South Promises Lagos' Best Burger
92B Younis Bashorun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
FOLLY: Never has a restaurant opening been this hot since RSVP opened in December 2014.
NOSA: RSVP wasn't really hot when they opened. It took a couple weeks before it really took off. South, on the other hand, has been popping from day one. The menu isn't even settled yet. I don't even know how they did it because there wasn't any overt marketing like Sugarcane.
FOLLY: A couple of people have called me to simple ask "where is South?". Like even people that didn't even know what the restaurant was called have called to ask.
NOSA: For full disclosure purposes, the owners knew who we were when we came in to review. I'd visited some days earlier and I got snitched on.
FOLLY: Yeah, Nosagot himself casted. He was introduced to the owners as Eat.Drink.Lagos so when we came to review they knew who we were. I fully blame him for that.
NOSA: It was supposed to be "Boys Night" lol
On the plus side, I have juicy gossip like the building was originally some guy's house and it took about a year to renovate. Oh, the guys that run it are related to the Double 4 people. Now, you can impress your date with "inside gist".
FOLLY: It's been a while since a menu excited me the way the menu at South excited me. The last time I was this excited to order from a restaurant menu is when Nok introduced the garden menu.
NOSA: Backyard, for me. But the sentiment remains, the menu was the first thing that got me pumped. I mean, the decor is great and all, but the menu has jambalaya, bacon-stuffed akara, spinach & artichoke dip.
FOLLY: Spinach & artichoke dip is one of my favourite bar eats so I was happy to see it on a menu in Lagos so I quickly ordered it. For my main, I went with the chicken sammich.
I clearly asked our waiter to replace my fries with the dirty south fries but since he REFUSED to write anything down. He brought me two orders of fries - the one I ordered and the regular fries that come with the sammich - cause clearly he wants me to look like a whale.
NOSA: I got the Macgregor (Mac & Cheese with bacon and truffle oil) and homeboy brought regular Mac & Cheese. Someone needs to tell Lagos waitstaff that their memories aren't as good as they think it is.
FOLLY: The spinach artichoke dip was more watery than others I've had and the spinach was barely chopped. I'm used to the spinach chopped very small and fully blended in with artichoke, and the entire dip being thick. The wateriness of this iteration confused me.
NOSA: Yeah, this wasn't as great as I thought it would be. It could've been a lot cheesier and tortilla chips would work better as the side. Decent enough, however.
The South Egg Roll, however, were fantastic. Reminded me a lot of Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls and I used to love those in college.
FOLLY: The chicken sammich was glorious.
NOSA: High praise, mate.
FOLLY: It was simple yet adequate. I didn't mind that the chicken was not the dominant taste and that's not because it was tasteless but the slaw was what really came through.
NOSA: The chicken was real tender too. And that's a good thing. Nobody wants to be fighting the chicken they're trying to eat. This happened last time I got the Nok sandwich.
FOLLY: Most chicken sandwiches have a thick piece of deep fried chicken, that in between to fat pieces of bread becomes quite cumbersome to eat. The chicken in this is deep fried but the piece is like Schnitzel thick. I'm not sure what they were thinking when constructing this but kudos to the chef for thinking of "ease of eating"
NOSA: The chicken sandwich is Nok-chicken-sandwich good. Maybe better. Actually, it's better. Nok's fell off since. Folly doesn't like pickles and took it out of hers, but don't be like Folly. The pickles are the best part.
FOLLY: Man, I still can't believe Nosa ordered Jollof rice. If you've been reading this blog long enough and were plugged in to #FriedRaceGate
NOSA: I ordered Jambalaya, you philistine!
NOSA: I'll be honest though, I took a bit of a gamble with my order out of excitement. Thankfully, it didn't taste like Jollof. Their jambalaya will ease the less adventurous into the menu so I guess it works. As for the jambalaya itself, it doesn't really transport you to Louisiana, but it's like watching New Orleans on TV. So it's close enough in a roundabout way.
Also, you're in Lagos and that's important context.
Where South really excels is their burgers/sandwiches. Folly's chicken sandwich was great, but the The French was even better. The French might be the best burger I've eaten in Lagos and top 5 anywhere.
NOSA: It costs a pretty kobo at N7500, but it's almost worth it. The bun is softer than a baby's bottom. I hype things I really like, I know. But when have I led any EDL reader astray?
Yeah, I thought so.
If you, my dear reader, order it, please get your beef medium well. I know a lot of people refuse to get beef that isn't well done, but you won't fully appreciate the quality if you get it well done. If you're getting it well done, just get the cheaper burger on the menu.
ALSO, ask for extra cheese because these guys might skimp on it.
FOLLY: I'm a bit pedestrian so the truffle mac and cheese is not for me. I can't stand truffle oil.
NOSA: You didn't miss much, tbf. Truffle oil is mad overrated.
FOLLY: The dirty south fries were a disappointment and desperately needed salt. Disappointing cause the chili con carne was all tomato and the cheese wasn't enough.
NOSA: The regular fries that came as a side were significantly better.
FOLLY: If they had dessert, would have given that a try.
NOSA: Yeah, the desserts are coming soon.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: South is okay but the hype is a lot.
NOSA: Dis tru
FOLLY: That drink that all of you people have been screaming about, I hated. I won't normally have ordered it because it has both grapefruit and aperol but you people said otherwise. I do want to go back and try The French, though.
NOSA: South isn't head and
shoulders above every restaurant in Lagos, but it's firmly in that RSVP/1415/Shiro/Izanagi/Backyard tier. And that's as good as it gets in Lagos anyway. I can't wait for the final menu and see what gets left out.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
McGregor - N4000
Jambalaya - N6500
Laura Palmer - N4000
South Egg Roll - N2500
The French - N7500
Chicken Sammich - N5500
Spinach Artichoke Dip - N3500
Dirty South Fries - N2500
PARKING
Ehh.
There's parking in front and the security men are helpful