Tasie

Billusa99, First of all, I am flattered that you bothered to comment on this article about our new restaurant. I hope you stop by one of these days to treat your knowledgeable pallets to our food. I beg to differ and re-iterate, very strongly, that there is such a thing as African food. The culinary cultures of sub-Saharan African countries are very similar. You refer to "roasted wildebeest" but what you fail to understand is that what makes the cuisine is not what you cook but how you cook it. For example, a Portuguese would make "roasted wildebeest" very different from a Frenchman. However, a Kenyan would make "roasted wildebeest" very similarly to the way a Gabonese would make it. Generally, African food is rich in spices, irrespective of whether it is cooked in Mombassa, Douala, Luanda or Timbucktu. A Kenyan might call it "Nyamachoma", while a Senegalese calls it "Shukuya" but it still remains well spiced, grilled beef. Africans might speak in many different tongues but we all have very similar tongues (LOL, couldn't resist the pun). You would find yams not only in Tchad, but in Gambia and Ethiopia and everywhere in between. You would find plantains not only in Angola but in Sudan and Zambia and everywhere in between. And they would all be cooked very similarly. The Ivorian would fry plantains and call it "Aloko" while the Cameroonian would fry plantains in similar fashion and call it "Doh-doh." This might be getting too long and I wish I had your obvious intelligence and ability to make a point without rambling. The point I am struggling to make is that there is such a thing as African food and that is what we are serving (besides the French and Carribean dishes). We serve African food and call them by the most popular African names, for example, we call our grilled beef "nyamachoma" as the Kenyans call it as opposed to "shukuya" as the Senegalese call it. From "Ishewu" (Nigerian name) and "Poulet DJ" (Cameroonian name) to "Atieke" (Ivorian name) and "Jollof Rice" (Senegalese name), we serve a variety of dishes that you would find all over the 4 corners of our unique continent. And I would be honored if you chose to eat at Bijou.