NOK by Alara's luxury Amala doesn't live up to the hype

With a menu so secret that pictures of it arent allowed, NOK surprised its customers with a local favourite — Amala.

NOK by Alara is a contemporary African restaurant known for its innovative, vibrant dishes from all over the African continent. The Pan-African restaurant is in the habit of reinventing the classics of African cooking, giving familiar foods an innovative twist. It is mostly known for its burgers, corn bread, salads and seafood okra. A switch-up was definitely due.

NOK started a three-day campaign, in July, to anticipate the release of a new secret menu that will be available till the end of July. It had its many customers guessing what the secret menu item could be — with answers like Ndole, Ewa-agoyin, Banku, Ofada, Akara. Last Tuesday, the item was finally revealed to be Amala, , undefinedand Assorted meat.

NOK isn't the first place that comes to mind for street food in Lagos, due to its high-end clientele and exotic chefs, so Pulse was curious to explore this menu item.

The restaurant itself is an intimate dining space behind the contemporary Alara building, with ample natural lighting and an attractive bar. Each customer gets a polite waiter assigned to him/her upon entry and the full menu is served.

As expected, the meal was not cheap. A regular plate of Amala at a bukka will cost an average of N500 but at NOK, a plate of Amala goes for N3500. However, each serving has about eight pieces of assorted (cow) meat including Beef, Saki and Round-about. Eating the meat was the highlight of the whole meal as each piece of meat was tender and delicious.

The portion of Amala itself was small but consistent in texture. So, someone not big on meat will find him/herself looking to order another portion of Amala if he/she can afford it. The Gbegiri and Ewedu also lacked in quantity as well as taste — they could not be distinguished amidst the pool of spicy stew.

For a restaurant with a Senegalese New-York-based chef as its executive chef, the whole meal did not taste or look amateurish at all! However, whether a trip to NOK to eat N3500 Amala is worth it, is very debatable.

Reservations are encouraged as NOK is only open from 12-3pm & 6pm - Late, everyday except Mondays.