The New Era of West African Fine Dining

Across the diaspora, chefs are sharing knowledge about long-overlooked cuisines — and creating some of the most exciting dishes you’ll find in Europe and America today.

4 essential West African dishes and how to make them.

From Nigeria to Senegal and everywhere in between, West Africa is home to a rich culinary culture that transcends national borders and combines comfort cooking with bold flavours.

Technically speaking, it’s not inaccurate to call Akwasi Brenya-Mensa an interdisciplinary artist; it’s a suitable catch-all that speaks to his many professional hats (accomplished chef, established music manager and DJ, bona fide globetrotter), yet so much of his work examines that which defies simple categorization. A decidedly third culture kid with Ghanaian-British roots, Brenya-Mensa is the creative force behind TATALE, an ever evolving project celebrating African flavors and cooking traditions from the Continent and across the diaspora.

A Traveling Supper Club Turned Restaurant and Dance Hall.

Tatale, a former supper club launched by Akwasi Brenya Mensa in 2021 with the aim of showcasing West African cuisine, and that grew to serve 70 per event at various secret locations

“On the menu, there’s an explanation of why I’ve chosen each dish. When people come to the restaurant, whether they’re familiar with the cuisine or not, I want them to feel like they’ve learned something. For instance, a lot of those who dine with us don’t know that ackee is indigenous to Ghana. They often think it was originally from Jamaica. But the menu tells that story of migration and traces that journey through food.

Unabashedly personal, with each dish coming with its own anecdote on the menu. Brenya-Mensa tells of working with a dance school in Tel Aviv, and of his family’s lively parties on a jaunt to Cape Town. There’s a nod towards what his mother makes him each Tuesday after football, namely that “red red” stew with the plantain, which on the day I visited was the only large plate on offer. It is rich and tomato-based, and laden with fermented locust bean and gari.

When he set out his plans for Tatale at the Africa Centre, chef Akwasi Brenya-Mensa said he wanted his restaurant to “explore what it means to be a restaurateur of African or Caribbean descent in London,” speaking of a “duality to the person that I am, and that need to label and be specific ... something I have battled against when developing this restaurant.”

In the field of London’s modern, West African-influenced restaurant menus, jollof rice is still basically a non-negotiable ubiquity. It remains the centrepiece. But you will not find it on the launch menu at Tatale. It turns out, is very much a considered choice rather than any sort of inadvertent oversight.

Akwasi Brenya-Mensa Is a Chef You Need to Know About. "I like to immerse myself in a culture or a place and then replicate it on a plate," That experience, coupled with a growing sense that the UK food scene was becoming more open and curious about African cuisine— Brenya-Mensa cites the success of restaurants

“Travel has helped me think globally, but act locally” Whether it’s a dish you ate regularly as a child – in his case, burgers for breakfast – or a meal you experienced for the first time. Food’s ability to connect is remarkable. Not only is it a vehicle for linking us to our own cultures, but it’s an entry point into other communities.

From tour manager to restaurateur. “Had I done it as a younger man, it would be a different story,” recalling his recent experiences as tour manager for musicians. “Working with food is more wholesome.” Brenya-Mensa spent years on the road with his job, eating his way around the world from Seoul to Soweto: “Food is an integral part of people’s culture and I’d immerse myself.

Tucking into his lunch at 4.20pm on a Monday afternoon when we meet at his restaurant in Southwark. His newest venture, Tatale, has been open and fully booked for just over three weeks now, as interest in the pan-African eatery reaches a fever pitch. He’s feeling the pressure, but today is a rest day and calls for a bowl of comfort.

‘It’s Moving Away From Blackness as a Monolith’: Art Historian Alayo Akinkugbe Gives Black Figuration a New Lens at Opera Gallery. Featuring works from Amoako Boafo and Adjei Tawiah.. To mark the opening of "The Whole World Smiles With You" in London, the curator sits down with award-winning chef Akwasi Brenya-Mensa to talk bandwidth, soundtracks, and what’s next for their practices.

Taking its name from the plantain pancake, a traditional Ghanian dish, Tatale (pronounced ‘tat-ah-lay’) is based on Brenya-Mensa’s belief that ‘wherever you are in the world, plantain is synonymous with the Black Experience’. Themes of universality and heritage are central to Tatale’s concept, and reflected in the menu, which aims to tell African stories through food, art and culture. 

British food culture is a culinary patchwork, made up of borrowed, evolved and adapted traditions. It speaks of a colonial past and a history of immigration that shapes the ever-evolving way in which we eat today. Britain is diverse – and the cuisine is all the more delicious for it. Since everybody eats, food is an excellent way in which to explore and embrace the country’s rich cultural heritage. If a dish tells the story of one’s identity, a recipe shared can help others to understand that story.

Chop bars. the roadside joints dishing out healthy portions of starch and wonder: banku, fufu, omo tuo, pounded by sinewy arms and used to mop up every last bit of whatever warming soup, sauce or stew is on the menu.

Foodies Share The Taste Of Their Childhood.

“I have long enjoyed chichinga, aka suya. I remember running around hall parties wielding a beef or goat kebab stick of piping hot meat coated in its groundnut and chilli spice mix."

Tatale – named after the Ghanaian plantain pancake dish – opened in London’s Africa Centre in Southwark in the summer of 2022. Prior to that, Brenya-Mensa had steadily built a name for himself and his cooking through a host of pop-ups, supper clubs and private events. These included an exclusive dinner at Soho House last year as part of our One Night Only series, for which he devised a specially tailored menu to pair with event partner, Santa Teresa rum.