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W
hen you walk into Taste of West
Africa, you can smell it in the air:
garlic, ginger, anise, the warm
aroma of onions, tomatoes and
curry, but there is another spice,
too. Something hotter. Smokier. A spice I've never
smelled before.
When I ask her to name that elusive spice I can't
quite name, Isabella Effon, owner and operator of
Taste of West Africa, says, "To be honest with you I
don't have any English for the name of it."
at's how authentic Taste of West Africa is.
Taste of West Africa is a full service casual res-
taurant on Person Street downtown, open Tues-
day through Saturday from 11am-8pm, just past
the Market House. Maybe you walked by the straw
umbrellas. Looked in the windows. Read the menu.
Maybe you wondered just how you could convince
your wife, your husband, your friends to try egusi
soup or ox-tail or sawawa or jollof, but inside, Taste
of West Africa is a family-run restaurant, and they're
just waiting for you to open their door and say hello.
Taste of West Africa has been open since Novem-
ber of 2012. It is owned and operated by Isabella, but
she has plenty of help from her family. Her mother,
Bridget Benton, rules the kitchen. When you walk
in, Bridget is behind the counter, cooking at the
stove. Steam rises from her hot pots as she checks
the meats, the vegetables and stirs the rice. Anane
Cledoe, Isabella's brother, who arrived from Ghana
Homemade African Cuisine Downtown
food
"Made with Love, Cooked from the Heart"
Bridget Benton and Isabella Effon rule the kitchen.
