Review: Kaly (Victoria Island)

Restaurants

Sep 16

Kaly Restaurant & Bar Lounge

7th Floor, 1235B Akin Adesola off Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island | Instagram | 0809 205 5555

Three tweets that nicely sum up you people’s general feelings about Kaly:

Kaly told my friends that if they want to reserve a table for 10, they need to commit to spending 50k per person.
Also, they were expected to make full payment or half payment upfront.

Lagos restaurants are going mental and I don’t plan to entertain them.
— La Donna Ricca (@Jenn_nikolas) March 11, 2022

You people will go to Kaly and Slice Lagos fully aware of their ridiculous menu price only to come and cry on Twitter. Carry go mummy. Our lobster spaghetti must sell biko🥰.
— chisom• (@chisomagbodike) May 16, 2022

Lagos restaurants kill me. Made a reservation at Kaly and they sent confirmation. The last sentence says “entry is at the management discretion”. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/01RikYuHQr
— Bos (@_bosman) March 25, 2022

But, naturally, we still had to do check out Kaly and do our due diligence because you never know, right? A few nights ago, I decided it was finally time to see what the hullaballoo was all about and made a reservation. Expectations were naturally a bit hmmm, but I was prepared to give the restaurant a fair trial.

First impressions: This is niceeeee. I paused at the entrance to take photos, first off, because na my money, and I needed to get full value for it. Plus, I believe every vain person in Lagos who has dined here has a pic under that their signage. It’s what you do 😌

My guest and I got settled in and a very pleasant waiter came over to attend to us, took off to get us the menu and during that short period, a complimentary starter of warm bread and tomato sauce was served. The bread was hot, I was hungry, I polished it off, and as far as complimentary bread goes, it understood the assignment.

It took about 15 minutes for our starters to come. I got the Fritto Misto and my guest had the Chicken Salad, and we LOVED both. I appreciated that their Fritto Misto didn’t just have calamari alone, but shrimps and prawns as well. The dip for the Fritto was also tangy in the right way and complemented the seafood quite beautifully.

As for the chicken salad, the microgreens in it were fresh – which should be a given, but, guy, this is Lagos, make I no talk – but the dressing was really the star of the show. I loved how creamy and flavourful it was, and I kept wondering whether it was made in-house or gotten off a shelf, cos I need me somma that.

The chicken was really tasty, as well; you can tell it was marinated properly, with the right spices, because every mouthful was really good. A weird little thing: The salad had dates in it, which I had never experienced, but loved and now, I'm considering adding dates to all my salads 🙈 Let me tell you, we cleared every single thing on the plate 😂 The starters at Kaly are quality.

We waited another 15 minutes and our mains came. I got the Spicy Sea Bass, with a side of mashed potatoes and South African Rib Eye Steak, with the Kaly Fried Rice with Shrimp.

As nice as the names sound is as nice as the meals were. The steak was medium well-done, and it was so juicy and tender. I appreciated them putting pink Himalayan salt on the side for me to jazz up the meat; it definitely elevated the meal. The peppercorn sauce for the steak was GOOD and that is KEY. Nothing worse than a wack peppercorn sauce!

As for the Spicy Sea Bass, it came nice and deboned, which made me feel like I really got my money’s worth because I didn’t need to do it myself. Now, when it comes to spiciness, I can handle a little heat but I don’t like when it’s overwhelming. This fish was done perfectly, and had just the right balance of flavours. I got potato mash as a side for the sea bass, and it was the creamiest, fluffiest mash, although, I enjoyed it better with the steak.

The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the Kaly Fried Rice. Fact is it was pretty standard stir-fried rice with shrimp on it. It didn't particularly stand out or have any identifiable flavours, which was a bit of a shame. But considering how well the rest of the main (and starters too) had gone, I had to give them a free pass here.

Shout out to the drinks as well – they were really good and the bartender definitely knows what they’re doing. The servers recommended the Temptation cocktail for me, which was worth every sip (I even got another!). We also got the Kaly’s Kiss and Original Sin (Camera Shy) – again, both top-notch cocktails 👌🏾

At this point, I was too full to even try out dessert, but I lowkey had my eye on the Mascarpone Cheesecake. You know now, normal 😉