Saturday, February 27, 2010

Suya

A favorite food of Nigerians....skewered chicken or beef cooked over an open BBQ and sprinkled with spices, then wrapped are served in a piece of newspaper....all for only 200 naira. A great deal!

On a quiet Tuesday in January, Dan and I jump into our car with 3 other friends and drive down the street to a favorite suya hot spot. It is located at the end of a quiet, dead-end street behind a big unmarked gate. There we turn into a driveway and sneak into a parking spot. The renovated suya stand is quite impressive and very popular. (much bigger and better than it used to be) It is a large brick structure with a built in grill. There is a tall stack of newspaper sitting on the counter.

Our friend, who is a regular customer here, orders a variety of suya including a suya spiced fish and her favorite: suya gizzards. She send us upstairs to the "dining area" to find a table. So Dan and I head in that direction, climb the tight spiral staircase and start looking for a table. This is harder than it may seem: there are no lights and only enough room for 6 small tables. (this is more of a take-out establishment) We grab the only table that is open and start hunting up 5 chairs.

The food arrives, wrapped in newspaper, with several toothpicks as our only utensils. We do our best to stab the meat (and not each other) with the toothpicks as we begin to dig in. Luckily, there is a waiter on hand who can bring out beer and other beverages to "put out the fire" from the suya spices.

It was a great night; and no one was sick the next day!! (that is always a good thing)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

absolutely love suya !