Friday’s Featured Food: Barbecued Chicken, Salad and Baobab Juice at Cafe Miniere, Conakry, Guinea

Friday’s Featured Food: Barbecued Chicken, Salad and Baobab Juice at Cafe Miniere, Conakry, Guinea. I stayed in the Hotel Du Golfe in Conakry, I toured the bars, headed to Kassa Island and I was here the week of the fatal oil explosion. Plus, I had got my Guinea online visa approved the day before my flight in – it was all tight and wild!

The best dish I had in Guinea was an unexpected stunnigator in here, a place by the side of the poky streets near my hotel (Hotel Du Golfe, Miniere, Conakry). This cafe was called Cafe Miniere.

Outside in the darkness, two ladies were barbecuing fish and chicken. I stop and chat. They say bonsoir. They didn’t try to sell me anything, but I can smell the food. Friendly staff, completely not pushy or judgemental.

It smells good. By not trying to sell me anything, they won. I’m in. Soon I’ve ordered an excellent Baobab juice (loved that stuff since Senegal and Benin away), a chicken dish with maize, onion, spice, cucumber and other vegetables.

As I wait I chat to the lad working inside. He’s fixed on the television and we watch Barcelona together.

I was backpacking a lot those days and so I didn’t know if the match was live or not. But it was.

We watched the whole second half together as I munched this epic chicken dish. Completely delicious. Cooked by two cool local girls who might never know how happy they made me.

I munched the dish with aplomb, hands loyal of course – no knife, fork or spoon here. And why should we since we have hands? Did the industry go mad inventing spoons? My hand is a spoon…

I wash my hands (using the blue jug and bucket they provide, with soap, and tuck in.

With the Barcelona score tight as a nun’s crack at Desmond, Polish captain Robert Lewandowski flicks a ball to Sergio Roberto and he slams home a winner. I actually wanted Almeria to win, as I’d love to see Girona beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to the league this season.

This chicken was delicious – a real surprise. The price was 55,000 Guinea Francs including the Baobab Juice. This works out at about £4.50 or 5 Euros. It’s actually possible they charged me more as a foreigner, but sometimes I am happy to pay it as I know they need the money and they work hard, plus they enjoyed me sitting watching Barcelona with them. There are no other backpackers, or white people here in this city, and who knows how long until they get another non-African tourist?

Barcelona won 3-2 late on, and I headed to my local bar Etoile De La Miniere for a last tipple before sleeping as I knew I was up early the next day to try and negotiate my way to Kassa Island, during the week of the oil explosion in Conakry, Guinea.

Here are some videos from dinner in Cafe Miniere, Conakry, Guinea: