Last fall when I was in Ghent Ashish and I decided to go to a Caribbean/African restaurant called Uele. As we approached it seemed there were not any people in it and the too-white-tile-and-sleekly-modern interior didn’t appear have the Caribbean/African vibe that one might want in that kind of restaurant. so we opted for a Greek restaurant. It was pretty good. This year but we decided to give Uele another shot. Again it looked pretty empty and still sleekly modern when we arrived but we went in anyway.
OK, it definitely still lacked that vibe. But the food was great. The waitress was gorgeous and only spoke French, well Dutch too, but I can’t speak that and I love it when I am forced to speak French and it turns out I can (insert tooth sucking noise here).
In terms of Caribbean I’m not sure just how Caribbean-y it was. A certain restaurant in Milwaukee, now closed, will remain my favorite Caribbean restaurant outside of the Caribbean itself. But it was very African-y and the food was remarkable. The appetizer platter which featured accras (not like the seafood fritters I know, just sayin’), samosas and crab avocado rolls, all great, was accompanied by some sauce that even writing this on a full stomach makes my mouth water. The waitress warned us that it was piquante, French for spicy hot. We finished that sauce with the appetizers and then we (I) wiped that bowl clean with bread. I’d have picked it up and licked if I had less manners. And considering how few I have it’s shocking I didn’t.
I ordered tandoori pork and tempura vegetables. Goddammit it was good. Ashish had kip moabe. That means chicken moabe. Yeah, I don’t know either but it was also excellent. His meal came with piri piri and while sounding exotic, it was nothing more than oily chopped onions and tomatoes. Not that I objected to it, it was good. It just wasn’t as exotic as I’d have liked. Sorta like the restaurant.
