FROM THE SUITCASE--Oliha Yiwama

Well, Oliha hasn't been to the cybercafe this week, and now the phones are acting funny, too. So it's me, Tamsin, writing this week, based on a conversation he and I had. I'd been making recommendations about eating out in Benin City, and had strongly urged him to go to Saidi Centre Hotel when he wanted a change from delicious Nigerian food. While I enjoyed their Spaghetti Bolognese, my real favorite was their spring rolls with chile sauce for dipping. I'd often pop in and have five as a meal, with a delicious cold Star to cool my mouth.

So I kept asking Oliha, "Have you had the spring rolls yet?" Finally he stopped at Saidi, only to tell me that the restaurant no longer operated. I was shocked! New hotels and restaurants were opening all over Benin, but Saidi (Lebonese-run) was a standard, right in the heart of town! I couldn't imagine what made Mr. Saidi close it, and Oliha of course didn't have answers to that. But a clerk told him a new Chinese restaurant had opened in GRA, the fancy neighborhood.

He delighted in telling me he didn't like it at all, and the spring rolls were horrible! Well! I couldn't hold brief for this restaurant, which wasn't there last time I was in town, and wondered if it even had a Chinese or a Chinese-trained cook. But I will hold forth on the general excellence of Chinese food in Nigeria.

When I lived in Jos, we had no Chinese restaurant, and foreign food eating spots were rare. I initially lived across the street from the best in town, a Lebonese spot where salad was Miltonized and delicious, and I learned to love hummus. Hill Station and a few other hotels had Western dishes, and Mr. Biggs, the fast food joint, had just opened. But when I traveled out of town, I zoomed for the Chinese restaurants in Kaduna (Arewa) and Kano. They were favorite spots for wealthy Nigerians, since rice was the base, and they were elegant spots with starched tablecloths and atmosphere. While the waiters were Nigerian, the cook was always Chinese, and he and his family could sometimes be spotted having their own dinner in the corner. I always wondered about them--at that time they were basically the only Chinese in town, and I'd try and fathom how they got to Kaduna or Kano, who they talked to, what their plans were? But no answers.

Still, the food was delicious, and usually Szechuan--perhaps because of a shared love for hot pepper. Kung pao chicken--my oh my! And spring rolls.....oh, it spoiled me! I won't even eat a spring roll in the U.S.--I disdain them after delicious crunchy packets of finely grated cabbage, onion, and (NO MUSHROOMS!) other delicacies.

There are lots of Chinese in different parts of Nigeria now, with projects ranging from oil to agriculture. The Chevron market in Lagos started selling a range of Chinese vegetables, a useful collaboration between homesick Chinese who brought seeds and farmers who knew what they could charge top naira for! There'd always been a number of Chinese restaurants in Lagos, which has a real range of dining options, and they just multiplied. Whether all their kitchens were headed by Asians or not, I've never discovered, though the Marco Polo has chefs both Chinese and Nigerian, and a mouth-watering website at http://www.marcopolo.com.ng/13.html.

When hunting for photos for this post, I ran into some reviews of Lagos restaurants by the Chinese, which I thought was interesting. One man said the Marco Polo had great ambience and the food was up to the standard of any restaurant back home in China. Another said his dad, hard to please and a chef himself, loved Chopstick in Ikeja, where the chef experimented with local ingredients when he couldn't source necessities. I loved Golden Gate, and Saipan and many others....mmmmmm.

And even Warri, which--despite all the oil workers--had a dearth of foreign eating spots when I was there in the 90s, had a great Chinese spot--Jade Garden. When I think of all the delicious spring rolls and other treats to be had in Abuja or Ibadan or half a dozen other cities, I feel like marching Oliha from spot to spot until he admits, stuffed, that Chinese restaurants in Nigeria are better than almost any in the U.S. But at the same time I ask mournfully, "Mr. Saidi, why? Nothing beat the spring rolls at your place."

--Tamsin Barzane