WEST TO WEST KITCHEN

An unassuming restaurant serves up bold carnival eats

West to West Kitchen is a neat little restaurant on Al Bzaymi Street in downtown Abu Dhabi. The busy kitchen dishes up a mix of West African and west Indian food for dine-in, takeaway and delivery orders.

It’s a culinary concept created by Laddi, a British expat who arrived in Abu Dhabi back in 2014. Laddi’s from a family with Sierra Leonean and Caribbean heritage, which meant he grew up around some pretty incredible food and flavours he realised weren’t widely available in the capital, so he set about filling that market gap.

Laddi tells us that the menu was created through careful consultation from friends and family as well as authentic, familyguarded recipes right from the source. As we sit at the diner’s smart white table, looking through West to West’s culinary line-up, the exciting smells sneaking out from the kitchen tell us that this is going to be a feast worth going up a belt notch for.

We opt for carnival goat curry, an order of awojoh binch — an African stew, Jamaican patties, sides of plantain, rice and peas, jollof rice and some of Mama J’s Hot Pepper Sauce. We begin with the patties, the Caribbean version of the empanada, a pastry parcel containing spiced meat and packing some genuine heat. There’s an electric fiesta of flavour going on inside these tasty packages, similar to ones we’ve sampled back in the UK, but a little flex that’s entirely West to West’s own.

Purists would argue that you should never enjoy curry goat without a portion of rice and peas. And we’re not here to a pick fight with tradition. The first mouthful sends us screaming back to Notting Hill Carnival, London’s most vibrant street party filled with big sound systems and even bigger food adventures.

The ensemble is spice-perfect and the meat, cooked on the bone, is as tender as you’re likely to find it anywhere.

Awojoh binch is a vegan-friendly

Sierra Leonean delicacy – a slow-stewed black-eyed bean ode to comfort. This interpretation comes alive with an unmistakeable background glow of scotch bonnet pepper, and what we assume is sprinklings from Mama J’s secret spice cabinet.

The plantains and jollof rice come from a winning formula too and are executed faithfully.

Despite the diminutive size of this restaurant, everything is big here. The portions, the flavours, the characters of the staff. It’s about as authentic as it comes, with great food to match.

Al Bzaymi St, Najda, Sat and Mon to Thur noon to 9pm, Fri 3pm to 9pm, closed Sunday. Tel: (0)2671 9119. facebook.com/ westtowestkitchen