The Lunch Club XVIII: NOK by Alara
The Lunch Club has been a bit slow this year and it's completely our fault. The goal for The Lunch Club this year was to make all events free or, at very least, under N5000.
Unfortunately, no such luck...yet.
This month, we got a chance to take The Lunch Club to its very essence. NOK is launching a new menu on the 24th (yes, Nosa said it was launching last weekend but he lied) and we got the chance to sample the menu.
One of our favorite things about NOK is how ambitious they are with their menu. They could be lazy with it and no one would ever complain, this is Lagos after all.
Salt & Yaji Shrimp
Give us a seafood okra with seemingly endless shrimp and we are satisfied. The average Lagosian isn't expecting too much from Lagos restaurants.
Of the starters, the group's favorite was the salt and yaji shrimp, NOK's take on Chinese salt and pepper squid.
Another favorite was the duck pastel - a Senegalese dish of mini pastries filled with duck. Unlike the traditional pastel, NOK's is baked not fried.
Duck Pastel
Ofada Rice Ball
Our Lunch Club guests weren't the biggest fans of the Ofada rice balls, however. We liked the ones filled with egusi, but the rest of the table wasn't as enthused. That might have been the only let down of the night because the mains were absolutely excellent.
NOK Hot Chicken
“NOK’s take on a Southern classic - fried chicken marinated in a hot sauce made of different spices such as cayenne pepper and paprika. Served with macaroni and cheese. ”
Honey-Spiced Rack of Lamb
“Grilled rack of lamb in a sweet and spicy sauce, served with sweet potato mash.”
Blessing's Banga
“Traditional Nigerian dish of palm fruit soup, with goat meat, dried shrimps and periwinkle. With small cocoyam dumplings dispersed in the soup.”
For dessert, we tried the Malva pudding with vanilla ice cream on the side.
“Traditional South African dessert of pudding made with apricots and served with creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream.”
The plan was to get just the Malva pudding, which the table thought was excellent, for dessert, but the chef was feeling super generous and tossed in a couple extra desserts.
Black Bean Pudding with Corn Ice Cream
“Taking our cue from the Japanese use of beans in dessert, this is a pudding made from black beans and served with corn ice cream.”
Chocolate Chilli Mousse
“Rich chocolate mousse with chilli and chocolate crumb and cream”
To make up for lost Lunch Club time, we're making it up this month. This week, actually. Kitchen Butterfly will be our host and we'll share the details on the blog later today. If you're interested, you know what to do...