Mama Calabar

Most of my reviews are on Chinese and Indian restaurants, but this place is a hidden gem. It offers a taste of Nigerian cuisine at its best. The atmosphere is just amazing, white walls with a touch of rich dark red colour drapes and tableclothes, which gives it a fab look. The artwork adorning the walls reflects the diversity in the culture of the home place of its owner.


The main course is as exciting as desert for me, I highly recommend the Egusi soup made from melon seeds and selection of meat i.e. oxtail, goat. you can have it with Eba (made from cassava) or Poundo yam (made from yam). Another brilliant dish is Edikaing Ikong soup (pumpkin leaf, spinach and other leaves I really don't know with assorted meat). Just to warn you, do not get freaked out when you see other customers eating with their hands, as that is the best way to enjoy the food, trust me!
They have impressive list of seafood prawn, lobsters, crab, exotic fish the list goes on. It is not really a vegetarian friendly restaurant as they have very few vegetarian options.
Desert is great, some of them pre-prepared and others freshly prepared, the choice is yours I suppose.


Mama Calabar serves freshly cooked food with fresh ingredients, so their waiting time can be overlooked. The only thumbs down I can give is their staffs who need proper training in terms of politeness and customer service, some of them have bad attitudes and this is in no way doing any good to the restaurant's reputation. However, the majority of them are pleasant and easy to deal with.
If you can ignore some of the rude staffs and are willing to wait a little longer than your usual waiting time. Then you will be fine and your food will be worth the wait. It is a wonderful place to experiment with food from African and not be disappointed.


Verdict: Great food, superb atmosphere