Ex-Banker Floats Ark of X Natives Kitchen

The Managing Director of Ark of X Natives, Ikenna Eze Uzoamaka, has said that there is the need to promote Nigerian foods and culture to the world, hence the creation of the Natives restaurant in Victoria Island, Lagos.

According to the trained Accountant, the Ark of X Natives is an eco- friendly community that brings its customers close to nature and a reminiscent of the beauty of African heritage.

Speaking on his passion for the country, Ikenna said: “My family stays in the United Kingdom and I have travelled around, I noticed that in Nigeria, we have good food but we don’t promote that much, you go to other places they make so much noise about their food, our mission is to take the best of Nigeria dishes to the rest of the world. We want to put Nigeria in the scheme of things, on the map. I travel around the country to get my cooking staff; if you go to my kitchen you will see different tribes.”

“In view of our name Natives and our vision to continuously take our dear customers unto a culinary and cultural journey back to their roots, we choose to promote some of the rich ancestral heritages of the four major ethnic and regional settlements in the country with major emphasis on some dishes, drinks, fashion and music peculiar to these tribes. First weekend of the month is the Hausa/ Fulani Day, second weekend is Yoruba day, third weekend is the Niger Delta Day and fourth weekend is the Igbo Day while fifth weekend is the Natives Variety Days”

“We don’t just sell food to people, we also promote culture. We don’t make scientific or over spiced dishes, all our condiments and spices are local like our Ogiri and Palm oil is gotten from the east and it is made to our specification, our tables and chairs were designed and supervised by me, as you can see, I used the normal Nigerian mat to make my roof, its high time we start producing things ourselves and let our money circulate amongst us, this was how China began.”