Lagos Bistro – A piece of Lagos brought to Abuja.

A year ago I badly wanted to visit Lagos bistro but I couldn’t. What I didn’t know at the time was that it was actually a good thing because this year they relocated to a bigger and better location with an incredible new menu. When I saw this I knew 2020 wasn’t going to end without me visiting it.

Lagos bistro Is located at no 7 Hombori Street Wuse 2, opposite best premier hotel, Abuja Nigeria. It is a restaurant/cafe that serves quite a large number of dishes ranging from traditional African, English, and of course some famous Lagos dishes like Ewa-agoyin, ofada rice and so much more. The restaurant features a beautiful outdoor and indoor space. This blog post will cover both spaces, the menu, the food & my general Lagos bistro experience. So, grab a seat, relax and get comfortable because its going to be a long read.

Outdoor space

The outdoor space is actually quite larger than indoors which has a lesser seating capacity. It features a garden section for drinks, shisha & private dining booths. There’s also a kids play area which is very safe for little kids. Generally, the outdoor sitting area is quite neat and is beautifully decorated with several murals, flowers and lights.

The one thing that stood out for me outdoors was a series of private booths located in the garden area. It’s like a tiny air conditioned box that is beautifully decorated with lights and flowers. It has a sitting capacity of 6. Out of my raging curiosity I decided to ask about it, I wanted to know if they were to be reserved or they are open to the public. I was told that the booths are to be reserved for a maximum of 6 people and reservation for each booth costs NGN5,000 for 2hours.

Indoor space

I have one word for the Lagos bistro interior, STUNNING!!!! The entrance alone speaks for itself. Inside Lagos bistro is in two parts – upstairs and downstairs. Both are equally beautifully designed but with slightly different themes.

Downstairs has to be my favourite because of the vibrant colours. It has a lounge/chill/cafe kind of vibe. Both up and down spaces have large windows but downstairs appears much more brighter because of the vibrant colours used in the interior. I have never seen so much patterns in a space working together so perfectly. From the ‘sis eko’ mural on the wall to the aztec print chairs and marble table tops, everything was a 10 for me. Each table had this really cool call to action button that you can press whenever you need something from the waiters instead of yelling out to them or having to stand up and find one. What I couldn’t get over were the floors. Naturally I would say the busy tiling on the floor wouldn’t fit in with all the print but they found a way to make it work. Another admirable thing about the space was the fact that they were sockets at almost every sitting point which comes very handy. They have very large windows but didn’t fail to put blinds that you can pull down if the sunlight ever becomes a problem. The space was quite cozy and well air conditioned. The male and female bathrooms are also downstairs together with the kitchen. The downside to this part of the restaurant is the size, it’s quite small. Even though the space was efficiently utilised, it had a seating capacity of less than 25 people.

Moving up to the other part of the restaurant I have to say its my least favourite space. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like it’s horrible but it’s just a little bit confusing and hmmmm I don’t know the word to use. On one side there was a bar which had upholstered booth seats, and on the other side was a formal dining area. The bar was pretty cool because it was on old bus converted into a bar. The other side with the formal dining area had noting exciting about it, it was just dull. there was an old Mercedes Benz which was converted into a kind of buffet serving area which was cool but I wasn’t really feeling it in that particular space. In my opinion if they wanted to go for a full on formal dining space, they should have excluded that part and just gave it a fancier and more formal look.

The Menu

I have to be honest, Lagos bistro has one of the largest restaurant menus I’ve seen in Abuja. The menu features a ton of varieties from local Nigerian dishes to international dishes. There’s a pizza menu, food menu and drinks menu which totals to about 12-15 pages.(tough one right!)

The food

When you place an order at the restaurant, you are given a complimentary bowl of puff puff to keep your mouth busy while you wait.

After several minutes of deliberation, here’s what I finally settled for;

Go Slow (salad & platter) with fried yam – NGN6,000

The go slow platter is a platter for 2. It had a combination of chicken wings, peppered gizzard, suya with a choice of either French fries or fried yam(I opted for fried yam).

At first, when the platter was brought to me I was a little bit disappointed because it looked small and my first thought was is this supposed to be for 2 people?? My perspective definitely changed after I dived in. I tried the suya first and I was instantly amazed because it tasted great. The suya wasn’t dry like I expected, it was quite moist and tasty, like it was dipped into a special kind of sauce. The gizzard was equally tasty and I loved the inclusion of bell peppers (because I’m a veggie kinda girl). The wings were honestly quite small even though they tasted nice. Generally, I do not enjoy thick yam slices. I prefer my yam slices thin and crunchy but this yam right here was different. Although it was thick it still had a crunchy texture on the outside. I didn’t know when I went from one bite to eating four yam strips.

House burger – NGN3,600

The house burger was made of a bistro burger bun with a double decked patty chicken, beef, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, fresh lettuce, cucumber, butter, mayonnaise, bistro burger sauce ketchup, honey and mustard. The house burger comes with a side of French fries and ketchup.

The minute this burger arrived, all that was in my head was ‘Siri play juicy by darkoo’ because…….. this burger was JUICYYY! First things first yeah, thank God it had no pickles in it because I’m not a fan. A lot of restaurants tend to add pickles to their burger and I really do not like it. Not only was this baby beautiful to look at, it was also delicious. It had a perfect amount of everything ingredient used and it was so satisfying. I instantly went into a food coma after this burger. I would totally recommend it for anyone searching for a great burger in Abuja.

Drinks; Bistro starter & Bistro booster – NGN5,000

The bistro booster & bistro starter were both natural smoothies. Each smoothie cost NGN2,500. The bistro starter which is in the first slide is a combination of apple, banana, sweet pear, pineapple and watermelon. The bistro booster on the other hand is a combination of apple, banana, pineapple & beetroot.

The bistro starter was quite delicious. It had the rough and unfiltered texture of the blended ingredients which is expected of every natural smoothie. The most significant taste was the pineapple. The other ingredients weren’t really obvious but they added a sweet and unique taste.

The bistro booster also had the same texture but with a different taste. Beetroot usually has a very pronounced flavour when used in anything really and this case wasn’t different. Beetroot being the queen bee of vegetables overshadowed the other ingredients used in the smoothie and there wasn’t really a taste of other ingredients. It was great regardless and I preferred it over the bistro starter.

Sundae brownies – NGN3,000

You know how they say you’re never fully dressed without a smile. Well a lunch date is never really complete without dessert! (wise words from Rukky Ambursa). After ordering that juicy burger and going into a food coma I honestly thought I was done, but after one more look at the menu I just knew I couldn’t leave without having a taste of these brownies. As a sucker for brownies I’ve tried out several brownie recipes and I’ve always preferred my brownies with a hard/crunchy crust with a little moisture inside and I got just that. The brownie plating was really superb. It was topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and banana pieces.

The brownie had a hard/crunchy crust, just a little while longer in the oven and it would have turned out too hard. Inside the brownie was moist but not too moist, it was just alright to be honest. The banana topping gave it an extra sweetness and it really complimented the ice cream topping.

Water – NGN420.00

Nothing like a glass of water with a lemon slice to finish off a great lunch right? The water is served at room temperature with a glass of ice cubes and a slice of lemon to go with it. A bottle of water costs NGN210.00. (Its a small bottle by the way)

Total bill

The sub total bill was NGN18,020. However there was an inclusion of 7.5% VAT (1,257.21) and a service charge of 5% (838.14). Making a total of NGN18,858.14.

General service review

All in all I would like to say that I was pretty impressed with Lagos bistro. Their service is great, they have well trained and polite staff. However, the one thing I didn’t like was how much time it took to get my order. When you place an order it takes about 30-40 minutes to receive the order. I also recent learnt from @abujacitytourist that its a general complaint from most of their customers. I must say, they really hit the nail on the head with their restaurant. Their ambience is 100% , they have amazing food, and I must really add that their chefs have good plating skills. I would really love to work with them in the future to create something amazing for my followers. You can check out a vlog of my visit to Lagos bistro on my instagram page @rukky_ambursa.

I hope you all enjoy reading this blog post as much as I loved eating at Lagos Bistro.

DISCLAIMER

This post is not an ad.