In spite of Rishi Sunak’s lauded £10 meal deal, some Greater Kenningtonians are still  reluctant to eat out. This is understandable, as some of our neighbours are taking social distancing about as seriously as, let’s be honest, licking a doorknob. The Runoff team used this reality as a flimsy excuse to order takeaway last week. If you are a regular reader you can probably surmise that this was  not going to be a traditional undertaking, and after research and recommendations we reached a very logical conclusion. Of course, Nigerian street food from Walworth Road.

Big Town is a newish, funky Nigerian street food outlet on Walworth Road just across the street from M&S. Not knowing a great deal about Nigerian cuisine, we took to the internet for recommendations and expectations and ordered the  following –

Jollof rice is most familiar staple of Nigerian food, and we ordered prawn jollof (other meat and veg options were also on offer). It was a generous and delicately spiced affair. Next was the beef suya, which were blackened and grilled strips of beef with a peanut rub, with the consistency of jerky. A bit of a spice kick in the end. The suya chicken wings were also ordered, which were cooked the same way but very much fell off the bone. Both of these dishes were punctuated by a rash of onions.

The most interesting  item your intrepid gastronomes consumed was the eguasi soup (we opted for the fish variety). Less like a soup and more like a curry, it was a blow your head off collision of scotch bonnet meets palm oil (we know palm oil is evil so please forgive us). It seemed to contain a pureed gourd or squash and definitely pureed onion. It also contained melon. If you order this just ensure you have a giant glass of water to hand. Or in our case wine. 

Nigerian cuisine doesn’t exactly meet the lofty altitudes of Italian or Chinese nor does it claim to. However, for a takeway adventure of a weekend it is a great alternative to pizza or chow mein. With hindsight this was rather ‘in your face’ cooking in terms of heat and spices.  And after a full Nigerian meal you certainly won’t be feeling the pang to lick doorknobs.