Review: Anchor Restaurant & Bar (Lekki, Lagos)
Anchor Restaurant & Bar
Lekki Leisure Beach, Adekunle Animashaun Drive, Oniru, Lekki
Anchor Restaurant & Bar popped up on my Instagram radar in November, the same month that they opened. After having a brief ‘restaurant no dey finish for Lagos?’ moment, I decided to peruse their profile and when an Indian restaurant has that many Indian faces across their Instagram posts, you tend to believe they’re the real deal. What really piqued my curiosity though, was the realisation that I had been to one of their locations, Tamberma, in Ibadan—*pauses for a small ode to my fellow Ibadan people in the house 🙌🏽*. I enjoyed the food and general experience at Tamberma, so I was looking forward to seeing if Anchor had the same vibe.
I finally headed there with a friend on the first Sunday of the year. I had called beforehand to make a reservation but apparently, it wasn’t required since it was just the two of us. Anyhoo, by the time we got there, it wasn’t packed with people, which was surprising considering it was peak Sunday brunch time. The restaurant clearly had a nautical decor theme going on, which was befitting considering it’s right by the beach. If we sat outside, we would have gotten the full beachside experience, but it was too hot for that abeg, so we jeje sat in the air-conditioned interior. The live band was performing outside, but the music they were playing at first wasn’t hitting so we didn’t miss much.
There was a buffet going on, but my friend opted for their a la carte menu since the buffet selection wasn’t appealing to her. To be honest, I only went for the buffet because I wanted to take advantage of the unlimited cocktails deal but I still ended up ordering some stuff off their main menu. At first, they told us that we had to wait till after 4PM to order off the main menu, but thankfully, they quickly adjusted.
For my first buffet round, I helped myself to an assortment of meats, naan and Greek salad. Actually, I should mention that a waiter held my plate while I dished, which was quite the help. I absolutely loved the Mutton Ghee Roast as it was really well-seasoned and a good balance between soft and chewy. It was also a bit spicy. The Tandoori chicken was another hit on the plate; slightly spicy and very flavourful with a smoky finish. Its taste reminded me of the OG Mr Bigg’s chicken. The naan was too dry for my liking, which was quite the bummer because I was really looking forward to some good naan. The Andhra Style Fish Fry and bits of Chicken Pepper fry were palatable, but I felt they could have used a bit more flavour. As for the salad, the tomatoes were way more sour than they were sweet, so I wasn’t a fan. Thankfully, the veggies were fresh and well-dressed with salt.
The drinks came not too long after I dug into my first plate. My friend had ordered a passionfruit smoothie off their main menu, while I ordered a Mojito off their very limited buffet drink menu. The passionfruit smoothie came looking far too light-skinned, like I honestly thought she had ordered a Vanilla milkshake or something. After a sip though, it was clear that there was some passionfruit in there. Still, it tasted more like yoghurt with a hint of passionfruit flavour than a smoothie in which passionfruit was supposed to be the main character. My Mojito was thankfully much better; very sweet and tangy, but quite low on the alcohol. I also had a Masala tea (chai) because, even though it was hot outside, I absolutely could not leave there without having some good chai and I was not disappointed in the least. The chai was delicious as all the spices were hitting.
Shortly after, my friend was served her garlic naan and Handi Mutton Biryani. Just from the looks of it, it was clear this naan was much better and they had just saved their low-quality naan for the buffet. It was a lot more chewy, a good amount of oily (which meant it had stayed in that pan long enough) and the garlic was garlic-ing. The Biryani was good enough, mildly spiced and seasoned. TBH, I’m not really a fan of Biryani but my friend liked it.
Just like Tamberma, Anchor has a rather extensive menu—which could also be a euphemism for being all over the place—with Indian, Nigerian, Chinese and Continental offerings. But let’s be for real, it’s an Indian-owned establishment so I was most definitely there for their Indian dishes. Still, I decided to explore a bit and try their Thai fish cakes, which I had ordered as a starter but ironically came after the Biryani and naan. The cakes were very succulent and the lemon tang jumped at me. I suspect they used sole fish because of the texture and taste. All in all, I enjoyed the fish cakes, but that was my first time trying them, so I’m not sure if they were the real deal.
To make up for the underwhelming passionfruit smoothie, my friend ordered a Beer Indian Lychee. I thought it was a brave choice because I generally do not think beers are a good base for cocktails, but it actually turned out nice. Now, this could be because they were once again stingy with the alcohol, but a win is a win. It was fruity and flavourful.
I decided to go in for my second buffet round, the Sunday brunch crew had fully arrived so there wasn’t much left—the live band was also starting to put on a proper show. I settled for slim pickings of the shrimp fried rice, ‘seafood’ pasta, beef in chilli sauce and another piece of Tandoori chicken. The shrimp fried rice wasn’t bad, but since it was supposed to be under the Chinese section of their menu, I was thrown by the very much Indian flavour profile. The pasta was decent, very creamy with a clear hint of garlic, even though at that point, the seafood was gone. However, I could not stand that beef in chilli sauce; the amount of garlic was too cutting, so I couldn’t do more than one bite.
The only two buffet options for dessert were Gulab Jamun and crème caramel, so I helped myself to that as well. The Gulab Jamun, which I like to call puff puff’s distant Indian cousin, was sweet, soft and went well with the cream it was doused in, while the crème caramel was pretty standard, nothing outstanding. I tried to order the crème brulee french toast off their main menu to have a more satisfying dessert experience, but it apparently wasn’t available.
I was about full, but the 25k I paid for the buffet deal couldn’t waste, so I had to go in for my second drink, a Red Wine Sangria. Lo and behold, these guys served me a glass of straight red wine. I kept asking the waiter if this was a sangria and he insisted that it was. I sha had the glass, thinking some magic would happen and the fruit chunks would unveil themselves. Yeah, that didn’t happen, it was just watered down red wine and I am still seriously stressed that that’s what Anchor thinks a Red Sangria is.
I sha ordered my third drink, a Pina Colada. The presentation was super cute, but just to be sure these people weren’t scamming me again, I had to open that pineapple head to see what was inside. Fortunately, the Pina Colada was the real deal; sweet, creamy and flavourful. Once again though, they were stingy with the alcohol. It’s like they forgot to add alcohol to all their cocktails and in the one that had alcohol, they forgot to add anything else.
Oh yeah and I should mention, there was even some tussle over the faux Sangria. Apparently, it wasn’t supposed to be part of the buffet selection, so they almost charged me separately for it—a whole 8k! It was clearly a miscommunication issue between my waiter and the buffet crew, so I waited for them to settle their matter and get me a new bill. Our motto for the new year is, ‘No gree for anybody’ after all 🙏🏽. Other than that, the customer service was pretty good as all the waiters as well as the manager were very warm and courteous, plus their turnaround times were good, so we never had to wait too long.
POSTSCRIPT
Anchor didn’t offer me a very memorable experience, so I doubt I’ll be back.
PARKING
Should take at least 10 cars.
Verdict
DAMAGE
Buffet with unlimited drinks - N25,000 including taxes and service charge
Thai Fish Cakes - N8,000
Masala Tea - N2,000
Handi Mutton Biryani - N11,000
Passionfruit smoothie- N7,000
Beer Indian Lychee - N8,000
Garlic Naan - N1,200