![]() The plate can barely contain it: red snapper, stuffed with a paste of garlic, onions, peppers and parsley, on a broad stage of rice ruddy from tomato paste and primed with guedj, fermented dried fish, and yete, fermented dried sea snail, funky missives from the sea. No such luck with thiebou djeun, or thieb for short, which is traditionally eaten at noon, with the recommendation of a nap afterward. ![]() Some lunchtime dishes are made in such quantities that they last through dinner. In the kitchen, women cooked crowded, fragrant stews by day and men roasted monuments of meat by night. A stairway wound past carvings in illuminated niches to a dining room with faux-marble tabletops, booths and drapes swept back from yawning windows. ![]() Takeout was offered below, through a plexiglass shield that grew amber with the years. The space it occupied was small and humble, but in 2005 it turned grand, moving across the street and sprawling over two stories. Samba Niang and Kine (pronounced kee-nay) Mar, natives of Dakar, opened its doors two decades ago on the northern side of West 116th Street in Harlem - a strip that soon after became known as Le Petit Sénégal, in honor of the immigrants who brought French and billowing boubous (ankle-length tunic-gowns) to the neighborhood.Įventually the restaurant acquired the suffix Kine, after Ms. What there was at Africa Kine, however, was plenty of food the portions more than generous.The restaurant was once named Africa, as if embracing an entire continent, when in fact the focus was on the cooking of the western coast, mainly Senegal. So, though the surroundings were comfortable, and yes, bordering on luxurious, the food was not as memorable as many of the more humble African places we have visited. The fish and lamb were also all solid, but there were no raves from our now very picky Senegalese aficionados. I'm no expert on guinea fowl, but if I recall, the guinea fowl at Salimata was better, or maybe more distinguishable, than what we experienced at Africa Kine. Most of the entrées also included half a hard boiled egg. Each dish came with onions, sliced, lightly grilled with a mustard-based sauce on them, and scattered over the meat and fish. The entrées all came with a choice of one of an assortment of starches cous cous, rice, plantains, yam, and a small chopped iceberg salad. There was guinea fowl, chicken, lamb, goat, fish, grilled or fried, and steak. While we sipped spicy homemade ginger beer, we perused what, by now was a familiar menu thanks to the African culinary education bestowed upon us courtesy of Mike from Yonkers. ![]() The others joined us soon after at a big table in the back of the "luxurious" dining room. The dining area is spacious and modern, with high ceilings, comfortable booths, big tables and a number of flat screen televisions, and described in the restaurant's elaborate website Africa Kine as "luxurious." Either way, it was most definitely a far cry from what we experienced at either Salimata, Treichville or African American Marayway. We don't want an incident."Īfrica Kine is possibly the most notable Senegalese restaurant in Little Senegal. "Don't take her picture," Zio whispered to me. On the way in, we passed a legless beggar in a wheelchair and as we entered and started upstairs to the dining area, we both noticed a woman, face down, arms out on a prayer mat. Those new establishments, among others made parking tough for the group, but Zio and I had no troubles getting to Africa Kine, which was enshrouded in dark netting along with scaffolding in front making it hard to distinguish. Since my work at the food bank, a raucous, busy beer garden, called the Harlem Tavern has opened across the street, along with a meat market that specializes in local, organic beef and where the butchers wear pork pie hats while they work, and a cookie place where the cheapest, albeit, very good and very large cookie, is four dollars.
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