our man in cameroon

Okay, I promised you food.

How’s this?  Quite a plateful.

The chicken above and the fish below (bar fish? bah fish? ba fish? not sure) are both from Sister Rose’s Restaurant just off Foncha junction in Bamenda.

It’s not exactly a central location and its large servings make eating alone impossible, but the food is good.  All char-grilled.  All large.  All tasty. Food as big as King Kong’s head with a hat on.

The green veggies above and below are jama jama (various spellings also seem to apply) and fried plantains.

Jama jama for the uninitiated is kind of spinach like.  In texture it reminds me a little of the Indian sag aloo but without the potatoes.  It does have the same consistency and oiliness. Sure, it is not as spicy but on occasions it does have a peppery kick.

Plantains are plantains.  The banana’s more savoury cousin.  It’s funny I never think…mmm would love some plantains …but yet they still always go down remarkably well.

The fish is mammoth.

Fish is everywhere in Bamenda and I haven’t really worked out how.

Coming back home in the evenings I travel through a fug of fish smells as assorted beer and smoked fish shacks do a roaring trade.  In the market there are whole sections of dried and very stinky fish.  On the street it sometimes feels like you can hardly go 50 yards without someone trying to sell you a sprat or two.

We’re a long long way from the coast and while there are lakes…could they really be producing so much fish?

Please enlighten me if you have the knowledge…where does all Bamenda’s fish come from?

But anyway, the fish at Sister Rose’s is unlike what I’ve avoided elsewhere.  It appears very fresh and it’s large enough to be able to eat around the bones without painstaking care.

While I’m still not really enamoured with food that can look at me,  for locals the head appears to be often viewed as the best bit. I certainly won’t be fighting them for it.

Oooh, nearly forgot.  Sister Rose keeps her beer cold.  Very cold. Coldest beer in town I reckon.

There’s also a private back area with comfy sofas and chairs.  It feels like an Asian karaoke room but sans karaoke, obviously.

The price?  Bear in mind you’d be hard pushed to eat either dish with less than two people helping out, is between £5 and £7 per plateful.

If this was the most appetising meal I ate this week, here is the least.

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This entry was posted on November 14, 2008 at 9:09 am and is filed under cameroon. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: bamenda, cameroon, chicken, fish, food, sister rose

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