Hearts and Crafts: JIB CRAFTS: SOUL FOOD, The Restaurant

Hey sweetums!

How are you doing?

Trust you had a great weekend?

I did and I am here to share the how it all went down.

First off, a little back story...

My girl, Olaye (aka the cakist) and I made a pact in November to go out more in the new year. Monthly visits to restaurants, fun places or cities so that we could spice up our social life. To keep each other accountable, we established ground rules; one of which was an agreement that if either of us defaulted, the defaulter would refund the expenses to the other one, per outing.

Then there’s another friend of mine, Bissy; each year, Bissy and I would normally go out to grab a meal and catch up on life, walk with God, family, work and any other interesting thing that may be going on in our lives at the time. We tried to do this at least once a year; however, we couldn’t do so last year because of ‘you know who’.

To make up for lost time, we planned to visit a restaurant this past weekend and I must say that I was impressed with the restaurant we settled for.

I was killing two proverbial birds with one stone by fulfilling my commitment with Olaye while catching up with an amazing sister who has been instrumental to my growth in the past couple of years.

Due to the COVID - 19 directives that the state government had issued, it was difficult to find a restaurant where we could dine in. Our options shrunk further because I insisted that we should look for a place on the mainland, even though Bissy was open to go to the Island. It’s true that there are a lot more fun places and nice restaurants on the island, however. I am not a fan of going to the Island, unless I am left with no choice.

Even though, we thought our options would only be limited to Ikeja, especially the popular Isaac John Street in GRA; Bissy found Soul Food through their Instagram page, at the last minute.

I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised when I got to this restaurant on St. Finbarrs road, Akoka, very close to University of Lagos, Yaba.

You would almost miss it, unless you are paying close attention but I can tell you that this was a case of judging a book by its cover because....hmmm... I was impressed and this blog post is all about why.

Enjoy!

Soul food has amazing décor with an interior design that would allow your squad or date have an almost intimate experience, irrespective of how full the restaurant was at the time. I loved how the set up is a nice mix of casual and classy, where you wouldn’t feel out of place to go dressed up casually neither would you feel over dressed, if you had on a little date night gown and the works.

From the artificial floral backdrop and décor downstairs to the white walls that leads up to the restaurant, Soul Food paid a lot of attention to the design of the restaurant. That already put me in a good mood and built an anticipation for the meal.

Would the meal be as lovely as the space? What about the attendants? Would the service heighten or dampen the experience for me?

These questions went through my mind as we settled in.

After Bissy and I had perused the menu and decided on what to have, the waiter informed us that our meal would be ready in 30 minutes so we took the time to take pictures and catch up on all the conversation we wanted to catch up on.

When the food arrived, I noticed that the portions were large and wished we had ordered different meals so we could pinch from each other’s plate. I couldn’t finish my plate and it wasn’t for lack of trying because the food was delicious. *inserts dreamy eyes and salivating emojis*

Nothing was too much or too little, the flavor burst in my mouth as I chewed on the crunchy vegetables, tender chunks of chicken, the well-cooked prawns and nicely done fried plantain. We ordered mocktails because as children of God, we don’t drink alcohol. (PS: This is not to say that those who drink are not children of God ooo).

I ordered virgin Mojito while Bissy ordered Fruit punch. I enjoyed the mojito I had at Cubana more than the one here but it wasn’t so bad especially as the drink wound down, it seemed like the essence of the mojito became more pronounced.

The pricing is great considering the size of the portions, the ambience and tastefully decorated space. I would go back there again because I truly enjoyed the meal and my time in the restaurant.

You would have to pay a 5% VAT in addition to the price for food and drinks.

The service was nice as the attendants were swift in clearing out and replacing what needed replacing but the prep time of THIRTY minutes is not for a person who was as hungry as I was. I also noticed that the prep time for the jollof rice and pasta wasn’t as long as that for the special fried rice which we ordered.

I like the photo booth with their signage installed as the backdrop; whoever thought of it must have considered it a fantastic avenue for PR without having to pay anyone.

The rest room is also tastefully decorated and there were several wash stations and sanitizers around to ensure the covid 19 guidelines were fully observed.

In all, I enjoyed my experience at the Soul Food Restaurant, St. Finbarrs Road, Akoka and I would definitely love to try the other delicacies on their menu.