Teranga

»Teranga - don't waste your money

I had been looking forward to trying Teranga, based on my love of Senegalese cuisine, having grown up eating Thiéboudienne (national dish) and dibi, the ubiquitous grilled lamb chops of Senegal.

We started with Accara, black-eyed-pea fritters, as an appetizer (see photo #1). The accara had zero taste. We were warned by the server that the accompanying sauce would be extremely hot, and why...+READ I had been looking forward to trying Teranga, based on my love of Senegalese cuisine, having grown up eating Thiéboudienne (national dish) and dibi, the ubiquitous grilled lamb chops of Senegal.

We started with Accara, black-eyed-pea fritters, as an appetizer (see photo #1). The accara had zero taste. We were warned by the server that the accompanying sauce would be extremely hot, and why don't we try a milder sauce instead. We opted for the spicy sauce. The fritters finally came, and they were just hot oily pads of flavorless crunch. "Fried things," as my DC described them. The supposedly "extremely hot" sauce was oily and peppery, without much taste dimension. For a tasty version of black-eyed-pea fritters, I recommend ordering a plate of accara/accra at any decent Haitian restaurant.

The Thiéboudienne/"National Dish" ($15) was on the lower end of mediocre. It arrived on a trendy South-End-pretentious square-shaped ruffled plate, and its components were alarmingly separated, as if it were some sort of "deconstructed" dish (see photo #2). Thiéboudienne is supposed to be a hearty, homey casserole that exhibits a tamed but harmonic balance of tomato sauce, peanut oil, rice, tender fish pieces, carrots and yucca. Teranga's version is not this.

The fish itself was a dry, overcooked, mealy hunk of flesh, with an oddly machine-pressed shape, sadly, too much like the sole of a flip-flop. The manioc bits were mealy as well, and didn't take on any of the rich tomato-y garlic-y goodness that this dish is supposed to impart. Overall, dry, mealy and unsatisfying.

DC ordered the Djibi ($17). The lamb chops were nice: thin, chewy and fatty, with a pronounced 'lamb' flavor (see photo #3). However, they got a bit dry toward the end, and could have used more of the traditional honey mustard/onion sauce that usually comes slathered over djibi. The accompanying sweet potato fries could have been fried better; they were just oily limp sticks.

I had the ginger juice, which was just 'fine' in my opinion. Not gingery enough, and a tad too sweet and was reminiscent of bubble gum flavors.

It's too bad this place hasn't gotten it quite right. I love most any dish made with lamb. The maffe (lamb stew) had gotten favorable reviews; it's too bad I won't be back to try it. The Djibi were good but not great, and "National Dish" is certainly not a good representation of this warm, home-style comfort dish.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (7 Replies) (by Prav, created October 18, 2009)