During the last Bank Holiday, the May Day, I went to eat at Luscious Temptations at the A& C Mall (East Legon). LT is the closest you get to fine dining in Accra, I don’t think it will ever be awarded any Michelin Stars, but it caters well if you want to go out for the night and are looking for somewhere to eat.

It was a holiday, so I was expecting it to be a bit busy. I order my drinks but it takes a while to order my food because they have like 80 different items and an extra 20 “new” dishes”. I decided to try the lamb something or other, and in Ghana, it is usually beef, goat or chicken as the other meats are imported from South Africa or somewhere, hence quite expensive.

The waitress goes out for about 15 minutes, comes back and tells me that they don’t have it. I ordered something else, I think it was some type of seafood, they didn’t have that either. So it was like, what do you have then, because this was becoming very long. I ended up with chicken wings and fries. Had it not been for the cocktails that had made me slightly tipsy and the fact that I was with a friend, I may have just gone home.

The food arrives after an hour, and it wasn’t all that, the bill comes. Now bear in mind we shared the fries, wings and I think some breaded shrimp thing with a couple of cocktails. The bill came to over 120GHS. Now if we were talking pounds, it would be a little over £20 but there is a clear difference between someone who is making £2,000 and 2,000GHS. Plus really, if I am going to spend that amount, it should be for better than chicken wings and chips. The food took an age, it wasn’t all that, I basically paid for the ambience even at that, was sitting outside.

Yesterday was another holiday, and I decided to take myself out. As I am on a budget (of about zero…lol), I went to my local. There I ordered my baileys substitute. It is a local brew which cost 50p a shot. I then went to the local Indomie (instant noodles) seller. The Indomie seller, stir fry’s the noodles with vegetables, sausage and chicken bits. She cooks to order so if you are a vegetarian you can simply ask for it without meat. You will also get an egg omelette on top if you want it. So it doesn’t come on a fancy plate but rather a takeout container. Nevertheless, I got the same amount of tipsy, plus I was so full I had to take the rest home. All it cost me was 8.50GHS. So what you may only have one option, but it freshly cooked and you know exactly what you are getting. Plus she would never tell you that “we don’t have it in today”, and it is fast (took less than 10 minutes for the food and she was busy).

Ok, so it is not exactly fine dining but I am just a simple girl with simple needs.