A globally recognized technology hub and the entertainment heartbeat of West Africa, Lagos has a boundless, creative energy wired into the fabric of the city. The biggest names in Afrobeat are, more often than not, native or adopted Lagosians, and the food scene here pulsates with equal force. First-time visitors encounter a barrage of sights, sounds, street food, and restaurant options representing the foods of immigrant populations from across West Africa, much of it lush with spice and oil. Rice dishes anchor Nigerian cooking: specialties like jollof, white rice with a tomatoey sauce, and locally grown ofada rice with a stew of peppers and palm oil. Fish pepper soup dispensaries double as photography galleries, and international tech-industry transplants have brought with them the flavors of Ethiopia, Lebanon, south India, and beyond. By day, vendors selling crispy puff puffs and other “small chops” line the sidewalks, while flickering streetside grills illuminate the night. The forthcoming Eko Atlantic City project — a 4-square-mile patch of land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean that plans to house 250,000 new residents — is expected to bring an influx of new chef-driven and fine dining restaurants, but amplified flavors and a boisterous spirit infuse all levels of eating here, in Nigeria’s buzziest metropolis. These are the most essential eateries in Lagos.
Prices per person, excluding alcohol:
$ = Less than 500 naira (Less than $1.40 USD)
$$ = 501 – 2,000 naira ($1.40 – $6 USD)
$$$ = 2,000 – 5,000 naira ($6 – $14 USD)
$$$$ = Over 5,000 naira ($14 USD and up)
Kay Ugwuede is a Nigerian writer and photographer based in Lagos.
1. Seven Eagles Spur
Ikeja, Nigeria
Spur outlets aren’t widely popular in Lagos. The South African family restaurant and its franchises are predominantly steakhouses, but also serve a variety of family-friendly items. Thus the interior is laid out in intimate booths and round tables that can sit groups of four or more, with playpens for kids. The outlet at the Ikeja City Mall serves the best, sizable cups of rich milkshakes that come in a variety of flavors: classic strawberry, banana and chocolate, or kiwi. Couple your glass of milkshake with Spur’s signature burger, a ground beef burger served with a side of fries or salad, and you have a filling meal worth every naira. [$$]
2. University of Suya
Lagos, Nigeria
Suya is a popular barbecued chicken or beef usually grilled over an open fire and served with a northern spice mixture, yajichurri, lots of onions, and sometimes a helping of cabbage or some other vegetables. If you ever find suya being prepared or served before the sun goes down, please — I cannot stress this enough — do not buy it. It’s an adage that suya tastes best after day is done, and that the best ones are prepared and sold under the cover of night. This acclaimed university, named to attract foodies, on Allen Avenue in Ikeja attracts long lines most nights for its famed suya — best washed down with a cold drink of your choice, or milk to temper the spice. [$$]
3. Ocean Basket
Lagos, Nigeria
Ocean Basket might be one of the pricier places to eat on the Lagos mainland, but it’s also home to the best seafood platter in Lagos. Add to that the aesthetically pleasing space — think handwritten food notes on a white-chalk wall, pastel furniture, and chandeliers hanging from a ceiling that mirrors a sea wave — and the rooftop dining-area restaurant, and suddenly the bill doesn’t seem so bad. The full-deck platter with prince prawns, mussels, calamari, calamari steak strips, and fish is ideal for a party of five or more, but there are smaller versions too, if you’re splurging solo. [$$$$]
4. Madam Tique’s
Lagos, Nigeria
If you are keen on photography in Nigeria, updates on its very dramatic political scene, or just everyday Lagos banter, then you should spend some time at Madam Tique’s, a family-owned restaurant on the Lagos mainland that doubles as a hub for young photographers under the tutelage of ace photographer Uche James Iroha. Be sure to ask for a bowl of fish pepper soup (fresh fish cooked with peppers, onion, local spices, and scent leaves, with utazi leaves served with the broth) to wake up your palate, followed by a mixed platter of jollof (a one-pot rice dish cooked in richly spiced tomato sauce), fried rice, coleslaw, and well-barbecued chicken. [$$ – $$$]
5. Kaldi House
Ikeja, Nigeria
Kaldi House brings the best of East African cuisine to the West, along with stellar Ethiopian coffee, roasted and brewed on-site. First launched as a coffee roastery, it’s expanded into a casual restaurant serving Ethiopian meals like injera, a spongy flatbread that doubles as a utensil for the dollops of vegetable sauces and stews covering its surface. The East African couple running the place are more than willing to give a tour of the coffee roastery. [$$ – $$$]
6. Gypsy’s
Lagos, Nigeria
This intimate restaurant, tucked away in an industrial area on the Lagos mainland, is a perfect spot to try the best of both Chinese and Indian cooking. Think: fried rice, sesame rolls, chicken tikka masala, and tandoori prawns. Come hungry — you’ll need plenty of room for Gypsy’s massive portions. [$$ – $$$]
7. Bukka Hut
Lagos, Nigeria
Street-food vendors in Lagos, with their makeshift kitchenettes under large umbrellas, are referred to as bukas. Bukka Hut, although not a street-food vendor, serves Nigerian meals that its proprietors swear are prepared the same as street-food bukas, and so have the signature flavors that make them so irresistible. Try the ofada rice at Bukka Hut, a locally grown rice which, because it is not overly processed, is slightly brown when cooked. The rice is served with an accompanying sauce called ofada sauce, which is prepared using fermented locust beans, assorted meat, smoked fish, palm oil, bell peppers, and Scotch bonnet peppers. [$$ – $$$]
8. White House
Lagos, Nigeria
No relation to that other White House, this busy semi-street-food restaurant on the Lagos mainland makes one of the best jollofs in the state. While most street-food stalls in Lagos are makeshift kitchenettes under large umbrellas, White House is a modest, white-walled restaurant with an open kitchen where customers are served food straight from the fire. What makes a good jollof is constantly up for debate, but a distinct smoky taste from an open fire is one of them. White House jollof tastes like firewood jollof, as we like to put it. [$]
9. Best Shawarma
Lagos, Nigeria
Imported by the Lebanese, Nigerian shawarma has quickly become the most popular street food in Lagos. Nigerian shawarma doesn’t differ much from the original: It comprises vegetables, sausages, and marinated chicken grilled on a vertical spit, along with some sour cream, all wrapped in flatbread. At Best Shawarma, you can choose between a chicken or beef shawarma and have the option of adding thin sausages to the roll. [$$]
10. Olaiya
Lagos, Nigeria
Making your way through a bowl of Olaiya’s amala and ewedu/gbegiri soup is a rite of passage for western Nigerians. Amala is a fluffy meal made from dried yam, cassava, or plantain flour that gets made into a super-soft light brown or black meal served with a generous helping of gbegiri, a bean soup that is often mixed with its slimier twin, ewedu. Ewedu is made from its namesake vegetable, which is cooked, ground, and seasoned. You can also get amala with any of the other soups offered here, or a spinach and tomato sauce called éfọ́. [$]
11. Nylah’s
Lagos, Nigeria
Don’t let the empty dining room deceive you: Nylah’s is one of the busiest kitchens in town; home deliveries make up the majority of the orders. It looks a bit like your mom’s kitchen, putting out excellent Nigerian classics, like rice and stew and eba (cassava meal) served with a variety of soups, including afang, a vegetable soup from south Nigeria and oe egusi, melon soup from southeast Nigeria. Be sure to try one of Nylah’s signature lemonades, which are just like the ones sold on street corners throughout Lagos. [$$$]
12. Puff puffs at Lagos Marina
Lagos, Nigeria
“Small chops” is a Nigerian term for street snacks, a tradition of small bites somewhere in the realm of appetizers and hors d’oeuvres that can include everything from Indian samosas to Chinese spring rolls, barbecued meat, peppered gizzard, and beignet-like puff puffs — the most popular item in the ensemble. While there are a hundred or more places to buy puff puffs in Lagos, check out the vendors around the Lagos Marina, where the famous Cathedral Church of Christ sits. Puff puffs are light and fluffy, made with a generous amount of oil — and you get so much for so little money. [$]
13. Danfo Bistro & Dives
Lagos, Nigeria
At Danfo Bistro, one of the city’s popular street foods — ewa agoyin— has been repackaged and is served in a space that’s pure Lagos. Ewa agoyin is made of beans cooked to mush and served with freshly baked bread. At Danfo Bistro, fried plantain cubes top the classic street-food combo. Finger foods like chicken wings are served in strips of newspaper-like packing material, mirroring how street-food vendors pack them. The space is also worthy of note: The decor reimagines Lagos’s popular yellow buses as eating booths, showcasing the signature black-and-yellow stamp of these buses as well as other iconic motifs of Lagos. [$$$]
14. Circa Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria
Circa is the place to go on a date if you want them to swoon over your incredible taste. Here, the restaurant offers a local and Continental menu, including fresh Greek vegetable salads prepared using vegetables grown in the restaurant’s hydroponics farm. At the bar overlooking the lagoon, however, be sure to ask for the signature cocktail, a sweet, peach concoction served with a wedge of lemon called Okoloko. The recipe is a secret, but the potent wallop of the rum is hard to miss. [$$$]
15. Cactus
Lagos, Nigeria
Sure, you can come for the wide-ranging menu of burgers, pasta, salads, and seafood, and stay for the views of the Lagos Lagoon and kid-friendly collapsible play houses. But you’re really here for the doughnuts: large, golden-brown, filled with sweet custard, and topped with a sprinkling of sugar. You would do well to consider the red velvet cake and hummus plate, too, but really it’s all about the donuts. [$$ – $$$]
16. My Coffee Wings
Lagos, Nigeria
If you are a coffee lover looking to get your fix in Lagos, visit My Coffee Wings, which sits on the first floor of a new office complex along Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue on the Lagos Island. The spacious outdoor coffee shop overlooks the Lagos Lagoon and skyline, making it perfect for a personal or business meeting. Note the little angels on the walls that usher you into the space, placed there by artist Peju Alatise. The thin pancakes with strawberry sauce go well with a latte, or consider ordering a proper English breakfast with some sweet crepes on the side. [$$ – $$$]
17. Eric Kayser
Lagos, Nigeria
Chef Eric Kayser’s restaurant may be known for its Italian offerings, like the delicious pastas, but you should visit for the freshly made pastries. His eponymous franchise is a French bakery and patisserie, but its Lagos debut is a full-fledged restaurant with starter and main-course dishes. Make sure to try the quiche and award-winning croissants. [$$ – $$$]
18. Marco Polo
Lagos, Nigeria
Marco Polo is one of a number of restaurants in Lagos that specialize in regional Chinese specialties. As Sino-African relations continue to blossom, the city, as an important economic hub in western Africa, is receiving an ample share of Chinese nationals, mostly concentrated at Ilupeju, an industrial area on the Lagos mainland. The wonton soup is flush with plump shrimp dumplings in a rich vegetable and chicken broth, and the vegetable fried rice is beautifully prepared, with perfectly formed egg clumps and colorful veggies. [$$$$]
19. NOK Garden by Alara
Lagos, Nigeria
Alara is a high-end African fashion brand that has expanded its luxury aesthetic to African cuisine via its fine dining restaurants, NOK and NOK Garden. Chef Pierre Thiam is behind dishes like abula, which it only serves on Thursdays. Abula is a more luxurious version of amala, a light brown or black fluffy meal made from cassava or yam flour. Also in the service offering is thiebou jenn, the Senegalese version of Nigerian jollof, served with a generous portion of flavourful steamed onions. [$$$ – $$$$]