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| - Whenever someone says "Hey, did you check out the African joint down the block" I instantly get a brain aneurysm. Africa is a continent the size of Europe, United States, Japan, India and China combined. When you are trying to talk about an African " flavor" in this fashion it's like pointing at a random edible object at the local Provigo and claiming it to be a Canadian flavor - theoretically true, but really patently ridiculous. The flavor of Maghrebi African is different from the flavors of Egypt, which is different from, say, Ethiopian or Eriterian. Same goes for Francophone Africa versus Anglophone, or Arab versus Christian. The truth of the matter is - there are patterns to ingredient availability and ethnic influences, but the more exposure to it means you'll learn to figure out origins and influences.
Take, for instance, Gracia Afrika. It's a tiny tiny place (with literally 7 tables) on Notre Dame Street West within the gentrifying Little Burgundy neighborhood (it's west island but within the Green line metro), and completely walkable to Marche Atwater. Bibi (that's the name of the proprietress) does the cooking and the cleaning, and her culinary skill-set is something special. She's from Kinshasa, Republic of Congo, so her cuisine tends to lean on the flavors of Sub-Saharan west Africa. You'll see quite a bit of peanut based soups or stews, the use of bananas (or possibly coco-yam dumplings known as fu-fu) as starches, flavorful rice and beans dishes, goat or lamb as meats, or fish grilled in banana leaves. For those of you who are familiar with Senegalese, Ivorian, or (to a certain degree) Haitian cuisine, you'll find it reminiscent of that.
Bibi and her restaurant is very well known in Montreal - she kept the place open for the past 6 years and built up quite a following. Montreal is infamous for killing restaurants due to its establishment-per-capita ratio (much higher than NYC) - in fact, one of the things you notice strolling through certain neighborhoods like The Main or Downtown is how frequent you see "A Louer" (for rent) signs at failed restaurant storefronts. Those who can't hack it are spun out quickly with fickle crowds, high rents and expenses. It take a brass pair to run a restaurant in this town. Does she have a pair? You bet - she cooked for Michaëlle Jean (the former governor general of Canada, and a local girl) at state dinners. And she alone will cook for you, wash for you and tend to your needs. Service will be a little slower, but hey, 90 minute suppers are the norms here dining out. The place is BYOB, so take advantage of that Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) or the Depannier nearby and buy yourself a nice bottle of red before coming in. The limited menu is usually written on a chalkboard and presented to you in the fashion of a good Parisian bistro - have Google Translate ready as boss-lady does not really speak too much English. If you speak French, ask her questions and she'll gladly oblige.
Okay, onto the food. What can you expect? Well, the day I went with the missus, we got 2 dishes - mwambe (which is a chicken stew in a peanut gravy) and whole fish (it's tilapia) grilled in banana leaves and topped with a pepper/onion sauce. The Mwambe is rather like the Senegalese mafe, which is lamb and carmelized onions stewed in dende (palm oil), ground peanuts and spices. In Bibi's Congolese version the amount of dende is knocked down quite significantly, and the meal is served with a flavorful rice pilaf (think of it as like a cross between an Indian Biryani and Jamaican rice-and-peas). The fish is like the Senegalese yassa, which is a grilled fish stew with peppers onions and lemon. In Bibi's version, the lemon isn't there, but it's still extremely good and delicious. The meals also come with fried plantains (the savory version) and a salad (which comes out of a CostCo carton, heh). Pricing is reasonable (about $18/person before the 15% Quebec taxes) and the service is decent.
So yes, her cuisine isn't exactly reflective of the entire Africa continent - show me a place that serves Egyptian, Moroccan, Ethiopian, Ivorian, Senegalese, Ghanian, Nigerian, Congolese, Mozambique, Botswanan, and South African all under one roof, and maybe we can lay claim to that one. However, if you want a taste of what Ivorian, Senegalese and Congolese might taste like, step right up to Gracia Afrika, there's an iron lady here who will show you. I personally consider her restaurant to be a must-visit if you are in Montreal, it's just as important as Schwartz's, Rotisserie Romados, Sai Gwan, Agrikol or the Pool Room.
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