This
restaurant really is what the name suggests; an experience. Having never tried
African cuisine before I was very eager to learn about this unique restaurant on
my visit to Gloucester.
My
partner and I walked into this restaurant and was greeted by an African gentleman.
We asked for a table for two and he asked if we’d booked. Naturally as this
was a spontaneous find we had not, and when we told him is he looked concerned.
He told us he’d see what he’d do, then after a few minutes
he came back and asked us to follow him. We were placed on a small table in
this small restaurant. We looked around the room and the entire restaurant
consisted of five tables, two large and three small, with a maximum of 20 customers
at any one time.
The
gentleman, who was our waiter apologised and told us that they did not do
alcohol in the restaurant. No alcohol? This was a strange experience, but we
smiled and ordered our Diet Cokes. As soon as the drinks arrived, we hear a
clatter of bottles as a group of five people arrived bottles of beer and wine
swinging in Supermarket bags, oh so that’s the way it’s done.
After
a few minutes of not receiving the menu I started to wonder what was going on.
This is when the waiter came over and explained, that they always make all of
their dishes fresh, which is why they normally have customers phone to book and
pre-order what they would like to eat so they can cook exactly what the
customers want. He then continued to explain that this is why we hadn’t been given the menu as they
weren’t equipped to cook something
fresh from the menu for us. However, he offered us a meal that comprised of a
selection of everything that had been cooked for that evening. Although, this
seemed a rather non-traditional offer at a restaurant, I jumped at the chance.
How often do you get to try a little bit of everything from the menu?
When
our dinner arrived, we had 8 different dishes and the waiter explained what
each dish was. We had; some lentil curry, a goat curry dish, a beef curry dish,
a chicken dish in a sauce with 15 different spices, a sweetcorn, pea and potato
dish, a lamb chop, rice and some roasted vegetables. It was array of colours
and flavours and the food really was something out of this world. It was
magnificent. Each dish was very flavorsome and had its own unique taste.
The
lamb chop had a nutty and smoky flavour, as the waiter told us and the
combinations were divine. The goat dish was definitely a first for me. The meat
was tender and flavoursome in a rich Sauce. The chicken was a curry, as already
mentioned with 15 spices. Each spice complimented the others and it was almost
like you could taste each one.
The
entire meal was a complete new experience for me. Mandazi then followed this,
which is an African dough desert with ginger and cinnamon. This was
delightfully served with Cornish ice cream, as the waiter joked a perfect
compliment to the African food. However, this desert was sweet and flavousome
and was thoroughly enjoyed. The texture of the Mandazi was very unexpected, not
as stodgy as it looks but a mixture of moist in the middle and crispy on the
outside.
Our
waiter who is the C in C & W’s African
experience turned out to be from Kenya and he explained how he started the
restaurant two years ago basically from scratch. He said how busy it gets with
the tables being fully booked for Friday and Saturdays about two months in
advance. Although this is unsurprising considering the size of the restaurant,
it is still a noticeable accomplishment form the nothing the business was
started with. As we were leaving, the chef, who is the W, poked her head around
the door of the kitchen to thank us for our custom, which was returned with a
flush of compliments from us about our magnificent dinner.
If
I were to go to Gloucester again, this restaurant would be the first point of
call. Although, in future we may phone in advance, and maybe even suggest a new
dish to the menu, a C & W special, which is exactly what we had.
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