Circa Lagos: Plenty Highs, More Mehs
NOSA: This Circa review has taken two visits and a couple of weeks, but it’s finally here. Probably didn't need multiple weeks to draw the conclusion.
FOLLY: But yeah, here we are.
NOSA: On multiple occasions, I’ve talked about restaurants being tucked in a particular location but I don’t think they come close to Circa. It’s literally tucked in the residential side of Lekki.
FOLLY: It doesn't help that the most direct route to Circa has been closed off by an over bearing resident's association that thinks there are too many entries and exits into their private street.
NOSA: Lekki residents are so fake uppity. They don't know the place has already become FESTAC, a once residential estate turned to business district.
FOLLY: We started with the asun, calamari & prawn mix, and the naan with smoked chicken
NOSA: The asun was absolutely disappointing. I can’t believe I’m here complaining about lack of pepper, but here I am. It felt very intentional like Circa made it dull on purpose. Or maybe the chef had an off day. Either way, I’m not a fan.
FOLLY: The asun really did lack character, it was dry and the goat meat was far from tender.
FOLLY: Thankfully the seafood platter was very well done. The prawn and the calamari were both crispy as they should be. The prawn looks dark an over fried in the pictures but it really wasn't in real life - you have my word.
NOSA: It's really hard to ruin fried calamari anywhere. You have to make a concerted effort to ruin it and even that is hard to do.
The naan, too, was great. Probably my favorite of all the starters. It’s served like a flatbread pizza, but with naan and smoked chicken. I’m not the biggest fan of smoked chicken and this one didn’t change my mind either
FOLLY: This isn't the looker - in fact it's actually quite unattractive in pictures but it was more well received than the asun. Again similar to the asun, I found this to be lacking in moisture. I love that when naan is served in Indian restaurants it's brushed with melted butter or ghee. Or maybe Circa should just have added better (and more) cheese.
NOSA: For my first main, I ordered the burger which was not the smartest decision I made in my two visits. While the bun was soft and all sorts of lovely, the patty tasted a bit funky. Not the good type of funky either. As a whole, the burger was near disastrous
I can usually persevere when faced with the worst of plates, but I couldn’t hack it with the burger. After a couple bites is, I had to call it quits.
FOLLY: This is a fact. Nosa always perseveres with bad orders when I call it quits since we're still going to pay for it anyway but this was the first time I've ever witnessed Nosa just flat out refuse to eat something we ordered.
NOSA:At its best, this is a burger you get at a cookout. You can let the flaws slide because you didn’t pay for it, but when a price is attached some things become non negotiable. Things like processed cheese become criminal.
FOLLY: My main dish on our first visit was the seafood marinara.
NOSA: There was a night and day difference in the quality of pasta we got both times we visited Circa.
NOSA: The first time, while the marinara was delicious the penne was undercooked in parts. Some bites more al dente than the others.
FOLLY: Lol that was so confusing. Some part of it were perfect while the rest was literally inedible, so you know what I did? I took the leftovers home then baked the pasta for about 3-5 minutes with like a teaspoon of water so it'll steam, threw in some cheese for good measure and it came out perfect.
NOSA: The second time, though, both the pesto and the spaghetti was perfect. Could’ve done with some salt, but you can let that go.
FOLLY: On the marinara, it was great because the chef actually took his time to actually make it - reducing the tomatoes so it wasn't super acidic, thankfully. There was also wine in it.
NOSA: The pesto isn't "officially" on the menu yet, but they need to get it on there soon. That burger needs to be replaced.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: Honestly, nothing we had really stood out to be as exceptional. It was good enough though.
NOSA: Yeah, the owners seem nice and eager to improve so things will probably get better.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Asun - N3000
Prawn Pesto - N7800
Circa Burger - N4800
Seafood Marinara - N6000
Crispy Calamari + Prawn - N4500
Homemade Naan with Smoked Chicken - N3800
PARKING
Yes but the security guards may not help if your car isn't nice *
*Nosa's car was dirty and they assumed he was a delivery driver