I took a cheeky trip to Lagos recently. It hadn’t been in a while since I moved to Ibadan and a part of me had missed the endless carousel of activity. I also hadn't seen a few friends in a while so I needed to do a quick pop in and pop out to catch up with them.
One of my friends decided to treat me to lunch and we were going to have Lebanese food so I was excited. The restaurant of choice was Salma's, a fine dining eatery in Victoria Island that is known for it's authenticity of it's cuisine. I’d been there once before for a birthday dinner and I remember the food being astonishingly good so I couldn’t wait.
Salma’s has a very nice space, it's bright, the décor doesn't try too hard and it's all very simple and sophisticated. There is lots of seating - inside, poolside and an in between, which is where we chose to sit.
We settled in and were attended to swiftly. Our waiter spoke clearly as he helped us navigate the menu and I always appreciate when they show familiarity with the food. They were quite well trained and I didn't have any issues with the service (and I tend to notice the little things!).
We ordered the special hummus, some fried eggplant and cauliflower and a spicy pistachio kafta. The order came with some sides - a batch of fresh naan bread, some juicy olives, crunchy pickles and some eggplants stuffed with chilli and walnuts.
The special hummus was lovely. It was rich, creamy and had a healthy dose of marinated goat meat chunks and we scooped copious amounts of this on to our warm naan. There was also a healthy drizzle of olive oil on it as well, and this added a nice layer of silky richness to the hummus.
The deep fried vegetables were quite nice as well, I’d have never thought to order fried vegetables but I’m glad we did. The cauliflower was really fun to eat, it had a crunchy mouth feel to it. and the eggplant which had been lightly battered had a light crisp to it. These had somewhat of a muted flavor and were great for balancing out the other food items which tasted bolder.
The spicy pistachio kafta had the tastiest lamb I had eaten in a long while. The spices ran sooooo deep, and the juiciness made me say a silent prayer for the lamb! The rest of the dish was fairly straight forward, basically more real estate to smother hummus on.
There are two things I like in particular about Lebanese food. Firstly, the fact that the meal is made up of multiple small bites here and there makes it so that you can mix and match what you like. Pick this and that and your taste buds are getting savory, spicy, sour at the same time. The other thing is that the cuisine is really good for you, healthy fats, largely vegetarian and leaner meat choices have their advantages.
I was really happy about the meal. Twice now, and Salma's hasn't missed so I definitely recommend if you want to try something different or something healthy. Everything cost around ₦15,000, and it was very filling. They are at 20/24 Ozumba Mbadiwa Ave, VI and you can find the Salma's menu HERE.
Don't forget to like and share this, and be sure to let me know if you do visit this restaurant!
Lovely place, Lovely food, great article, great pictures and well written.!!!