A Disappointing Sunday Brunch at SAFI
NOSA: Deep down, I always felt that our SAFI review was a bit too soon. Their instagram, too, seemed to suggest this as well. The ideas seemed to be there on the menu, but the execution when we visited fell a bit short. When they announced their brunch menu, I felt like it was an opportunity to give them another shot.
FOLLY: And another shot, we gave them. I was excited to visit again because their Instagram pictures of their brunch offering looked lit. There’s probably no correlation here but I also heard that Circa in Lekki has a very good full English,so I just imagined things were looking up for Lekki restaurants so I was eager to re-visit Safi.
NOSA: Perhaps giving them another shot wasn’t the wisest decision either. No need to mince words here, but our entire brunch experience at SAFI was pitiful. From the breakfast burger not being available to the English Breakfast presented to us, the execution didn’t just fall short, it fell way off the mark.
FOLLY: I’m told the restaurant business in Lagos is very hard and the quality of the food at Safi is an indication of how hard it must be. The entire menu needs to be scrapped. We ordered 3 of 5 items and all three were “a damn shame”.
English Breakfast
NOSA: I really had high hopes, but it was just so disappointing. This is the breakfast your cook from Togo makes. You shouldn’t have to leave your house, burn fuel and still have to pay legal tender for it.
FOLLY: I was also going to order the French Toast and I was grateful that we didn’t because from the looks of things, it would have been an additional waste of money.
SAFI
Churchill’s Pub
FOLLY: The bacon was basic and rubbery (as you can tell) and in the place of sausages what we received were wrinkly frankfurters.
NOSA: Why on earth do restaurants still do these “sausages” either? The Artisan Butchery can get you proper locally sourced sausages. You might say “Oh, it’s not expensive so allow”, but the Full English at Churchill’s Pub in Lekki is N700 cheaper and infinitely better. I honestly do not understand. Maybe restaurant owners can clue us in here because I’m sure there’s something I’m missing. When things feel so obvious, there are often hidden factors. So, please, I’m listening.
Sweet Potato Hash
NOSA: The sweet potato hash was the brightest spot on the menu. The rest of it was so bad that I’ll excuse the fact it was fried in old oil and you literally taste the last thing the fried with it. Yes, that’s how bad the experience was.
NOSA: The chef, for some reason, left out the ham the menu promised in the Croissant Sandwich. I had to borrow a strip of bacon from the Full English. You can literally make this plate yourself in your house, down to the Kraft singles cheese. I got rained on driving to SAFI for this. But that wasn’t the worst part. That’s reserved for the pancakes.
NOSA: The pancakes came out as basically pancake batter. We tasted it just to be sure we weren’t imagining things and when we sent it back, the chef insisted that’s how pancakes are made.
FOLLY: I was appaled at that response. I could'n’t actually believe this soggy and uncooked mess was being defended as “this is how we make it”.
NOSA: I mean, no be my restaurant but in another country, this is a violation of some sort. Places get shut down for less.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: All round bad. Waste of calories.
FOLLY: I think I was more by the waste of calories more so than the obvious waste of money.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Full English - N3800
Sweet Potato Hash - N1000
Croissant Sandwich - N3200
PARKING
Narrow and a tight squeeze.