Overview
Location: Tottenham
Price per head: £40 – £50
Our opinion: Decent value
Summary: A flavoursome dive into the world of Nigerian cuisine, with great value dishes and a wonderful atmosphere. Oh, and they do a bloody great brunch!
Restaurant Review
Our friends have recently moved to Tottenham. They have been keen to ‘sell it’ to us in an attempt to tempt us over to their neck of the woods more often. Early on they used Chuku’s as bait.
I had never heard of Chuku’s until they mentioned it. Since learning about it I am somewhat surprised. As a self professed foodie, whose partner is even more so, I would have thought that a place claiming to be the first restaurant in the world to do Nigerian tapas would have crossed my radar. Regardless, I have heard of it now.
I had no idea what to expect from Nigerian tapas, and my knowledge of Nigerian food is probably lacking in general. Scrap that, it is lacking. However, I get the impression the team behind Chuku’s expect a decent percentage of their customers to be like me. This is why it’s Nigerian ‘tapas’, or small plates, which the London food scene can’t seem to get enough of. This allows diners to try a large number of their dishes, covering a good range of the flavours and dishes that anyone studying Nigerian cuisine will need to get a handle on.
Someone more familiar with this country’s food might be a little surprised by the menu, and certainly what is served. There are modern takes across the menu, deconstructed classic dishes, and even deserts which are not as common in the land that this food hails from. But that’s the whole point of Chuku’s, it wants to be different, and it wants to teach those less familiar with Nigerian food all about it.
The decor and vibe set the scene well, with afrobeats playing over the speakers and African artwork on display. The staff are incredibly friendly and eager to help you through the menu. It’s busy and has a relaxed atmosphere.
Dining Options
Chuku’s are open for lunch and dinner, but they also offer a brunch option until 4pm. In the interest of science, and to give you a full picture of what this place has to offer, we went twice this month and tried both options.
We initially had dinner. We had a cocktail each and shared 6 dishes, and the bill came to £40 a head. We had some lovely dishes, one that blew our heads off with spice, and some that were ok. Being honest I was slightly underwhelmed. However, I think we got our ordering wrong and were maybe taken slightly off guard by some of the dishes.
Going back for brunch was a whole different story. We went in understanding the menu better, had done more research into what we should order, and overall felt more ready for a Nigerian feast. The brunch is also a great deal that will have you leaving full and appropriately tipsy. You get 3 cocktails each, and 3 dishes of your choosing, all for £35. A few of the dishes are not available for brunch, but honestly there is still a great selection on offer. This offer is absolutely great value, especially when you consider that cocktails are each £10.50 normally. If you are looking for your next brunch option I thoroughly recommend you give this place a go.
One last point that I think is important to mention is that over half the menu is vegan. And a lot of it is bloody good vegan at that. This place is a must for anyone looking for an interesting, well priced and tasty plant based meal.
The Food
It’s tapas. We went twice. We ate a lot of dishes. You would die of boredom if I talked you through every single thing we ate. I will call out our favourites in more detail and then mention a few things to look out for generally!
Egusi Bowl
3 cassava dumplings, each on top of a different typical Nigerian stew. This dish is 2 things, a beautifully presented tapa and a great way to try a number of important Nigerian ingredients and flavours in a single bowl. The yellow stew (which is actually the egusi stew) was without doubt my favourite. The dumplings themselves are soft and pillowy and great at soaking up the different sauces.
Wings
Ok so they actually do 2 different types of chicken wings and we tried both. The wing options are:
- Caramel Kuli Kuli wings
- Zobo wings
The Kuli Kuli variety are seemingly one of their most popular dishes. I was a little wary of them given that they are coated in salted caramel. Surely these would be weirdly sweet? To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. They had a sticky, mildly spiced sauce and were dusted with crushed peanuts. They were yummy and it didn’t feel like I had dessert sauce covering my chicken.
The Zobo wings were new on the menu and are described as being tossed in a sticky zobo glaze (hibiscus, ginger, cloves & pineapple). These were nice but I actually preferred the Kuli Kuli wings because, somewhat ironically given my last paragraph, the zobo were quite tart and funnily enough, not sweet enough for me. Saying that, this is a new dish and I look forward to going back and seeing how it evolves over time.
Banga Chicken
On the Chuku’s menu they print a little icon next to certain dishes to indicate that they are a ‘guest’s favourite’. I have no idea how this icon wasn’t next to the Banga Chicken. Shredded chicken in a palm nut fruit stew, it was wonderfully subtly flavoured and incredibly moreish. I absolutely loved this dish and think everyone who goes should try it!
Honey Suya Prawns
Another excellent dish, but this one does have the guest favourite icon I think it deserves. Pan fried king prawns in a sweet and spicy sauce of honey and traditional suya. The suya delivers great chilli, ginger and peanut flavour and the prawns are cooked to perfection. Just a wonderful dish that delivers more Nigerian flavours.
Adalu
A slow cooked stew of Nigerian honey beans with sweetcorn. They describe this as local comfort food and I can see exactly why. Nicely balanced flavours, nothing is too spicy, and just an all round delicious bowl of food. This is definitely something that I intend to learn to make myself, and think it would make a great weeknight dinner.
Suya meatballs
Another guest favourite and another dish benefiting from suya. The rich tomato sauce was the right level of sweetness and worked well with the deep meat flavour of the meatballs.
Other notable mentions
There were also other dishes we tried that we really enjoyed. The house salad is obviously just a simple dish but we loved the freshness it delivered and felt it complemented the other richer food well (and it’s only £4.50).
The cassava fries were yummy, but we really struggled with the spiciness of the scotch bonnet sauce to be honest!
Cocktails
They have 5 cocktails on the menu and we tried 3 of them over our 2 visits. I loved the ‘Ginger my Swagger’ the most, mainly because I like my cocktails on the slightly less sweet side. For those more sweetly inclined, the ‘Chapman Punch’ has you covered. The ‘Eze’ is a good middle ground and interesting that it brings in some Nigerian flavours in the form of zobo.
In general the cocktails are great, and have a decent boozy kick to them. You get 3 of these with brunch and I would not want or need any more than that. 3 had me tipsy and also looking forward to a beer!
