West African fare has exerted a profound influence on America’s food culture with such dishes as collard greens, fried chicken, gumbo, and hoppin’ john (black-eyed peas and rice). But a new wave of West African migration arrived more recently, beginning around 1980. Nigerian immigrants arrived at about the same time, riding the crest of an oil boom that transformed the country’s economy. There are now at least 75 West African restaurants in the city by my estimate, mainly in the middle Bronx, Harlem, Jamaica, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. The countries represented include Senegal, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Togo, Mali, Nigeria, and Ghana. The food is distinctive and delicious, based on starches like rice and white yam fufu topped with meat, fish, and poultry sauces often referred to as soups.
This article delves into some of the most extraordinary West African restaurants in New York City, with a special focus on Nigerian cuisine available in the Bronx.
Top Nigerian Restaurants in the Bronx
The Bronx is home to a vibrant community of West African immigrants, and this is reflected in the diverse and delicious food scene. Here are some notable restaurants offering Nigerian dishes:
Balimaya
Balimaya is a nice casual place on a major thoroughfare.
Location: 2535 3rd Ave., The Bronx, NY 10451, USA
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Phone: (718) 401-1122
Fouta Halal
Located in the Soundview section of the Bronx, which is now home to many West African immigrants from Senegal and Guinea, Fouta’s halal menu combines dishes from both cuisines. The interior has a clubhouse feel, and men sit around in robes and skullcaps eating bowls of fluffy white polished rice and sauce de feuilles made with sweet potato leaf, or lamb mafe decorated with a single scotch bonnet pepper. First-time visitors are made welcome, and French and English are readily spoken.
Location: 1762 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY 10472, USA
Phone: (718) 792-1700
Papaye
Situated on the Grand Concourse, with another location in Morrisania, Papaye (“doing good”) is a Ghanaian spot that landed on our latest update of the Eater 38. Owned by Osei Bonsu and managed by his nephew Kwame Bonsu, nearly everything on the large menu can be made on request, in contrast to the three or four dishes available at any given time at many other West African restaurants. Try the mashed rice called omo tuo, along with a stew of goat in peanut butter sauce. It’s served with a relish or two, a cube of salty Maggi, and fried fish, which comes smothered in a mustard mince of onions and tomatoes. Fried chicken and roast lamb are offered, and a stew or two is often available, thickened with okra and palm oil. Grin also serves espresso, a ubiquitous vestige of French colonialism in Ivory Coast.
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Location: 454 E 168th St, Bronx, NY 10456, USA
Phone:(718) 292-8764
Other West African Restaurants in New York City
While this article focuses on the Bronx, it's worth noting some other excellent West African restaurants in other boroughs:
- Africa Kine: Founded in 1996 on the strip of West 116th Street known as Le Petit Senegal. It’s one of the few places in town you can get the African Vietnamese spring rolls called nems and other starters. Attieke served with fish - fried whole fish on a bed of fermented manioc meal - is always available, and there are also Guinean leaf-based sauces and peanut stews from Senegal with lamb or chicken.
- Accra: Located in Central Harlem, Accra is a Ghanaian restaurant owned by Ayesha Abdullah, done up in colorful cafeteria style. The spacious dining room is lined with photos of African politicians like Kofi Annan and entertainers like Angélique Kidjo.
- Africana: Located in Jamaica, close enough to JFK to catch the traffic. Unlike neighboring Tropical Grill, Africana seems like a small cafe rather than a nightclub. It’s also the name of one of the city’s oldest Senegalese restaurants, founded in 1995 by the Diagne family.
| Restaurant | Location | Cuisine | Specialty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balimaya | 2535 3rd Ave., The Bronx, NY 10451, USA | West African | Various West African dishes |
| Fouta Halal | 1762 Westchester Ave, Bronx, NY 10472, USA | Senegalese/Guinean | Halal dishes |
| Papaye | 454 E 168th St, Bronx, NY 10456, USA | Ghanaian | Omo tuo with goat stew |
| Africa Kine | Harlem | Senegalese | Attieke with fish |
| Accra | Central Harlem | Ghanaian | Steam table dishes |
| Africana | Jamaica | Senegalese | Beans with dodo |
Temporary restaurants soon became permanent ones, and West African restaurateurs attracted customers outside of their fellow immigrants.
The classic beans with dodo (fried plantains) make a nice meal, with or without fried fish, or you might explore the multiple leaf- and seed-based sauces. They include egusi (made with melon seeds) and edikaikong (waterleaf and pumpkin). A range of mashes like fufu (white yam) and amala (cassava flour) are available to go with the sauces.
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Owned by Abimbola Jawo, Tropical Grill affects a nightclub demeanor and is one of the few West African restaurants in town to offer a full bar. It also has a very long menu that reflects several styles of regional Nigerian cooking. From the north, it serves peanut-dusted suya kebabs and the doughnuts known as puff puff.
A first-timer could do worse than a serving of beans and dodo (fried plantain) or boiled yam and egg, both tasty but relatively unspicy. All the mainstays of Senegalese cuisine are presented, plus a few lesser-known dishes, such as sulukhu (fish in a peanut-and-okra sauce).
The menu makes few adjustments to perceived American taste, from gluey cowfoot stew and rubbery land snails to fiery goat and fish pepper soup.
