Not too Shabby, Bambi!

Bambuddha
(Thai)
21 Karimu Kotun Street, Victoria Island
01-7614198
www.bambuddha-lagos.com

I have a sick habit. Okay perhaps "sick" is too strong a word? Let's call it an annoying habit. I can be sitting pretty in my car, or on my laptop, or in the shower, when all of a sudden my mind will begin to wander, my mouth will water, and my tongue will decide that it just has to have Dish A, from Restaurant B, in City C. I can be in Mumbai or Marrakech, it doesn't matter where - my tongue doesn't care much for geography.

Since I moved to Lagos in July, I have had a number of these uncontrollable cravings. This month alone (and yes I am well aware that it is only the eleventh hour of the first day of the month) I have had three cravings. The first was for chocolate covered raspberries from Marks & Spencer. The second was for a bacon and avocado ciabbatta from Caffé Saporito in Marylebone (London). And the third was for creme brulée from Pastis in New friggin' York!

I couldn't do anything about the first, I didn't have a panini machine with which to recreate the second, and so I went on a treasure hunt of sorts for the third. I had made plans to have dinner with a friend tonight, sushi at Fusion in fact, but just as we turned onto Ozumba Mbadiwe, we found a mess of cars queueing up to get into the Lagoon complex, and decided sushi could wait (plus I'd eaten at Fusion earlier in the week anyway). At that moment, my tongue did a little dance, and the words "creme" and "brulée" popped into my head. You see, last Sunday I had had the most dreadful creme brulée at Saipan (think coffee-flavoured mousse minus the ever essential burnt caramel crust) and had moaned to a fellow foodie about it. Her solution to my conundrum was Bambuddah. I made the mental note to go this week but completely forgot about it until the friend I was with tonight said, "Bonzai?" at which point I shook my head and said, "No, Bambuddha!"

Now the funny thing about Bambuddha is that I've been a thousand times for drinks with friends, but never to eat. Why? Because two years ago when the restaurant opened, all I heard was complaint after complaint from friends and family. Being a lover of Thai food, I made the decision at the time to steer clear of Bambi, and resigned myself to eating at Pattaya. Tonight though, I was prepared to make an exception, if only to have a spoonful of average, mediocre creme brulée (I was wanting it that badly).

We walked into the beautiful beeootiful restaurant, and the first thing I did was scour the menu to check that creme brulée was still on it. Only after that, did I sit back and take in my surroundings. Bambuddha in my (humble) opinion is the funkiest and best decorated restaurant in Lagos at the moment. It is the only restaurant in the city (I really shouldn't speak for the mainland) that sees its decor through, right from its patterned wallpaper to little bronze Buddha figurines and polished chopsticks. I absolutely love it! And I can't for the life of me work out why it is always empty! The music is consistently cool, funky jazz; they have the best bartenders in Lagos, serving up the freshest, crisp mojitos you will find anywhere on this side of 3rd Mainland Bridge (believe me, I've looked!); and their staff are always so friendly and welcoming. In fact after my friend and I were seated, the first thing the dark waitress with the cute accent (must get her name next time) said was, "Strawberry Mojito?" My friend, let's call him Iggy, and I had lapped up mojito after mojito in their lounge a week ago, and I was very impressed that she remembered.

Eager to get onto dessert, I skipped starters and ordered their Thai green prawn curry and egg fried rice. Iggy ordered the surf and turf and shrimp fried rice. The food didn't take too long to arrive (perhaps it did, but I was too engrossed in my mango mojito to notice). And when it arrived, I was so happy we'd skipped Fusion in favour of Bambuddah. My curry was absolutely delicious, and could just as easily have been from Busaba or Banana Leaf in London. The rice was a teeny bit on the hard side, but it was still so much lighter that the usual egg fried rice I've had at Chinese restaurants in Lagos. Iggy's surf and turf on the other hand, didn't look too appealing, so I didn't try it, and instead held back from laughing whilst he struggled to get the prawns out of their shells.

Main course over, and without looking at the dessert menus, Iggy asked our waitress to bring out the creme brulée. I got myself all geared up and excited, ordered a raspberry mojito and sat back in anticipation. Five minutes later though, my hopes were dashed as she returned to tell me that they were out of creme brulée. I couldn't believe my ears! I really wish restaurants in Lagos would do what's done in London where, from the minute you sit down, the waiter reels off a list of items that're unavailable at the time. If I had a thousand naira for every time I looked forward to a dish only to hear the words "Sorry Madam, we don't have..." I would be a friggin' trillionaire!

Needless to say, my evening at Bambuddha ended on a low. But if my name is anything to go by, you can be sure I'll be back there before the week is out, asking yet again for the creme brulée. I've searched high and low for it in Lagos, and I'm not about to be deterred so easily now that I've found a source, albeit an unreliable one. Though next time, perhaps I'll call in advance to see if it's available or not. I can't afford to be brulée'd twice in a row! (Teehee! That was lame!)