an orange turkey dish with a yummy yellow rice, a dijon mustard chicken dish and a sort of mashed vegetable stew with pita bread. The wait for our food ended up taking over an hour. I suppose this wouldn't have been completely annoying if on top of having to wait for our food, we weren't completely ignored by the rest of the host staff (our waitress disappeared into the kitchen for the duration of our wait). Had we been attended to we all would have had our glasses of our various juice concoctions refilled, unfortunately however we had to wait until our meal was served to order more of the delicious mango wine, tropical fruit juice and coconut drink we had ran out of. The food itself was great and my friends and I all agreed that the food was worth returning for. However phoning in our order in advance may be a good idea.
What a shame the Hungarians in Budapest don't seem to be as adventurous as those in Melbourne,Australia.To succeeed witha Pan-African cuisined restaurant in Melbourne the menu has to be fairly short,the food has to be of absolute excellence and the restaurant itself has to have the true ambience of it's origin.Melbourne is the food Capital of Australia.....and silly me I was contemplating opening an "Australian" restaurant in Budapest..Oh well.
I recently went there in Feb 2010, my first time in Budapest (From London).... Although they did not have Big Stout mine favourite drink "Must have every friday" anyway we are spoilt for choice in London
I must stress that the food was very good and the atomsphere very pleasant...
Currently in Budapest again and spending the weekend because of volcano ash from iceland I will definitely be spending this Friday night @ Savannah. "I hope they have Ordeku,Baba Dudu this time around"