The Grillroom Is Pretty Expensive
The Grillroom at The Wheatbaker
4 Onitolo (Lawrence) Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
FOLLY: I’ve had lunch in the lobby area of the Wheatbaker before and I liked it. This was way back in 2013 or even 2012. I had a burger and some frozen strawberry cocktail contraption. I recall it being very expensive but not as expensive as it was a couple days ago.
NOSA: I was at the Wheatbaker meeting a client not too long ago and I remember checking out the menu, it wasn't too expensive.
FOLLY: Point here is that Nosa and I cannot recall a time where the Wheatbaker was this expensive.
NOSA: I think the menu shocked me a bit.
FOLLY: The Wheatbaker is more expensive than RSVP and Sky Lounge overall. In fact, 1415 is cheap in comparison to the Wheatbaker. And the only thing RSVP has on Wheatbaker is that RSVP still has the single most expensive entrée – the Australian fillet that’s N12,500
NOSA: Anyway, let's do this review. We'll get to this price thing in a minute.
FOLLY: Nosa wasn’t feeling any of the starter options but I felt we should try the Battered Calamari & Muesli Pineapple.
NOSA: The appetizer selection is pretty boring, but this calamari one caught my attention because it came with a fried pineapple.
Yes.
Fried.
FOLLY: It was disappointing that we only got one slab of calamari as opposed to individual bite sized pieces. The fried pineapple was even bigger than the calamari.
NOSA: The calamari could have been a lot more. I get it's fine dining and whatnot, but come on, 4000 Naira is a lot drop on this. I can't get behind it.
FOLLY: I have always wondered why people grilled fruit. I thought it was because the sugar caramelizes and thus enhances the flavour profile. Whatever it does, it’s not for me. Warm pineapple is uncomfortable to eat and in the future I’ll definitely pass.
NOSA: Yeah, it's a "NO" from me too. I mean, I already hate fruit so frying it isn't going to change anything.
FOLLY: My favourite thing about the starter was the chutney that it was served with. It was slightly fruity but still had a nice kick.
NOSA: Yeah, the chutney was delicious.
NOSA: I got the Pork Spare Ribs with a side of Grilled Plantain.
As you can see, I did't get my plantain. Apparently, they had no plantain so the waitress made the executive decision to serve me fries.
NOSA: The ribs were decent, but not particularly tender. For how much you're paying, you should get tender ribs. I mean, it's almost 10k and it tastes no different from what you'd get at Ying Yang. Urban Fuxion costs less and is a lot better.
FOLLY: I agree with him.
NOSA: For 5k, I could live with this but not at near 10k. It's wayyy overpriced at that price point. I mean, they're spare ribs aka the cheapest cut of pork ribs. Maybe you're paying for the quantity because I don't think anyone sells ribs at this "volume".
Marinade is good though. I'll give them that
FOLLY: My main was a 300g Sirloin Steak and a side of mashed potatoes. The mash was the worst I’ve had in Lagos. I’ve had some very sorry renditions of mashed potatoes, and most of the times I just eat through the pain and dip it in the sauce like it’s pounded yam.
I couldn’t even manage it in that manner this time. I can’t even place my finger on what was off about it – it just had the strangest lingering taste and it was clumpy.
NOSA: Nah, the mash was an ABSOLUTE disaster.
FOLLY: I thought it was funny when I placed my order for the steak and the waitress asked “Condition please?” I don’t know why but it made me giggle.
This is a terrible picture but can you just appreciate the cross section?
I ordered my steak to be medium rare and it was. The meat itself wasn’t the best as it was incredibly fatty so I had to Google if a sirloin wasn’t a lean cut. I found that on a scale of lean to fatty it’s somewhere bang in the middle so the amount of fat on this was indeed unusual.
NOSA: It looked great, but had too much fat.
FOLLY: The fat and the toughness of the meat put me off. I paid top money and I could barely make it through half of the steak before I through in the towel.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: I was incredibly disappointed on how underwhelming this meal was. We forked over A LOT of money for a mediocre meal and there are few things that feel worse than that.
NOSA: Overall, it's good food but it's not worth the money. AT. ALL.
FOLLY: The mojito was alright though. The bartender wasn’t heavy handed with the sugar and I liked that.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Battered Calamari & Muesli Pineapple - N4700
300g Sirloin - N7900
BBQ Pork Spare Ribs - N9700
Mojito - N2500
PARKING
The parking is pretty good. Well, it's a hotel. What do you expect?