Akwaba

Mon resto favori, probablement le seul auquel je reviens et reviens encore quand la nostalgie des plats du continent africain me prend. J’ai connu ce resto à ses débuts, j’y ai recommandé pleins d’amis et personne n’a jamais été déçu. La proprietaire fait le service et son époux est aux fourneaux. La cuisine est très gouteuse, généreuse, colorée et riches en épices. De fusion ivoirienne et grecque, vous y trouverez les meilleurs alocos de la ville, né pas manquer la spécialité de la maison qui est le poulet braisé. Le tilapia ou le choukouya de chèvre ou d’agneau sont aussi d’excellents choix. À noter que c’est un AVV, et sinon il y a aussi des boissons à la carte. Je vous suggère le bissap et en dessert la tartelette au coco ou le dèguê.

Très belle découverte. J’y suis allé en compagnie d’un couple d’amis africains. L’un est Sénégalais, sa conjointe Ivoirienne. Le moment a été magique puisque la très sympathique serveuse de même que le cuisinier sont Ivoiriens — ce dernier venant de la même région que mon amie. Côté bouffe, nous avons chacun choisi un plat différent et tous les plats ont été très appréciés. Succulents, savoureux. Pour ma part, le poulet braisé était très bon, magnifique rappel du poulet braisé congolais que j’ai connu. Contrairement à plusieurs commentaires dont j’ai pris connaissance, le service a été très attentionné et les plats ont été servis en une dizaine de minutes. On y retourne? Absolument.

Le menu africain est beaucoup plus dominant que le menu grec. On a eu l’impression que ce dernier était là surtout pour les menus végétariens. De toute façon, on recherchait un endroit africain, alors ça né nous a pas nuit.
Le service a été un peu long étant donné qu’il y avait un groupe et qu’il n’y avait qu’une serveuse en salle. Elle s’est tout de même excusé et est restée souriante malgré cela.
La nourriture était excellente, meilleure qu’aux autres restaurants africains que nous avions fréquenté jusqu’à maintenant, et l’ambiance assez intime. On a passé un bon moment! Un peu cher, mais tout de même raisonnable pour la qualité (65 $ pour deux avant pourboire: entrée et plat principal).

My boyfriend and I were in Montréal on a visit and we were craving some African food. After searching online, we came across the Akwaba restaurant and decided to pay it a visit. Appraently, its a fusion of Greek and Ivory Coast food. Upon entry, we were greeted by a nice hostess who guided us to our seats. The whole menu was in french and because we don’t understand or read in french, the waitress was nice enough to go over the menu in English with us so we could make informed decisions on what to order. I chose to get the meal that had tilapia, fried plantain, jollof rice, and salad. The food came within some minutes which was nice cause we were really hungry. The presentation of the food was good and the taste was surprisingly good. The reason I say suprisingly is because jollof rice is more of a Ghanaian dish so I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to replicate it the way Ghanaians make it. The waitress also offered us this red pepper sauce which tasted very good and complimented the whole meal. The price for the meals aren’t cheap. My meal cost $ 20; however, there was a lot of food on my plate (I also had a whole piece of tilapia fish on there). I definitely recommend this place and would come here again with no hesitation.

Great find of the weekend! This african-​greek fusion style restaurant impressed me and my boyfriend.
The appetizer brought to us was some kind of greek version of the naan bread and was delicious! We ordered the braised tilapia and braised chicken which were really tasteful despite the fact we had to be careful eith the bones. Portions are kinda generous, I was so full that I couldn’t try their desserts!
Price on the menu are reasonable.
Ps. You gotta be a little bit patient, the kitchen is a bit slow.

On retrouve davantage l’influence africaine que grecque, surtout au niveau des épices.
Les plats sont délicieux. Mais le service est lent, soyez prévenus

Good restaurant. The décor is very nice and the staff are very friendly. The main dish food portions are huge and can be shared between two people (don’t listen to the waiter saying otherwise).
We had the full chicken braise with the couscous and the alloko (fried plantain) as a starter. The plantain was a bit oily but the tomato or pumpkin sauce that accompanied it was delicious. The chicken was a bit dry and the couscous was cold and sticky. It tasted pretty good tho. Beware of the hot sauce!
We were here on a Friday night and the service was very very slow. There was a big group at the restaurant so the two person serving staff were completely overwhelmed. Took us two and half hours to get out of there!

Akwaba, une inclinaison aboutie et savoureuse de deux solitudes. Leur cuisine fait l’exercise de composition grècque et africaine, à peine par la forme mais davantage appréciée au goût. Le menu est une variation sur le même thème; quelques mets grèques sont suggérés mais la quintessence constitutive se retrouve dans les épices et la flore comestible africaine. La soupe à la courge à la Mozambicaine est onctueuse et justement sucrée, finie avec de la coriande fraîche. Ensuite, une variante au boeuf, bien soutenu avec du gombo. Je suis initié au gombo, mais du tout sous sa forme naturelle, presque chaste. Cuisiné jusqu’à tendre, le gombo absorbe le suc mijoté tout en gardant sa qualité gélatineuse quasi colloïdale, en bouche. Une antinomie appropriée à la texture brute du boeuf.
Je me dois de nuancer l’appréciation. La seule critique se veut circonscrite dans le délai d’attente entre les services. Quarante-​cinq minutes!

La bouffe est trop bonne. Le mélange des 2 cultures est reussis. Service un peu lent, mais tres courtois. Pour avoir essayé plein de plats, je vous recommande le poulet et les bananes plantain, et la soupe a la courge.

I was here on Saturday with 4 other people and I have to say that this tiny Greek-​African fusion restaurant was such a great find! Plus, it is bring your own wine!
It is pretty small and almost empty when we got there at 6pm on Saturday, although it started getting busier when we were leaving. The service was excellent. I know there was nobody there, but the waitress waqs extremely friendly and went above and beyond our expectations by explaining the menu to us in english, even though she was french and struggling a bit. Those of us who do speak french helped her out with some words she didn’t know, but overall, she was very capable.)
The food was fairly priced and so amazingly flavourful. We started with 3 appetizers: Spanokopita, which was just okay and probably my least favourite of all the dishes; Nem Abidjanaise, which were rolls of chicken and cheese and they were so good; and lastly the fried plantains. Delicious! My boyfriend also tried the Pepe soup, which was a fish soup with spice that you add yourself to adjust the heat to your liking. It was great and the fish inside was moist and yummy (with the exception of some annoying bones.)
For the dishes, 2 people had the Chicken Katoum, which the waitress let us know is their signature dish. The spices and aromas from that plate, as well as the other plates were amazing. I had the choukouya chicken, which again, was so good! I am not sure what the other dishes were, but I know that my brother ordered a lamb dish and the lamb was cooked so tenderly and tasted great. The dishes came with salad (standard but good balsamic dressing), greek potatoes (very lemony and good, which I love, not a huge hit with some others who prefer them a different way) and couscous or rice. The one complaint that my family had with the food was that the couscous and rice were both very bland. (I ordered extra plantains with mine instead of the rice, so I can’t complain!)
Overall, there were no disappointing dishes at this place. They all had such good flavour and were very filling. As well, the prices seem fair and the portions were generous.
I would give this place 5 stars, but there was one flaw: I don’t think they have air-​conditioning, because I was sweating like crazy and dying of heat, as was the rest of my family. (I would have given 4.5 if possible!)
What a great find. I highly recommend this restaurant!