The plantain was fried and spiced to perfection, adding sugar to spice. This fish (a bony white fish) was as sweet and delicate as could be desired, and it too had a hot sauce to add complexity. My friend selected Grilled Fish with Sweet Fried Plantain in Mustard Sauce. Even the lagniappe of okra lacked the slime that so often seems genetically mandated. Surrounding this were the vegetables, prepared in various styles. Beautiful fish, cooked to fall-apart, in an almost-too-hot sauce, placed by the hill of rice. Oh happy Dakar! This was as complex as any Thai dish of my recent memory. This dish is considered the Senegalese national dish. We selected two entrees, although in truth one would have sufficed: Thiebu Djeun (Djol of Rice): Fish Stewed in Tomato Sauce with Eggplant, Carrots, Cassava, and White Cabbage, served on mound of short brown rice. Sparkling and complex with an equatorial burn. If one likes heat (and we do), they were inspired starters. And hewing to local custom, we began with egg rolls, appetizers that appeared to be thin Thai rolls, but were a meaty mix of beef, chicken, and shrimp, more highly spiced that Asian versions. Africans - Ghanaians and Senegalese - frequently prepare egg rolls and fried rice. One of the surprises of African cuisine is the way that Chinese cuisine has infiltrated. Senegalese cuisine has some of the elegance of French cooking with the heat of the tropics, and the food was a treasure in a restaurant that surely reaches the heights of ethnic cuisine in the city. The restaurant opened about a year ago, all art work and exposed brick, an upscale version of the now shuttered Africa Restaurant by the same owners across the street. (An increasing share of Harlem real estate is now well beyond my means). We selected a beautifully decorated establishment, Africa Kine, a few steps from the 8th Avenue subway on a street that, if not yet gentrified, felt warm and safe. The Senegalese community is particularly vibrant along 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Avenue. Harlem is the residence of choice for many immigrant Francophone Africans. Anglophone Africa is located in University Heights in the Bronx (Little Accra) and Fort Greene in Brooklyn. #AFRICA KINE RESTAURANT FULL#Hanging with an Africanist of my acquaintance, a woman who has spent much quality time in Accra, where she consults with museums and historical sites, we decided to dine under a full West African moon.
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