Restaurant Review: Independence Day at Yellow Chilli

Hey y'all! Happy Monday, so this post is kinda late because it was meant to be my Independence Day or shortly after post but one thing always leads to another and you know... Anyhow, on October 1st I went to lunch with two of my friends from primary school Deola and Mosope. Yup, THROWBACK! Haha. It was meant to be a slightly bigger reunion but a lot of people dropped out at the last minute so it was a nice girly day for three instead.

We all met at "Yellow Chilli" in Ikeja with empty stomachs and eager anticipation and in the end, we were glad the boys didn't turn up! Read on to find out why...

For those who don't know Yellow Chilli is more or less a fancy buka. Or that's what Mosope thought anyways, lol. They serve all sorts of Nigerian food and do a lot of soups and semi-solids (swallows). They need a 30 minute lead time to prepare your chosen soup though because they do it all from scratch for every order. I really like that about them because it means that unlike most other typical bukas, you're unlikely to hear "Food has finished". Lol.

On arrival I got a Chapman, because really what other drink would you get on Independence Day if not a Chapman? Chapman is a Nigerian cocktail and different people have different recipes but the basis is always the same: an orange flavoured drink (Fanta), a lemony flavoured drink (Sprite or Bitter Lemon), Angsturra Bitters and Grenadine. The one I had was actually a little darker than chapman normally is and was also a lot sweeter so my Chapman aficionado senses tell me that they used some sort of blackcurrant cordial instead of grenadine.

After we ordered our food we got catching up and gisting on all the most recent happenings of our lives and I must say it was a lot of fun. But nothing can really compare to the moment that our food arrived... I must say I was positively salivating. We all decided on pounded yam (the real deal NOT poundo) as our swallow of choice and had three different soups for variety. For starters my eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach and I order a portion of Nkwobi for us to share.

I had Edika-Ikong which I really believe is the South-South's version of Efo-Riro.

Deola had Banga Soup which has palm oil as a basis.

And Mosope had White Soup aka Nsala which is quite a healthy option because it's apparently not cooked with any oil at all... Is this true my Nsala lovers?

Side note: I really love how the photos came out, it was my first time using my iPhone 6 which I got as a belated birthday present and I think the camera quality is off the chain!

By the time we were done eating we could barely move. I'm not even sure we finished everything on the table but we definitely made a huge dent. The service at Yellow Chilli is decent and the waiters are quite friendly and the food is GOOD!! Like proper GOOD, GOOD! The price is a lot higher than your average buka but to be fair, this is a restaurant not a buka and my main cost only N2300! I also like the fact that you can add whatever extras of meat and chicken you want into your dish, at an additional cost of course.

It was a lovely day and a lovely catch up with the girlies and I all but rolled myself to watch the movie "October 1" but more on that later.

Here's my final say

Food- 8.5 (because it was slightly cold)

Service- 8

Ambience- 9

Overall- 8.5

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Spur Steak Ranch: Day Out with My Lovelies!

 So I recently had the best catch up sesh with two of my closest friends from Manchester, Deola and Eeda, it's so hard to believe that we all moved to Lagos at roughly the same time and yet we've been unable to meet up even for a short while, talk less of having a whole day out! So we literally made an appointment for a Sunday afternoon declared that there were to be no cancellations for any reason lesser than death! Lol. Dramatic right? Well it turned out to be just what we needed because finally, we were together and we we happily bonding.

We chose this restaurant called Spur on Isaac John Street, Ikeja. It was suggested by Deola because she had been there before and wouldn't stop going on about how good the food was! She even compared it to TGI's so you guys know I HAD to check it out! I was prepped and ready to go, my stomach was suitably empty for the adventure ahead and so imagine my shock when I found out I couldn't skip family Sunday brunch. I wolfed down a "small" brunch, which by the way, doesn't exist, and was on my way.

Well, obviously everything couldn't go perfectly and so Madam Eeda was late but that left Deola and I with plenty of gossip time and time to try out their milkshakes and buffalo chicken wings as starters. Can you guys stop judging me please... Yes I went out for lunch like an hour after eating brunch, bite me! It was a Sunday! The chocolate milkshake I had was really good! It was actually a milkshake made with milk and not with ice cream. I'm having a tough time deciding which version I prefer but I think the milk based milkshake was good on this occasion seeing as I was already stuffed. Their chicken wings were yum as well, they reminded me of the really skinny ones you get at Busaba's in England.

Can you tell I was off my blogging game? The only picture I have of the milkshake is one after I've inhaled half the glass and this one clearly shows a few wings missing in action!

One thing I always always notice about restaurants in Lagos is their customer service and I must say I was pretty impressed by the service of the waiter that served us. That's not to say that he was outstanding, but he had a good basic knowledge of the menu, checked on us frequently enough and even tried suggesting something from the menu for us to try. Definitely worked for his tip on that occasion. Anyways, on to the main attractions!

Deola and Eeda both had the Surf and Turk which was 200g of steak and a few queen prawns. I must admit, the beef from the steak was soooo nice and tender, very nicely seasoned as well so kudos to the chef! He clearly knows a thing or two about meat. Oh and yes, I tasted their food too, seriously... Stop judging me... Please? I didn't try the prawns though, simply because I don't like seeing prawns as whole creatures with eyes and legs, it freaks me out a little. Oh and also I didn't want to shorten anyone's ration any further. Haha.

Just look at those sad sad eyes staring at you...

And I was trying not to be a fattie so I opted for a grilled bacon and egg toastie. The toastie was as good as toasties get to be honest. Nothing to write home about here! Unfortunately for me though, they had no brown bread. That's actually a pet peeve of mine these days, I've been to at least 4 restaurants in Lagos in the last few months, claiming to have brown bread as an option on their menu but in reality, it's just there for show!

 There was a lot of gossip, a lot of catching up and a lot of mmmm-ing and aahhhh-ing at the food for all of us and I know we left feeling very satusfied, both in our bellies and in hearts. Because truly, what better thing is there to do after church on a Sunday than catch up with some of your best girlfriends? I love these two to bits and can't wait till we book out next 'appointment'. Oh and of course, no girls day out is complete without some silly 'us-fies'!

  

I really liked Spur and so I'm going to give it 7/10, here's my breakdown.

Food- 6/10

Ambience- 8/10 

Service- 7/10

Price- 6/10

Have any of you been to Spur before? What did you think of the food and the service? If you have been or intend to go soon then let me know in the comments section!