Bar Afrique — Restaurant in Leuven

I'm editing my review after I did some research in African cuisine.

We visited Bar Afrique completely spontaneously after seeing a recommendation from Xiaohongshu. We had had no previous knowledge of African cuisine and the food there did not disappoint.

The toasted plantain is a must try! The plantains were coated and deep fried then topped with avocado sauce and fried shrimp. It was a very pleasant mixure of sweet, sour and savory.

The item that attracts us the most on the menu was the egusi soup. Now that I have done some research, I could elaborate a little bit on how I feel about the dish. In my understanding, egusi soup functions as a broth in which you can cook any type of meat of your preference. The base has a unique and fabulous mixture of flavor offered by blended pepper and onion, egusi seeds and dried crayfish. Depending on the pepper you choose, the sweet and spicy level may change. Depending on the amount of the egusi seeds you add, the aroma and the taste of grease may also differ. The egusi soup we had at Bar Afrique was served with goat meat, a choice I could not be more approve of. I usually dislike the intense smell and flavor of goat, but when they are cooked in egusi soup, the offensive taste of goat actually became the highlight of the dish. Other types of meat might be too plain and there wouldn't be such a wonderful clash of flavor. We were intrigued by the dish because we saw in the description that the egusi soup contains crayfish. In Chinese, the character that describes the savory flavor of food is xian 鲜. This character, in fact, consists of two characters that indicate two different animals. On the left side of this character is yu 鱼 (fish). On the right side, the it says yang 羊 (goat). So in a Chinese mind, the combination of fish and goat should guarantee good flavor. Strange enough, in Chinese cuisine, it's almost impossible to find a dish that combines fish and goat. Luckily, we found it in African cuisine on that day. The egusi soup was an interesting adventure for us and certainly an enjoyable one. The chilli oil on the side tastes quite like the Chinese fermented chilli and it adds another layer to this aromatic dish. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a meaty dish.

(💬In fact, after we went home, I tried to cook my own egusi soup and the result was very pleasant. I added three fresh habanero pepper and two red bell pepper to my blender and the egusi soup became so spicy and sweet. In hindsight, I feel that I didn't add enough egusi seeds and crayfish, because my egusi soup isn't as aromatic as what we had at Bar Afrique. So there is definitely room for improvement.)

The Kip Maffe was chicken with a peanut butter based sauce. The chicken was extremely tender. The sauce has a strong peanut butter aroma, but somehow the flavor of peanut butter was not there. I was not entirely sure what to make of this dish, but the lady next to us said it was a typical African dish that should be enjoyed with baked bananas.

(💬We cooked this dish at home too. The amount of peanut butter we added to the sauce wad unimaginable and finally I could taste peanut butter on my chicken. Good job, us! 😋)

BTW, we ordered fufu and we loved it! (💬However, we bought cassava and made our own fufu from scratch. Then the fufu at Bar Afrique pales in comparison 😆)

The owner is very friendly and the atmosphere is very nice. It was a beautiful evening with an amazing exotic food experience~ I still recommend this place to anyone who would like a pleasant adventure of African cuisine. It was a wonderful evening when the door to a whole delicious world was...

Must visit in Leuven!

We received a very warm and relaxed welcome that set the tone for the rest of the night. The menu was a discovery in itself with a very practical and beautiful design and filled with dishes that were new for me but all looked so delicious they made the choice before us nigh impossible. While having a beer we were casually distracted from our conversation and drawn to the dishes making their way to the other guests and were over the moon when the gorgeously presented Toast Plantin turned out to be for us. As delicious as it was beautiful for sure and a true sign of what was still to come.

The Egusisoep and the Liboke mbisi with Fufu were mouthwatering, fingerlicking, brainsplosioningly tasty and again, presented with such care and inspiration the passion was literally palpable! As this was our first visit we were both keen to share our dishes which our host understood simply by seeing our combined gaze fixed on the food when it arrived so he provided us with extra plates and some kind words. The flavours were true to the ingredients yet sophisticated and subtle with a delicious spicy sauce to the side of the Egusisoep should you desire an extra kick (I enjoyed it both with as without).

Anyway, I feel like I´m raving like a lunatic but I honestly can´t wait to go back to discover all the other dishes! (And mind you, at the time of writing we still have leftovers in the fridge to enjoy tonight)

If you live in Leuven and like food, this is an absolute must!

Thank you for an amazing evening, we will be...

Ive been here before when they first opened and it used to be good and i loved it, used to rave about it. Now it's not the same and I will probably never be back.

The service is the slowest I've ever experienced. We waited 1 hour 10 min for our food. I asked why it took so long but they said it's because the food is made "a la carte". But most restaurants that are not chains or takeaway make their food to order - should not take over an hour. It was especially bad as we were the first table! It was also not busy at all. It took others longer to get their food. If it was busy I could understand the wait but it was ridiculous.

It's way too expensive for the food they serve. Appetizers are around 17 euros, mains are between 2030, and you have to get a side which is anywhere from 712 euros. It was over 50 euros per person

The cocktails were not good. It was very watery

Their food itself is good I did like their mains - it tasted nice (the burger is average but decent flavours) but the ntaba saus (goat) was quite nice. The white rice however was slightly hard. But we didn't think the food was worth the...