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Le Conakry Brings a Taste of West Africa to Broadway
By The Changeling | December 24, 2007
Recently Jeremy from BushwickBk.com contacted me about a new restaurant that has opened on the border of Bed-Stuy and Bushwick (although technically it is on the Bed-Stuy side of the border). The restaurant is called Le Conakry. Before Jeremy mentioned it to me I hadn’t heard anything about this place, so I was eager to go over and try it out. Since it is located on Broadway and it services both neighborhoods, we decided that we would do a joint review. We met up for lunch a few days ago to check it out.
When we got to the restaurant I whipped out the camera and started taking a few photos of the awning. This was definitely the wrong move, because the owner, Abraham, rushed to the door and said “Hey! Why are you taking pictures?” I was stunned. I have never had anyone ever ask me why I was taking a picture, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. Jeremy and I quickly explained that we were going to have lunch at the restaurant and that we were going to write up reviews on our blogs. The explanation seemed to calm Abraham a little bit, but I think he was still a little suspicious of us even after we placed our orders.
We didn’t see a menu, but Fatou, the woman who was our waitress, was very nice and helpful. We realized pretty quickly that although the name suggests Guinean food (Conakry is the capital of the west African nation of Guinea), the offerings at this restaurant are more aptly described as pan-African. After asking Fatou for some recommendations, and we ended up getting three dishes: thiebou jeun, mafe and dibi lamb with couscous.
Inside Le Conakry
The thiebou jeun came first and it looked and smelled wonderful. (Jeremy and I were so hungry that we started scooping the food onto our plates without taking any pictures. In fact, we didn’t even remember that we should have taken pictures of the food until we were getting ready to leave. I guess that’s an indication that the food was good.) Thiebou jeun is a Senegalese dish of fish served with a large serving of rice, cabbage, carrots and cassava. This was the first time that I’d ever had this dish, and I ended up liking it immediately. The vegetables and the rice were especially good and the fish was light tasting, just the way I like it.
The next dish to arrive was the mafe. Mafe is like a stew in peanut sauce. It is also a Senegalese dish, but unlike the thiebou jeun, I’ve had mafe many times, and I love it. I usually eat a vegetarian version of the dish, but on the day we visited, Le Conakry only had chicken mafe, so I sucked it up and decided to try the chicken version. The mafe came in a bowl along with another plate piled high with white rice. It was good, but I’m used to mafe being a lot more peanutty, and I found myself wishing I could taste more peanut flavor as I was eating it.
The last dish to arrive at our table was the dibi lamb. This West African dish contains grilled lamb chops with salad, plantains and light, fluffy couscous. The plate came with a heaping helping of lamb chops, but unfortunately the lamb turned out to be my least favorite of part of the meal. I found it to be rather chewy, and a little on the tough side. I’m not a person who eats lamb, so it might be that I’m not familiar enough with the taste and texture, so I’ll defer to Jeremy’s judgement on that particular meat. Despite my feelings about the lamb, I thought that the couscous was delicious.
We washed it all down with some deliciously sweet ginger pineapple beverage. It was the perfect combination of sugar and spice–I could’ve guzzled a swimming pool full of the stuff. I highly recommend you try it if you’re the type of person who has a sweet tooth and a fondness for ginger.
Overall, it was a decent dining experience. We had some good food in huge portions at a great price in a nice atmosphere. Our whole meal was only $29 (that’s three main dishes and two drinks!), and each of the dishes we tried were large enough for two adults. I also appreciate that Le Conakry is a sit-down restaurant with take-out options, rather than a take-out restaurant with one or two seats for you to occupy while you wait for your food. They have vegetarian selections and the restaurant also does catering. This sort of pleasant, spacious eatery is what we need more of here in Bed-Stuy, so I am very glad to see that Le Conakry has opened here. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.
And now, for the rest of the story! Check out Jeremy’s review of Le Conakry by clicking over to BushwickBK.com.
Read the Village Voice review of Le Conakry by clicking here.
Le Conakry
1136 Broadway (near Kosciuszko Street)
718-453-0747
December 24th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Woo hoo! This is where I live!
December 26th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Deb, if you get a chance to visit Le Conakry be sure to post your feedback here (especially if you try one of the dishes that we didn’t).
December 26th, 2007 at 10:39 am
You never remember to photograph the food!
December 26th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I know, I know! Gotta remember to have the camera out when the food comes to the table…
December 26th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Shouldn’t there be better Spanish, African, and Carribean cuisine in the area. There seem to be a lot of places on Broadway but they don’t look like much from the outside.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Where do you get really good vegetarian mafe?
December 28th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Head on over to Le Toukouleur for the vegetarian mafe. I love it!