A cult Sydney Nigerian restaurant arrives in West End

Little Lagos was one of the pandemic’s Sydney success stories.

As popular as it had been during its pop-up days at Earl’s Juke Joint, there were concerns Ade Adeniyi’s then-new Nigerian restaurant wouldn’t survive the NSW capital’s months of lockdowns.

But Adeniyi, like many operators, managed to bounce along doing takeaway until he could reopen in earnest. These days, Little Lagos does a roaring trade on Enmore Road.

Perhaps it was all because, upon opening, Little Lagos was Sydney’s only dedicated Nigerian restaurant and bar – a surprise in a city with well over 3000 Nigerian-born residents.

Turns out, it was so popular that word spread to Brisbane.

“We had a fan base in Brisbane before we even came here,” says Kemi Fajemisin.

Head chef and manager Fajemisin is chatting in the dining room of Lekki by Little Lagos, Little Lagos’ new sister venue in West End.

“I remember my first week in Brisbane, and someone asked me what we’re doing, and I said I was from Little Lagos in Sydney, and she said, ‘I’ve been wanting to come to Sydney for a long time. And I haven’t been able – this is going to be my second home.’ Now, she’s always here.”

Brisbane, like Sydney before it, has lacked a go-to Nigerian restaurant (although you can find pockets of the cuisine around the city – see catering company Calabar Kitchen, for example, which has a dedicated following) and on a Thursday evening at 5pm, when this masthead visits Lekki by Little Lagos, the dining room is already half full.

“We’ve had huge support from the Nigerian community,” Fajemisin says. “But also other locals, and other nationalities travelling through Brisbane. They’re curious and when they try it, they seem to love it.”

What’s to love about Nigerian food?

Think spicy, flavourful soups; rich curry-like stews built on onion, tomato and capsicum; fried plantains; flaky pies full of mince and onion; and jollof rice cooked in a blended sauce of tomatoes, capsicum, onions and habaneros.

It’s hearty and soul-warming, and like a lot of West African cuisine, tends to come served with plenty of spice.

“They’re the kinds of flavours everyone loves,” Fajemisin says. “And for newcomers it’s friendly, it’s approachable.”

Lekki’s menu is split into mains, snacks, sides and desserts, with some set menu share plates that allow diners to explore a few different dishes.

For mains, you might order Nigerian-style jollof rice with chicken; ewa agoyin (slow-cooked then pan-fried black-eyed beans, topped with a fried red-chilli sauce); ila alasepo (a finely minced okra soup with fish and beef); or egusi (melon seeds) simmered with herbs, spices, green leaves and beef.

There are also a bunch of stews, such as a marinated beef stew cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, red capsicum, habaneros, onions and traditional Nigerian spices; a marinated goat stew that takes locally sourced goat and cooks it much the same way; or an ayamase – a traditional stew made with a sauce of locust beans, green bullhorn capsicums, habaneros, onions, Nigerian spices, fish and beef.

For snacks, there are flaky meat pies stuffed with minced beef, or chicken, potatoes and carrots; gizdodo (stir-fry of plantains, and chicken gizzards and giblets); and asun (marinated goat pieces diced with onion and chilli).

For drinks, there are African beers (including Nigerian-brewed Guinness Foreign Extra Stout) and a handful of wines, but it’s the Nigerian-influenced cocktail list where the action is. There’s the Palm-ito (palm wine, rum, lime, scent-leaf syrup and mint), the Fela in Versace (tequila, elderflower, lime, chilli, zobo tea syrup and palm wine) and the Meia Praia (gin, coconut, pineapple, falernum and North African bitters), among a bunch of others.

The cocktails play nicely with the venue, which sits open to the street on Boundary, with music pumping from a hefty PA system.

There’s not much to the fit-out other than some timber tables and bentwood chairs, a bar down one side and a banquette down the other, and a Nigerian flag and enormous portrait of Fela Kuti at the door.

But that just adds to the familial, welcoming feel of the place – particularly with the large semi-open kitchen out back.

“The music is the first thing that attracts people,” Fajemisin says. “It makes them curious to check us out. The food’s happening, and we’ve got happy hours from Tuesday to Friday, so they’ll come in and immediately get what we’re all about.”

Open Tue-Fri 4pm-9pm, Sat-Sun 1pm-9pm.

132 Boundary Street, West End, (07) 3846 7298.

lekkibylittlelagos.com