Tasty Ethnic Foods

Ate here yesterday. Got there we were Rather confuse as to do we order or sit down. There was a line which led my husband and myself to believe the food was good. Finally after about 20 minutes someone came out of the back to clean the dirty tables. My husband had since gotten a juice out of the fridge but I needed a cup to drink or a straw at least. There was neither. We ordered the food came out it was burned the jaloff rice was Luke warm. My husband had the okra stew with banku the fish was old and hard. But I always try a place at least 3 times before giving up so I will update on our next visit.

If you want to taste real Ghanaian food, this is it, the only one in Connecticut! I am preparing a trip back to Ghana and my family had never had real Ghanaian food before, so it was a pleasure to take them there and have them experience the real thing. Ghanaian food is so healthy and wholesome… the carbs consist mostly of root vegetables like yams and cassava, rice, and fermented corn. There are so many different types of stews and soups, and they put fire/​spice inside almost every dish. We hear so much about the health benefits of ginger, garlic, hot pepper, etc., but here in West African/​Ghanaian food you find it included in their natural diet. I recommended dishes to my family based on what I thought they would like — my dad (and I) had fufu (mashed cassava, like smooth mashed potatoes you use to dip) with light soup (very spicy soup with tomato, onion, hot pepper, garlic, ginger and your choice of meat/​fish), my mom the vegetarian had «red red» which is cooked beans in palm oil with fried cassava flakes (called gari) and well cooked ripe plantains — when I first was in Ghana and I was very recently a vegetarian I got sick of all the meat everywhere and relied on red red for my vegetarian meal of choice… so good! My sister had boiled yams (not the same yams, these are more bland like potatoes but make for a great food for dipping) with spinach stew, and her husband had jollof — a rice dish cooked in heavy spices with shrimp-​based sauce (shito) with chicken drumsticks, boiled egg, and a little spaghetti. Everyone was very satisfied and they can all stop worrying about me starving in Ghana, because when it is time to eat they know how to eat! All the portions were massive — the fufu was more of a reasonable portion to finish at one sitting but everyone else struggled to clean their plates! I think 95% of their customers are local Ghanaians in East Hartford, so there isn’t much focus on a menu (its just on their business card at the front) and each item isn’t really explained, but if you ask them they will be happy to explain in great detail what every item is. Can’t recommend this place enough!

Update: this time they had menu cards displayed on the counter. Unlike my last visit, this time it was more of a set menu; the ordering was not quite as casual, with less mixing & matching.
The Jollof Rice is the thing to get — amazing. They give you tons of it, and it’s incredibly flavorful. A great base to any meal. The stewed goat was also delicious. The okra stew is a little too sticky for me — I did not care too much for the texture. A side of their house hot sauce is pretty much a given — it goes perfectly with their chicken.
I highly recommend a trip to Tasty Ethnic Foods, they are a great place to fill up on spicy meat & amazing rice. There are some good sides too, some fish dishes, and a few veggie options like boiled yams & spinach stew. They also have (nonalcoholic) malted barley soda drinks including Malta Guinness. I think they might be changing their name to Nhyira African Restaurant.
Support this local business!

African food, eh? Sure, I’ll give it a whirl.
Ordering here is a real challenge. There’s a steam table with half a dozen unidentified dishes. When I pointed to something and asked what it was, I got a rather skimpy response like «okra stew» or «mixed meat» or «peanut stew».
So I ended up just pointing at a few things and hoping for the best. I tried the okra stew which really was a meaty stew in a crushed okra sauce. There were two kinds of meat in there– big cubes that sure tasted like beef or pot roast. They were OK. The other kind I have absolutely no idea what it was. It was thinly sliced with a rubbery gelatinous texture, crazily spiced. I’m pretty adventurous about what I eat, but this one didn’t pass go for me. I left those mystery meats behind. The stew sauce was really good though, crazy hot and spicy and excellent.
The peanut stew/​soup was pretty much mild– not a lot of taste or oomph to it.
So for my ten bucks I got a huge portion of rice, some really good and spicy sauce with beef chunks and inedible slices of something (maybe tripe??), and some non-​memorable peanut stew.
The guy behind the counter was pleasant enough and tried his best to help me out.
I doubt I’ll be back. And if someone has an idea of what those foam rubber slices were, please let me know. They are the dark slabs in the top left corner of my food photo…

Stopped here for lunch today! Our server was very friendly, patient, and offered me a sample of whatever I was curious about. I must say I was a little reluctant going in due to the strong smell that African cuisine usually gives off but it was amazing! I got a peanut soup with foo-​foo (sp), rice and beans, fish stew, and noodles that had a boiled egg on the side. The flavors are pungent, they use a lot of fish and if you’re not into anything too exotic you might want to start with the soups and ease your way in. The food is also very spicy which works for me!

Decent Ghana food, I would definitely call first to place you order. Went kind of late in the day so the very first thing i ordered they were out of. but they did have my second choice.
Very friendly owner… who also waited on me while i was there. Probably will return if im in the area.

Good Ghana food. For faster service place your order before getting there to avoid waiting.