Review: 343 Degrees North (Victoria Island, Lagos)
343 Degrees North
237 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos | Instagram | Phone
FOLLY: A few years ago, a Lebanese restaurant named Las Gidi Express was in this space. I found it odd because Las Gidi Express doesn’t sound like the name of a Lebanese restaurant. The restaurant itself was pretty good, but before it existed in that space, there was the Goodies Restaurant that I never visited.
NOSA: I think that space is jinxed. Nothing ever survived.
FOLLY: Most people remember that there was Winners Supermarket before Hartley’s, and before Winners, there was Goodies. Word on the street is that there were disagreements between the owners of Goodies, court orders were involved, some people became Goodies, and the others became Winners.
NOSA: Does Goodies still exist? Also, how did Winners become Hartley’s
FOLLY: I don’t have the gist on how Winners became Hartley’s or even related. Still, I’m happy that the whole Winner’s era is behind us in Lagos. I’m sure anyone who went into Winners that year will remember how piss-poor their inventory was. Hartley’s is really so good and has an extensive inventory.
NOSA: Now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever stepped into that place when it was called Winners.
Anyway…back to 343 Degrees North.
FOLLY: We were thinking about going to OX for a review. I remembered that there was another restaurant opposite that I felt would be much better.
NOSA: I hear OX is pretty terrible, so I’m not mentally ready to deal with setting our money on fire. COVID has stressed our bank accounts too much.
FOLLY: On the first impression, I thought 343 Degrees was an Indian restaurant - based on the decor out front, I recall two gold sculptures and the smell of Indian food. The menu, however, has a lot more than Indian.
NOSA: Tbf, their website says they’re primarily Indian fare.
“A journey of an authentic experience of Indian cuisine intertwined with culinary art, designed to bring people of all walks of life together to celebrate culture and food in an elegantly chic ambiance.”
FOLLY: It’s Indo-Chinese, Indian, Nigerian, Indian and Continental.
NOSA: I ask again…what is “Continental”?
FOLLY: I’ve always wondered what Continental food is, so I Googled it. European food is continental food. Seems like a broad way to lump all the white man’s food, but that’s it.
NOSA: Oh.
FOLLY: From our experience at 343, the Italian food is their strong point, which might explain their wine and pasta night every Wednesday. Anyway, here’s what we ordered:
Salt & Pepper Calamari
Wasabi Mayo Shrimp
Fusili Prawn Pasta
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Butter Naan
Cheese Naan
Butter Chicken
NOSA: They had an 11k lobster roll that I really wanted to try for science, but the waitress said it wasn’t available. I’ll be back.
FOLLY: We ordered in stages because the menu was so varied. We didn’t want to dive into one area entirely without knowing which was their strong point. We started with the Salt & Pepper Calamari and Wasabi Rock Prawns, both my choice.
Salt & pepper calamari is similar to regular fried calamari. Still, there are more spices - black pepper, garlic and sometimes hot peppers. I mostly see this on Asian menus, so I guess this fulfilled the Chinese variety that 343 Degrees wants to bring to their menu.
NOSA: I wasn’t the biggest fan of the calamari. There was just something about the batter that out me off.
FOLLY: The calamari was my favourite of the initial two, very well seasoned, and I loved the heat from the sliced peppers. I’d maybe have preferred the calamari as chunks instead of slices. Nonetheless still very good.
NOSA: Not by much, but I preferred the shrimp. Chicken Lettuce Cups weren’t that great either, but when I put the leftovers in Jollof the next day, it was hitting.
FOLLY: Someone will roll their eyes at me for saying this, and I truly deserve it, but the wasabi mayo shrimp had more wasabi than I thought it would have.
NOSA: Yeah, I expected more wasabi-flavoured mayo than mayo-diluted wasabi. I don’t know if that makes any sense.
FOLLY: Same. I imagined a hint of wasabi in mayo and not the other way around, i.e. wasabi with a splash of mayo. It was just a little bit jarring; I know the name said it, so please just rolls your eyes at me. The shrimp themselves were good-sized fleshy chunks, so A1 on that.
Next, we intended to move on to the Italian and Continental sections, but they didn’t have Nosa’s choice, so he started frowning.
NOSA: On brand for me.
FOLLY: I’d be the first to admit that going into it, I wasn’t sure about the pasta from 343 Degrees given that it’s mainly an Indian restaurant, but this was really good.
NOSA: They have a dedicated pasta night, so it had to be good, right?
FOLLY: The menu didn’t give much away, just that it was fusilli pasta with shrimp in a pink sauce.
NOSA: Before you even go too deep, why is it served as though it’s a side lmao. Jokes aside, it was pretty good. Like, surprisingly good.
FOLLY: The sauce was very garlicky and, on the whole, very well seasoned. I hope it wasn’t a fluke, but they have a pasta and wine night every Wednesday, so you could use that discount to check first. Fusilli pasta gets snubbed for being a simple pasta shape, but that’s unfair because the tight corkscrew shape really lets pasta sauce get in all the nooks and crannies.
NOSA: Negative points for the stale garlic bread, though. NEGATIVE.
FOLLY: The biggest letdown for me at 343 Degrees North was the Indian food.
NOSA: I usually trust Indian places when Indians actually dine in said place. But I’m so disappointed in the Indians we saw on the day because 343 Degrees did was lie. LIESSS.
FOLLY: I’ve always been aware that dishes vary widely between North Indian and South Indian cuisine. There is a much broader variety in Indian cuisine than what we know, and it is widespread. It’s mostly North Indian cuisine that is popular in the United States and worldwide. You know how Americans love spreading their Americanized version of things through media.
In fact, it was on a Disney channel high school flick where the main character had an Indian best friend that I first learned about butter chicken. Of course, when her white friends tried butter chicken for the first time, they were waxing lyrical. That stuck with me, and when I saw Butter chicken on a menu the first time, I had to have it. Knowing this, I don’t want to write off the Indian food at 343 Degrees North as not good.
NOSA: You’re very diplomatic because the cheese naan was very mid as well.
FOLLY: I just want to assume that maybe it’s another region than I know. It could also be that the person in the kitchen wasn’t hitting the recipes like they were taught.
FOLLY: We ordered butter chicken at 343 Degrees, but it was much thinner and a lot spicier than every single butter chicken I’ve ever tried. Although North and South Indian cuisine is built from the same flavour foundations, the regions favour different ingredients and cooking methods from my research. As such, the end results often come out differently. Rich and thick curries with yoghurt dominate North Indian cuisine. At the same time, instead of bread, they favour a lot of rice in the South, so the stews tend to be thinner to accompany that. Honestly, this probably explains why at 343 Degrees North, they make and serve their Biryani with the dough seal (we didn’t order it, but I saw it).
NOSA: Why is the name “North” again?
FOLLY: Maybe that’s what was available at CAC.
FOLLY: The Naan here wasn’t puffy either; it was just thin and bleh. I don’t know if this is down to regional differences, but I will surely not order this one again.
NOSA: The cheese naan tastes like they forgot to put the cheese until the last minute. I prefer not to speak on this anymore.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: Order the pasta if you want to play it safe.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Cuba Libre - N4000
Moscow Mule - N4000
Pornstar Martini - N4500
Butter Naan - N6000
Butter Chicken - N5000
Wasabi Prawns - N6500
Garlic Cheese Naan - N1000
Chicken Lettuce Wrap - N4000
Salt & Pepper Calamari - N5000
Fusili Prawn in Pink Sauce - N6500
PRICE RANGE
N5,000 - N15,000
PARKING
Off-street and street parking is available.