Restaurant Review The dating culture has focused on dinner dates as a great beginning place for
couples to get to know each other. New African Woman teams up with London- based awarding-winning comedians Congo’s Eddie Kadi and Nigeria’s
Jocelyn Jee Esien (of the BBC TV’s cult ‘Little Miss Jocelyn’) to see if they would make a perfect dinner date? Sit back and enjoy a hearty laugh and
sumptuous food from London’sCottons Caribbean restaurant and Rhum Jungle. Interviews by Janelle Oswald. Photography: Paul Soso.
Laugh while you eat!
When was the last time you went on a dinner date? Eddie: Not too long ago, I actually met my girlfriend for lunch and went for a pizza - I still call that a dinner date because it still costs dinner money. We just had a laugh. I had a pizza and she had her pasta and we just chilled. Dinner dates are good for relationships because it brings it back to the friendship angle. Jocelyn: My dinner dates are when I cook because I love to cook. When I cook for my boyfriend that’s a dinner date, and he must always enjoy my meals and tell me how good it tastes, or else!
What makes a perfect dinner date? Eddie: A lot of laughter, great food and being able to try something new. If you can laugh throughout the whole date that’s what matters! Te food might be average, but as long as there is laughter involved you will sail through the date!
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Jocelyn: I would also say that a good sense of humour is important, but just being yourself, meaning that if you really want to have a whole chicken, as opposed to, say, one or two wings, order the whole chicken, don’t just order the salads and then eat the chicken off the man’s plate, order your own chicken and be yourself!
Describe your ideal woman. Eddie: Te woman I am with now. She is very strong, has a great sense of humour, is intelligent, smart and caring – the kind of person who puts you first all the time. More importantly, she allows me to be myself.
Describe your ideal man. Jocelyn: A man who likes to eat my food! My boyfriend likes my food. I’ve’ cooked some nasty things in the past – things that he has eaten and I even haven’t eaten! – and he did not say the food was bad, I do quite like that.
What do you like about Caribbean food? Jocelyn: Caribbean food compared to African food has sweetness to it! Eddie: I agree it’s all about the sweetness. With African food, it comes with a “you better eat it”, type of smell. Mummy has cooked it, so you better eat it or you are going to bed hungry! But when it comes to Caribbean food, I think the person who cooks it is singing, which is why it tastes so sweet. Te chef is singing, “Don’t worry about a thing – they drop a little bit of sugar in it – everything is going to be all right”.
If you were to create an ideal meal for a dinner date, what would you cook? Eddie: Jollof rice and Oxtail – I would give it my mum’s twist. I would also cook Ac- kee and Saltfish. Slice some bread – each slice will be a certain length – boil some yam to perfection, and finish up with
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