Popping Sushi @ Bonsai

Sushi is thought to be an acquired taste and might not be for everyone, but the chef at Bonsai restaurant in VI prepares wonderful sushi that changes minds..

Sushi is just the beginning, as the original menu at Bonsai rivals the beauty of its setting.

The chef at Bonsai took the Japanese menu and put his own twist on it in a way that will bring satisfaction to any and all taste buds. I will say I am not only a novice when it comes to sushi, but it would not be my first choice when it comes to dining. In amazing fashion, the Bonsai chef changed my mind. Not only did he provide two dishes that passed the taste test, but they were so tantalizing they have made me a fan of sushi—at least at Bonsai. The soft shell crab was the best I have ever tried. I would say the ginger added a nice flavor, but what really set this dish apart was the crunchy texture of the tempura; it was a delightful extra touch. The second sushi dish that grabbed my taste buds was the poppin’ spicy crab. Most times I can tell if a dish is original, and well it might not be all that original; but assuredly, this one is. The secret ingredient is pop rocks. I could hear the sushi popping when it was served, and I could feel the popping as I ate it. This dish does a wonderful job of walking me through the layers of flavour. The first sensation is, of course, the popping, which started me off with sweetness and just a hint of crunchy texture. Next I received the crab, well-blended with just a slight flavoring from cucumber and asparagus; finally, just as I was about to finish, I was given that final kick of spice that finished it off in very nice fashion: not too hot, but just a nice, subtle transition, the same as the other flavours.




Ofcourse, Bonsai does not forget someone like me who is looking for a main course dinner to satisfy my hunger. The chef has put together a few Kobe beef-based items that are all outstanding. But if I had to pick just one, the Kobe beef short ribs are a choice I can’t go wrong with. The ribs are boneless and prepared so tenderly that I wondered how they stayed together on my plate, as at the first sign of my fork they began to fall apart.

This would not be a Japanese restaurant without some sake, and when I say some sake, I mean sake like has never been seen sake before. Bonsai has a vast assortment of sake, for me, I didn't have to worry because they also offer plenty of other more reasonable and tasty sake that kept me satisfied. Because it was sought of my first time giving sake a try, I went with sake tasting to let myself experience a variety of flavours. Of course sake is not for everyone, and there are a number of great drinks that are special to Bonsai. My favorite is the infusion martini. Not overly sweet, this libation is mixed with kai lychee blueberry-infused vodka and a hint of citrus, a great way to start the evening.


Not that I needed an excuse other than the food to visit Bonsai, but the fact that I heard Bonsai has a good setting is not a bad bonus. Bonsai is a lovely place for a romantic evening.

The most surprising thing about Bonsai, other than the pop rocks, is the cost. For a restaurant in Victoria Island with such a stunning view, I found it is one of the more reasonable restaurants on the strip. The other noteworthy part of Bonsai is the service: not only was the entire staff friendly and always on top of things, but my waiter, knew the menu up and down and every recommendation he made was stellar.

The Failsafe Option is Italian

Finding well-balanced, healthy, food that is good to eat is hard enough when you’re out prowling the streets of Lagos. But doing the same in a restaurant adds a new layer of complexity. The contents of a loaded selection of curry dishes, or a single, swirled plate at any local restaurant don’t come neatly labeled as a microwave crème brulee in the supermarket.
Cooks are fond of tasty shortcuts such as adding butter or cream to their meals perhaps to make it thicker. Worse, some restaurants aren’t all equipped to cater for the health-conscious diner. Since I started eating out, I mean, dining in restaurants - beautiful, ugly, expensive, exotic, infuriating, daunting – it’s always been one experience to the other, so here I put up my view on some restaurants I’ve been to, and although I didn’t specify their names, it is quite clear which type of restaurants serves diners well.
So, whenever I’m planning a meal out, there are certain places that I avoid, except I just want to spend my tucker time negotiating with the waiter, but not so often.
Indian
Indian food relies heavily on diary products and so earns the whole cuisine a big red warning sticker. The offending substance is clarified butter-or ghee-which is used to boil, fry and mix almost everything that comes out of an Indian kitchen. There are ways to survive an Indian restaurant, though. (a) Go for tandoori dish. Tandoori dishes are effectively dry-fried in the tandoori oven and don’t use so much ghee. They can be somewhat too dry, however, so look for a yoghurt-based sauce to accompany it. (b) Steer clear of the poppadoms. The world’s best chips are deep-fried and very porous. Try a spicy chappati instead. (c) Avoid the puddings at all costs, I warned you. (d) Eating just the vegetarian dishes is probably the worst thing to do as most are cooked in, and saturated with, ghee.

Chinese
Chinese food is a similarly troubled zone. Vegetable oil is used in the preparation of nearly everything, whether it’s deep fried or stir fried. The trouble begins with preparation. In a beef stir fry, for example, the meat is half cooked in oil before being thrown into the wok. So although the stir fry itself contains little oil, the meat is already saturated. You can however request the meat be boiled in water instead. Similar measures can be taken to reduce the fat, and therefore calorific value, of other dishes as well. This leaves the meal with less fat, as I have found out.

French
Although I’ve not really been to a French restaurant, but on two unplanned instances I got invited to breakfast at a wonderful couple’s home. I never guessed it would be an all-the-way French breakfast. My first intentions were to take a back seat for a while, but it was unavoidable, as everyone sat as one. If one had to devise a menu based entirely around beef, cheese, double cream and egg yolks, one would end up with French cooking in this style. There is unlikely to be an escape from cholesterol, salt or sugar. The other French cuisine which jumps readily to mind is nouvelle, or so she called. She said it was not so widely available; nouvelle was essentially the French interpretation of worldwide movement towards fresher ingredients, more natural and exotic flavourings, such as ginger, with the emphasis on presentation. Put simply, you will be able to find something decent to eat at any restaurant that has pretensions to modern cooking. Or has pretensions full stop.

Italian
Italian food falls into two camps: traditional and modern. Traditional cuisine relies more cream, butter and olive oil, while modern cuisine tends to use drizzles of oil and grilling instead of frying. The modern emphasis on low fat, natural, unprocessed flavours and light grilling makes it impeccably modern. The modern Italian cuts back on fat, olive oil, but it’s still very fattening. So, there’s no escape fat from the Italian cuisines. The best part of the Italian restaurant is that they often usually come up with a fruit or a light fruit-juice and water-sorbet.

Fish
Nearly every class of restaurant offers at least one fish dish, and there is also a tradition of classic British fish restaurants, like the delectable Marmundos. The rules here are pretty much the same as cooking at home. Grilled fish and boiled or steamed vegetables are about as healthy as you can get. White fish are slightly better than pink or brown-fleshed fish, although the difference isn’t that great. Shellfish score higher than fish in mineral content: oysters are particularly high in zinc, a mineral essential to sperm production.
Japanese
Japanese food is very meat-oriented. Outside of noodle bars, it’s unlikely to find a dish that has not had meat involved somewhere in its preparation. The positive side of this is the Japanese fashion for eating meat, and particularly fish, raw. Sushi is always the good part in the Japanese cuisine. Having said that it’s surprising the Japanese heart attack rate isn’t higher considering that the national hobbies are overwork and amphetamines, so perhaps the diet isn’t that bad.
Korean
Korean food is not dissimilar to Japanese, but with more meat, what’s with the meat by the way, sometimes I wonder the amount of meat we consume. Marinated barbecued beef is the Korean staple, along with pickled vegetables such as cabbage. Neither is particularly healthy.
The Choice is yours
Summarising what and where to eat is easy. Look for a handful of things: cuisine which claims to be modern, which offers fish as a main course and uses non-saturated fats to cook with. The failsafe option is Italian. Even if your dinner party consisted of your healthy self, a vegetarian, someone on a gluten-free diet and a marathon runner building up for a race, an Italian restaurant would be able to accommodate them all. Pass me the bread sticks.

No Bite-Size Pieces at Marco Polo

How've you been people? Here's another dining experience i heard recently. As published...Enjoy!

Severally, I passed through Marco Polo Restaurant on Karim Kotun Street, Victoria Island, but the first time I stepped into the building was for a business meeting. I wasn’t that impressed, because it appeared like just another of its type, well, after my experience I could not pick any special thing or feeling from it all.
Although Marco Polo is aware of the sensitive nature of the restaurant, business, catering and food service in general, I think the restaurant pays too much attention to customizing everything they own. From the uniforms, badges, menu cards, table covers, crockery and cutlery. I wonder why they all kept shouting “Marco Polo!”
Customer service is on the average at Marco Polo as the waiters are considerably on call, although it seems you have to repeat the order to the waiter, at first I thought it was the particular one that attended to us. But not until I noticed the voice from the next table repeating for the second time, “How many times do I have to say that exactly?”
On the other hand, cleanliness is a big one at Marco Polo, the environs is simply charming, a good dash of colours, the colours and designs still stay clean and beautiful on the walls. The convenience is fresh and the atmosphere is just cool, for that I felt relieved. At least it’s said that a good atmosphere encourages a good dine.
Marco Polo Chinese Restaurant offers a menu of food and beverages with a distinctive taste – which depends on how active your taste buds. The restaurant which started about seven years ago started out offering the best service, but based on regular diners at Marco Polo, it has come to be a-less- than average restaurant.
Marco Polo offers three main menus; the Main menu, the Vegetarian menu and the Chef Wung’s Special menu. Because it’s a business meeting and two, it’s my side paying the bill, I decided to take it cool, Cool like, just get the usual, so I did and saved everyone my speech of ‘what I want in it and what I don’t’. But the ’opponent’ didn’t care about who was paying or not, at least it was tagged a business dinner at 7pm.
There’s one thing though, Sushi at Marco Polo is simply irresistible, when I saw it, and I thought it was a crown of shame on us for dining there, but a first taste of the meal restored me back to life. Marco Polo offers a real alternative; the sushi is a welcome culinary addition to the other varieties on course, the fabulously fresh sushi and sashimi is made beautifully along with traditional dishes which makes the dining experience a fusionist affair, the menu is simply seasonal. The food was great as mentioned but my Chicken Tepanyaki was such a big chunky fillet, that I had to use a knife and fork to cut/eat it. I don't normally complain about there being too much food, but I always thought Japanese food should be small, bite-size pieces you can pick-up with chopsticks?
The intimate dining room is clean and crisp, with comfortable upholstered chairs and dark wood furniture squared up against a deep red wall. A striking tree sculpture, made from bamboo, spreads up the walls and across the ceiling, with lights dangling above the centre tables.


Hmm...I wasn't really impressed with this place at all. For a restaurant that openly boasts about winning lots of remarks, I expected award-winning food and service but the waiters and management seem to be out of the decent type. I really found this odd considering the wait-staff have a touch of snobbery. We ate beside the window to get a view of the beautiful street and the range of lovely cars parking in and out of the lot.


It seems all the things that made Marco Polo "Swell" are now gone? Now it is a typical sushi and tappanyaki on the Island. I don't write this to be mean or cruel the food is still good at Marco Polo but not what it once was. Maybe I will start eating somewhere else each Sunday since it seems there’ll always be a meeting at Marco Polo.


Hope you enjoyed it....

Exercise Tip of the Day
Working on your balance will help prevent muscle cramps.

Also watch this space for events, and i mean lots of events happening over this weekend.

Okay then, enjoy the hols and pray for Nigeria.

A Royale Experience...

Moderate great breakfast is that meal of the day I rarely eat. Which is a good thing considering the amount of food I consume at other mealtimes. I know, I know I should still have some sort of cereal, or fruit and yogurt, or vegan smoothie energy shake thing, but I can’t deal with that. I can barely adjust to being awake most mornings, let alone dealing with the issue of digestion. So it is coffee, direct from my kitchen with bread from Big Treat or Butterfield.

But this week, I am a changed woman. I am all about breakfast. The reason for my change of heart is not because some wonderful new man has entered my life who springs from bed every morning to make me homemade breakfasts of fluffy omelets, crispy bacon, home fries, and assorted breakfast pastries, neither is it because I now temporarily stay on the Island. No. Here in what is known as the real world, the reason I am in love with breakfast is the Café Royale, part one of this newly opened Cafe, located at the newly refurbished building opposite Chocolate Royale, on Etim Inyang Crescent, VI. I’ll be straight with you here. Cafe Royale’s breakfast menu will have you bouncing out of bed at first light, and running on over there in your wrinkled PJs, with crusty eyes, and dragon breath. I suggest washing up and brushing those teeth first, and perhaps running a comb through your matted hair though cause you might feel a bit out of place in your sheep-covered flannels at Cafe Royale if you know what I mean. This place is glamorous and elegant, and not appropriate for casual sleepwear.

I guess it was sumptuously designed by the best interior designers we have around here, the Café is a smooth, elegant chocolate-toned room with cozy tables for two and luscious banquettes for more. It is fancy, in a civilized old world New York sort of way. The original floors are made of tiny little golden tiles, and the ceilings are high, with crown moldings etched in complementary gold hues. The bar, has an illicitly romantic feel to it, even in daytime. It is a sexy and snuggly room. It felt so warm and cozy in there that I expected to walk outside and find the streets hushed with freshly fallen drops or rain. But back to the breakfast, where you probably won’t be drinking at the bar (but stay long enough and you will)—I loved i t. Whatever drama befalls the chef but I would say the meals are cautiosly prepared at Cafe Royale. The meal my cousin and I had there the other day was divine. First of all, our server, could not have been nicer. I don’t know if they hand out happy pills before service or what, but I have never had a waiter who was just so sincerely eager to make sure we were comfortable and happy. (My cousin wanted to take him home with her.) And the food he brought us just kept us in a state of constant bliss. If only life were always like this. Our breakfast feast began with the Organic Soft Boiled Egg, served in a little cast iron plate filled with crisped nuggets of bread, cousin called out for something which I didn't hear and she has promised not to say but it appeared to be thickened cream. Yes, so good for the thighs. The egg was an alabaster masterpiece—an egg as art. The white was cooked just enough, and the hot yolk ran all over the lardons, and mixed with asparagus marmalade and that savory cream sauce. I was loving it. Other egg dishes take a more rustic route. The meals here are like something from a heavenly food truck stop somewhere in the beyond here.

Two fried eggs are served in a cast iron skillet crowded with a mess of buttery roasted fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, and roasted red peppers. It’s simple and it’s darn good, especially because it is served with grilled bread so you can mop off the yolks and leave a nice clean skillet. My cousin seemed to be on a yolk-mopping mission. She was dedicated to making sure the skillet she returned to the kitchen was spick and span. As cousin continued to clean her skillet of its egg and potato contents, we got into a discussion of how exactly I was going to get over my lost chef, whose absence from my life has been really difficult to adjust to. We rehashed the relationship, the break up, and my current state of heartache. She listened to me ramble on and hugged me and told me I would be okay. Funny, I am matured and my cousin is still hugging me and telling me everything will be okay.

Pathetic? Probably. But true. She told me it would just take some time. “I know that, cousin, but the process of getting through enough time so that the hurt goes away is a total drag,” I told her. “I don’t like feeling this way, with this big hole in my life, and my heart.” Morever the chef probably does not know I still miss his absence after all this while - how long has it been by the way, 4months?. And so I sat there, with tears running down my face while she finished her eggs. I was quite a sight. Our dear waiter, looked like he wanted to come over and give me a hug. I could have used it.

Look, I hate to sound so whiny. And this one wasn’t even so bad. The last one, which I had for just a duration of 2months didn't last , we broke up the day I was informed by the Manager of the restaurant that my beloved chef had moved back to his country - I was heartbroken. At the time, I thought it was fatal. But it wasn’t. I lived through it. But even when it doesn’t feel fatal, even when it’s just a flesh wound like now, it hurts. I guess anytime you give a piece of yourself up to a creative chef, only to have the whole thing fall apart, you’ve got to find a way to get that piece back again. And that takes time. And I think I just thought this time would be different. It felt different. And then it wasn’t. And that is what hurts more than the broken heart—the dashed expectations and the missed special meals I belived were specially made for me alone. It is just really disappointing. But alas! Hey, I just a new one - yes, the chef at Cafe Royale.

Anyway, soon I was sick of listening to myself moan, and I regained my composure, and we were ready to try the next meal, Leo, a brilliant take on the bagel and lox for those who can’t deal with all that bagel but really love the stuff that comes with it. Cafe Royale's version takes a pair of thin crisp wafers of a sliced bagel and fills them with layers of house-smoked salmon, whipped crème fraiche, tomatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs, capers, and shaved onion. It’s really the best way to taste all the ingredients, because you are not overwhelmed by doughy bread. It also leaves you more room to have the French Toast which is a ridiculous exercise in excess. I could barely eat more than one bite, so I recommend ordering it, but maybe just having it to share with your table, or just to look at. The French toast, which is more like a giant flapjack, is fashioned from buttery and golden brioche that is sliced in half cross-wise, and filled with fig jam and topped with a scoop of melting hazelnut butter. One bite fills your mouth with the flavors of sweet warm butter, figs and hazelnuts. It’s fairly phenomenal. And that day, it was the breakfast equivalent of a pint of a wonderful ice cream eaten with a spoon on the couch, with no intention of returning it to the freezer. The Café Royale also serves lunch, a fun menu that includes the burger (N550) with shallot tempura and special sauce on a toasted English muffin, lacquered pork with hushpuppies, pickled jalapeno and creamed corn, and duck frisee lardon salad (N850), with crispy Chinese duck leg, remoulade, and pickled red onions. But who needs lunch? People, it’s all about breakfast. And until I have a man in an apron in my kitchen, I’ll be at Cafe Royale