Posted by Paul Wernick in african, restaurant review on July 5, 2007 at 7:34 am
Safari Village
1690 Danforth Avenue
416-406-0534
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and beer: $30
It’s Thursday and the drums are silent in Safari Village. By Friday, though, the Village will be electric with music and dance. King Achilla Koru will be playing the kalimba. The aroma of barbequing meat will enthral the customers. But on a quiet Thursday evening we can enjoy a fascinating talk with Tony Mbugguss.
As a photojournalist for The Nation, Kenya’s largest paper, and for Reuters, Tony Mbugguss covered wars and coups and disasters. He has a large scar running from his hand because his work displeased an African despot. Today, as co-owner and chef at Safari Village he uses that hand to make chomas and rotis and curries. And he carries on the journalistic tradition of his family as managing editor of The Scene, a magazine dealing with African affairs.
Safari Village is tucked away on Danforth Avenue near Coxwell. I’d passed it many times, intrigued by its exterior promising “French Caribbean and East African” cuisine. My palate hungered for the adventure.
At one time this building used to house Coco Banana, a Haitian restaurant which I occasionally frequented. Tony was also a patron, and eventually he and partner Martha Carnochan purchased it. He decided to maintain it tradition of French Caribbean cooking – the previous owners trained him - and combined those dishes with the Kenyan food he is so familiar with.
Seated in its charming back patio, it’s the African food of Safari Village I’m most interested in. I ask Tony what he would suggest as an authentic African dining experience. Tony recommends choma. Choma – barbeque – is the most popular meal in Kenya, Tony explains, and has an entire culture centred around it. In that east African nation, anything can be an excuse to grill some meat – births, birthdays; it’s even eaten during marriage counselling.
Every town has a local butcher and visiting him is the equivalent of going to the grocery store in Canada. Customers pick and negotiate the price of a cut of meat. The butcher slices it and lets it roast slowly over the barbeque pit. It is not uncommon for the butcher to provide music and dancers while the customer awaits his evening meal. And not only food is available, vendors usually congregate at the pit offering everything from CDs to manicures.
I order a kuku (chicken) choma with a chapatti ($10). The chicken is marinated in yogurt and spices: a muchuzi spice powder is the most popular seasoning in Kenyan cooking. It is served with rice and peas and Kenyan-style baked potatoes. The chapatti, remarkably soft and flaky, is made from scratch.
Goat is served in a variety of styles – both curried Caribbean or marinated Kenyan. This is also served with rice and peas and a vegetable medley ($12).
Other African dishes worth exploring are maragwe: kidney beans, sautéed onions and tomatoes; stewed lentils Kenyan style, and Kachumbari which is a Nairobi-style salad with tomatoes and onions in a citrus-cilantro vinaigrette. And Caribbean food is well represented here too. A variety of meat and vegetable rotis are on the menus as well as Jerk Chicken.
Safari Village isn't open until Thursdays and the barbequing doesn’t get serious until the weekend. There are two large barbeques to make nyama (beef) choma, the most prized choma of all. At the back of the restaurant there is small stage for live African music, karaoke and drum jams.
Who knows? Perhaps choma culture will spread throughout Toronto this summer. I know I long to return to the Village on a Saturday night to eat barbeque and experience ngoma – the spirit of drum and dance.
Actually "kachumbari" is the Swahili term for "kachumbar" which is a Hindi word, and means exactly the same thing. Kachumbar is actually an Indian salad, and like chapatis, samosas and curry, have been adapted to the Kenyan palate. This is primarily because of the Indian diaspora in East Africa.
My brain is in editing & proofreading mode:
Is it possible to "occasionally frequent" a place or is that a contradiction?
I'm teasing (while smiling) and in no way expect blog grammar to be impeccable, but it stood out.
I think you're being nit-picky AT. Of course it is possible to "occasionally frequent" an establishment if the usage of "frequent" is a verb and not an adjective.
From Dictionary.com:
verb
1. do one's shopping at; do business with; be a customer or client of [syn: patronize] [ant: boycott]
Paul frequents that restaurant (that is, he is a customer there), but only occasionally.
Sounds fine to me, and all our writers will tell you I'm a grammar whore when it comes to editing their work.
Well, AT may have a point.
The Cambridge Dictionary and others do define the verb frequent as to visit often or habitually, i.e. "The saloon was frequented by sailors." So "occasionally frequenting" could be interpreted as a contradiction in terms.
I may start frequenting some of those saloons. Drinking with the sailors might improve my grammar and diction.
Chapati Kid:
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
As a frequent visitor to Safari Village, I can say that the food and the ambiance are exquisite. Tony's curry goat (Caribbean style) is my favourite, and is out of this world! Both Martha and Tony welcome guests to their African/Caribbean paradise with a warmth that is unsurpassed. We dance, we sing Karaoke (with Erica two Friday nights per month), we eat, we drink, and we have fun, fun, fun! If you haven't been yet, come nuh? You will enjoy!