Badou Sengalese Cuisine

Oh my Gosh. What a wonderful surprise. I went there not expecting anything fantastic to happen. Not good, not bad. Just expected to get a meal after a long, hard, day at work. Well Surpise, something fantastic did happen. The food was delicious. I have to put this on my list of places to revisit. I ordered Jerk Chicken and Jolaf Rice. The chicken was spiced just right and the rice was fresh (not that hard, bottom of the pot stuff. No this was a softer texture and was very flavorful). I'm sure they can bring spice flavors down if you don't like spicy. But check their menu. The have lots of flavorful looking dishes.

Takeaway: Strong flavors, perfectly cooked meat, and reasonable prices combine for an incredible dining experience Context: Dined in for dinner with a friend. I effectively have no experience with West African food and especially with Senegalese cuisine What I Got: Pataya (8.5/10) Perfectly flaky (and so hot) pastry dough filled with spiced chicken, tomatoes, and onions. The stand-out part of this dish, which reminds me a lot of an empanada, is just how great the crust / dough is. You can tell it was freshly baked (fried?) and that made a massive difference. The filling was also great - despite it being a more "wet" mix due to the tomatoes, it held up really well, likely due to it being freshly made. I would go back just to eat more of these. Diby Yaap (8.5/10) Spiced grilled lamb, onions, & carrots over saffron rice. Everything was basically seasoned perfectly here and want to call out the lamb specifically for also being just the right amount of tender. Saffron rice was great with the rice at an ideal texture - not too mushy and not too hard. This was the spiciest dish we got, but definitely not anything crazy. My only complaint is that I wish there was more of it! Jerk Chicken with Jollof Rice (7.5/10) Jerk chicken paired with jollof rice, plantains, cabbage, & carrots. My favorite part of this dish were the vegetables - the plantains, carrots, and especially the cabbage could be a standalone dish - as with everything else, perfectly seasoned and cooked. My main complaint, if you'd call it that, here was with the jerk chicken. Don't get me wrong, it was still great and cooked / seasoned well, but maybe pales a bit in comparison both to the other dishes I tried as well as some of the more dedicated Jamaican restaurants in town.

I ordered the vegetarian national Senegalese fish with pastels.. first time trying Senegalese cuisine.. loved it!! The spice, the caramelized onions and the pastels with the sauce.. wow!! Friendly and talented owner/chef.. So glad I stopped by.

Paula was so kind to us! This was our first time and she recommended the dishes for us to try - everything was so tasty! The mafe was especially delicious

One of my favorite restaurants in the city! Extremely flavorful with lots of good vegetarian options (I especially like the mafe & yassa dishes). Reminds me a lot of places I used to eat at in the Château Rouge neighborhood of Paris.