What I managed to mange in Togo

By -
Ne dis à personne que j'adore manger! Don't tell anyone that I love to eat! Msiniseme kama anapenda kula! I was keen on trying different Togolese dishes while in Lome last weekend. The first place I went after arriving was a Pizzeria to go meet some Global Shapers. I told them, "I want to know the best places for pizza in Lome but I definitely didn't come to eat pizza here". And from what happened while in Lome, I didn't come to Togo to go eat rice either. Now, that's pretty awesome :-)

My first real meal in Lome was at a spot (I still don't know the name). I was there with +Wilfried Toussiné & +Amen AMOUZOU. We had akpan which is made of corn dough, together with some peppery sauce & mayonaise. We ordered two big tilapias and a lot of fried plantain. The food was tatalalicious to say the least. No wonder Wilfried's friend Rachel was oohing and aahing about Togolese food being better than Ghanaian food. Even the tilapia. The spot didn't have any Bissap which was disappointing. Amen got a coke - they have huge bottles of coca cola. Wilfried got a Youki drink. I followed the drinks seller to his fridge to see all he had to offer. I ended up picking a canned drink that is actually wine. Yeah, canned wine. Only in Togo :-)
The next day, Wilfried called me saying that her mother was going to make fufu. I didn't know Togolese had their own fufu. Even the Ewes in Ghana don't really have fufu. No, Wilfried's mum was not changing her Sunday cooking menu to suit me. They were just going to have fufu. I headed over to Wilfried's maison and we had fufu with guinea fowl soup. The soup was unlike anything I'd seen or had, it had garden eggs in it. I liked, favorited, plussed and retweeted. We had 2 Youkis - pom pom and mixed fruits.
My pal +GABRIELLA KODJO came to pick me up and we headed to Pure Plage. +Christopher Balliet joined us there. Pure Plage is really nice! It's a relatively new beach in Lome, folks were surprised how I even knew about it. But why should you be? Je suis le Mighty African. We had all cocktails but like I normally do, I got the cocktail with the most sounding African name. Bora Bora. It had a lot of tropical fruits in the mix too. I left Pure Plage for Restaurant Belle-Vue to see +Coco Van Mensvoort (of Sugacane fame) who I know via +Museke. It's interesting to note that Belle-Vue has a Pizzeria and then a restaurant. I actually met a guy called Ato having dinner with Coco and her friend. Yeah, what are the chances of seeing 2 Ato's together in Togo droit!? They were finishing off dinner so I headed off to mine.
A friend had suggested I eat akoumé while in Lome. Word got to Wilfried's mum that I wanted some and in the evening, she hooked me up big time for dinner. She added ademe as a sauce with lots of fish. Youki might be more popular than Coca Cola if what I saw in Lome is anything to go by. Wilfried loves Alvaro and wants to see it in Lome. I want to see more bottles of Bissap, that's whatsup!
On my way back to Accra, Wilfried took me to a really nice pastry called Saveurs du Monde. I got a sandwich that reminded me of Subway in the US. Yeah, it's not really local but you know Togo is a country heavily influenced by France. I had a ham sandwich, The rest of the detail is in the tweet above. I took the prospectus of the pâtisserie as a souvenir. Hehe.
We bought Tampico as the liquid accompaniment for the solid. I walked into Accra and finally boarded a car to Accra. And then I head some woman shouting "Tsofi! Chofi!" Guilty pleasure. It's my pleasure. I bought some of the banned substance because I love it and I can't find it in many places. It's rather interesting to have found it right near Togo. Do banned substances in Ghana go towards our borders? Maybe. If it's food, give me more. J'aime manger. When I had dinner tonight - rice and stew - I realised I had just done a weekend without rice. Cuisine Togolaise est bon. I wanted to have hanvi dokpome but couldn't find some readily. Next time. More Togolese Cuisine :-)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Official Pick-up lines to try out for fun

By -
A friend and I were discussing pick up lines the other day and if they do work, etc. They've been a few that I've wanted to use but I haven't mustered enough courage to try them. I'm still collecting my thoughts for that blog entry on women too. Earlier today, I realised my cousin had tagged me in some note full of pick-up lines and that list was hilarious. I have now run out of excuses to try some pick-up lines. After all, what do I have to lose? Don't I want to actually see what will happen? Won't I have some juicy stories to tell? I would, that's why I will be picking out of these pick-up lines next time I am inna di club or some other appropriate or unappropriate location. So here goes - I can't find my puppy, can you help me find him? I think he went into this cheap motel room. Let's do breakfast tomorrow. Should I call you or nudge you? Yo Baby, you be my Dairy Queen, I'll be your Burger King, you treat me right, and I'll do it yo...
Read more

Learnt how to say "What is your name" & "My name is" in 23 African languages

By -
Depending on which country I am in and who I am speaking to, I can have 1 out of about 7 names. You probably know my real one, but you do know my Ugandan , Kenyan , Nigerian , Ethiopian , Tanzanian and South African ones? Or my real other name which I use to call myself when I meet some lucky lady I feel like saying it to? Just in case, you happen to be in certain place or country and you feel you have to pull one of these out, let's learn how to say " What is your name " and " My name is " in 23 African languages. :-) Thanks to my friends who helped me pull this list together recently as I had missed writing blog posts such as these. Akan: Wo din de s ɛ n?   Me din de .. Yeah, name in Twi is "din". It might be more popular to hear people say  Y ɛ fr ɛ  wo s ɛ n? &  Y ɛ fr ɛ me ... which directly translates to "What do we call you? & We call me...  Ga: Te ats ɛ ɔ  kbo t ɛ ŋ ŋ ? Ats ɛ ɔ  mi..  I learnt this once but I don...
Read more

Learnt how to say "Thank You" in 23 African languages

By -
Today, I learnt how to say "Thank You" in yet another African language. So let me take a stab at seeing if I can say "Merci" in 23 African languages. And let's share some small attendant info. :-) Akan: Medaase . What you thought I wouldn't add my mother tongue? Some folks can't say what "thank you" is in their lingua francas. Such a fracas. Don't belittle this at all at all. Ga: Oyiwaladonn . I don't remember when I learnt this but I do know I learnt to say "Nnuu Ga" (I can't speak Ga) during the time I came to Accra to represent KNUST JSS in Kiddie Quiz and me and my Kumasi-living mates were testing our Ga knowledge. Ewe: Akpe . I love saying "Akpe kakaa" and I am not sure why. Dagbani: Ti pagi da . Yeap, Jemila Abdulai taught me this one. Thrice. You can also say Mpagya . Hausa: Na gode . I should have known this a long time ago but thanks to Manre Chirtau, I will not forget this one. Ever. Alafia lo! S...
Read more