Calabar Kitchen Canada — Restaurant in Hamilton

Dear esteemed reader,

I must express my utmost disappointment with the so-called "African" restaurant, Calabar Kitchen. I recently had the displeasure of dining at this establishment and I must say, it was a truly underwhelming experience.

Upon arrival, I was left standing at the entrance for several minutes without any greeting or acknowledgment from the staff.

When I finally managed to place my order, I was appalled at the exorbitant price of 22 dollars for what turned out to be a meager and unsatisfactory portion of food. Frankly, the food was not even worth 2 percent of 100 Canadian dollars, let alone a fifth. This was an insult to my taste buds and my wallet.

To make matters worse, the jollof rice that was served to me was the worst I've ever tasted. The texture of the rice was hard and brittle, like old reheated garbage, and the fish was clearly not fresh. The excessive use of peppers only added insult to injury, making the taste unbearable. As an African, I am deeply ashamed to have experienced such a disgraceful representation of our cuisine.

In conclusion, I advise anyone with a discerning palate to steer clear of Calabar Kitchen. The food was an utter disappointment and the service was subpar. Save yourself the trouble and...

Pretty good food. I've had Nigerian food before, but this was different. The chicken looks like chicken cacciatore, but look out for the spice! It's a good burn. The rice appears to be broken. I've only ever seen this technique used in Vietnamese cooking. If you've had vegetarian fried rice from other Nigerian restaurants, beware...unlike the other ones that I've tried where the vegetarian rice was very savory, but not spicy...this one was both savory and spicy (or maybe the chicken was so spicy the rice tasted spicy too hehehe).

Unlike Korean or Indian food, when you get really spicy food in Nigerian food, it's from the Cameroon Pepper, which is actually related to the black pepper from India that's used in western cooking a lot. However, the Cameroon pepper I would say is just as spicy as chili peppers, but you can still taste the food.

I haven't had the Suya beef here yet, but the Cameroon pepper is the star of the Suya beef dish. One lick of the beef is enough to shoot flames off...

I've never had any African Soup with pound before and i've been wanting to expand my pallet. I went here in October and ordered it. The lady was very kind to me and she could tell i've never eaten there before and helped me choose my soup, and i ended up getting Afang Soup with pound. Let me tell you that was my best experience with customer service, we talked about my back ground and her background, and she explained to me how to properly eat the pound after dipping it in the soup (you suck on the pound to eat it you don't chew it). The food was a little expensive but very delicious. I am planning on going back once I am back at my summer job :) Thank you Calabar Kitchen for the...