Dakar NOLA | A Letter from Senegal 🇸🇳✉️

Finally tried NOLA's shining star — the #1 ranked restaurant in the Southern U.S.! Chef Serigne Mbaye beautifully blends West African tradition with New Orleans ingredients. Trained under San Francisco’s three-Michelin-starred Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn), his dishes carry a poetic touch. The wine pairing mostly featured South African wines — earthy and rustic, though not particularly memorable. What truly surprised me was the Non-alcoholic Pairing — tasted like a sophisticated, elevated version of yogurt drink! 🥛✨ • Ataya 🍵 Opening with turmeric mint tea — Senegal’s warm “welcome.” • Dakar Bread 🥖 Palm oil rolls with special Dakar spiced butter — fluffy bread with smoky, aromatic butter. • Cassava 🥣 Fried cassava mash with garlic aioli and mushrooms — rich in layers. • Yokhoss 🦪 Fried oysters with turnip purée and seafood broth — incredibly fresh, the best dish of the night! • The Last Meal 🫘 Black-eyed pea soup with Louisiana blue crab — culturally meaningful, perfectly balancing the crab’s sweetness and the beans’ richness. • The Rice Connection (Jollof) 🥘 “Jollof” means “one-pot” in Wolof. Rice soaked in flavorful broth, served with homemade fermented chili paste (similar to yellow lantern chili sauce). • Café Touba & Coconut 🍮 Ending with Senegalese spiced coffee and Ghanaian chocolate. The sugar crisp replica of the French Quarter’s iconic wrought-iron lacework might be the most romantic dessert in New Orleans! 🍫🌸 This restaurant deeply values storytelling — you can feel the journey of ingredients from West Africa to Louisiana, full of life and history. #NewOrleans #NOLA #DakarNOLA #NewOrleansFood 🎉🍽️🌍