SMART GORILLA — Restaurant in Lille

Summary:

One of the top 3 restaurant-made African dishes I’ve had outside Africa, hands down! And the service was excellent as well.

Long version:

Visited the nearby botanical garden, and decided to get food in the area. Did a search on Google and the Smart Gorilla came up. I was intrigued by the name, and comforted by the fact it was African.

When I arrived, all the customers I met were Asian. For a second I thought I was in the wrong place, but the music suggested otherwise.

Approached the guy at the bar and asked in French if he spoke English. He replied that he didn’t. I told him in my terrible French - aided by sign language - that I wanted to eat, and that I was very hungry. He showed me the QR code for the menu (on Instagram) and we proceeded to narrow down my options to two, of which I picked the “Maman Avait Raison”.

He went to the kitchen to place my order, and when he returned he asked where I was from. I said Nigeria, and he smiled. Next thing I knew, he changed the music playing to Nigerian music.

When the food arrived, it was a joy to behold with all the colours; dark brown (plantain), yellow (rice), red (onion based sauce), and light brown (fried chicken). And when I tasted the first mouthful, I knew it was game over! Like I said in the summary, it turned out to be one of the top 3 restaurant-made African dishes I’ve had outside Africa, hands down!

My only complaint is that they don’t serve African beer. Having said that, the Guinness and Leffe I had were excellent.

This is a hidden gem in Lille, and I will definitely return to The Smart Gorilla when next I visit Lille. Might even make one more visit while I’m here. Yes, the food was that good.

PS. By the time I was leaving, more customers had arrived. Quite a few were non-African French people, and they seemed like they were regulars by the way they interacted with...

Venu avec un groupe de 14 jeunes et 2 adultes pour découvrir le restaurant, nous avons réservé quelques semaines à l'avance. Le restaurant n'était pas prêt, on nous installe sur 5 tables de 2 personnes (il fallait se serrer?), à force d'insister, ils ajoutent 2 tables. 1 seule carte pour les 16 personnes, on passe commande après 20 minutes d'attente, le serveur m'annonce soit disant 30 minutes de cuisson? ça m'étonne mais tant mieux, je demande de l'eau en attendant, qui n'arrive pas... Après 50 minutes je demande ce qu'il en est de notre commande, le serveur rigole avec des amis (ils étaient assis à 5-6 près du bar) "ça va arriver" dit-il, après 1h20 je commence à fortement raler, au moins avoir des boissons comme nous étions là depuis 1h40 ça semblait un minimum?? Vu mon énervement, on me donne une bouteille de coca de 1,5L, et 2 jus de fruit du carrefour "en geste commercial" pour les 16 que nous étions, boissons que j'ai du servir moi-même aux jeunes...! Au final, 1h45 après, je menace de partir si on ne voit pas les plats arriver, il s'excuse et dit que ça arrive tout de suite! De fait, 5 minutes après on a pu manger, des frites froides, hamburger qualité Mcdo, poulet parfois trop cuit, parfois pas assez... bref, déçu, des plats pas terribles, service déplorable, très mauvaise expérience. J'espère que c'est l'effet du "groupe" mais le restaurant était vide à part nous, gérer 16 couverts ne semble pas insurmontable, surtout que nous avions prévenu bien à l'avance! La prochaine fois qu'un groupe vous demande, dites plutôt que vous ne gérerez pas, ou que l'attente...

Smart gorilla, smart food. Their portions are nice and generous even for a hearty eater like myself. I guess that’s where their strong point is. The waiter was also very kind and warm-hearted. The food? Pretty good ! I was satisfied with what I got (Zingallo) and I know it because my mouth is still watering thinking about it. Restaurant is small and cozy and the menu is the right size so that you’re not floating in 200 choices of burger and drinks. Lovely for a night out with two or...