My friends and I dined at The Pavilion which is a restaurant in Abuja, Nigeria and we got to experience a fusion of different cultures from the West African Jambalaya to the Nigerian Ofada Rice to the English Mac & Cheese to the Jamaican Jerk Bowl and finally to the American Crispy Chicken Salad. It is an amazing to see that dining in a single restaurant in Abuja can take you on tour of different food and culture from around the world.
For starters, The American Crispy chicken salad was actually great, the crispy chicken paired nicely with the honey and sriracha dressing which we all liked. The dressing was quite sweet but had a nice kick to it from the sriracha sauce. The West African Jambalaya is quite similar to the popular Nigerian jollof rice but it had chunks of shrimps, sausage and chicken. It was a really good dish and the flavours of the chicken chunks really shined through. The English Short rib mac and cheese was a bowl of cheesy goodness however I wished that there was more beef on top. Personally, I also like a bit of toasted breadcrumbs on my Mac & Cheese.
The Jamaican Jerk Bowl was quite decent, the jerk chicken was tasty and plantains were that nice “dodo” however the rice was dry and needed some kind of sauce. The star of this dish was the Jerk chicken because the Caribbean spices it was seasoned with hit straight to the bone. FYI, If you’re getting the Jamaican Jerk bowl at the Pavilion, get their chilli sauce on the side. Also, instead of a mango salsa, the bowl came with a pineapple salsa.
Finally, the Nigerian Ofada rice was another good dish which we enjoyed. The sauce was a thick and spicy tomato based sauce which had assorted meat inckuding beef, liver and tripe and it was served in bowl while the accompanying Ofada Rice to be eaten with sauce was served in banana leaves. This dish originates from Ogun State, Nigeria and the rice is historically cooked in banana leaves but in my case at this place, the rice was served in the leaves for Aesthetic purposes. A fun fact is that at most Nigerian weddings the Ofada rice is also served in leaves.
All in all, It was a delicious feast which my friends and I enjoyed and it was indeed a fusion of different cultures in the heart of Abuja, Nigeria.
Stopeeet! My taste buds are standing erect and I am salivating! Who will quell this desire now? but on a more serious note, I have never seen ofada rice so white @Zino
Thank you @Austinelewex . Historically, Ofada rice originated from Ogun State, Nigeria and the rice was often cooked in Banana or Plaintain leaves. It is believed to give it a subtle flavour and the leaf was used like a plate. However, nowadays the leaves are used for aesthetic purposes like the one I captured in the photo and even in Nigerian weddings, Ofada rice is often served in those leaves.
Thank you for sharing this with us. Could you add details about these dishes? Keep in mind that including more information in your post make them more interesting for others.
Thank you for your response @Zino . This way, you will help others to understand better about the different cuisines and dishes which they don’t know.
Hello @GNaz , you are quite right and I understand now that as I’ve edited my post now, I can help more people in our community understand more about the food that I tried and enjoyed. I’ve made a lot of changes to my post, thank you for your help!
Thank you for editing and sharing these amazing photos with us @Zino . Your post is very descriptive now. I suggest you to read this article How do I write a post on Connect to improve even more your future posts.
