A Maison Kayser for Lagos
NOSA: One of my biggest personal pet peeves has to be when we (Folly and I) are out and someone goes to “out” us to management. Like, it’s great and is probably from a good place but God knows I’m not interested in the attention.
FOLLY: You’re kind because knowing her it’s not from a good place, she should stay in her lane and us, in ours.
NOSA: The whole thing puts us in a very weird situation, but I bet homegirl wasn’t thinking about all that when she told the Maison Kayser guys about it. Smh.
FOLLY: Truth be told, we still don’t know for certain if she outed us but everything that happened was just a bit unusual so there’s a very high chance that she did. We did get impeccable service and attention so in any case, I’m definitely very glad and impressed about that.
NOSA: In addition to that, there’s a lot to like about Maison Kayser. The French franchise has one better looking restaurant spaces in Lagos. It almost feels like it was designed for Instagram. I can’t think of another restaurant in Lagos with all that natural light. Maybe Craft Gourmet comes close, but most fall short.
FOLLY: Cactus also is a close third but the quality of light in your pictures will depend on where you’re seated and if it’s cloudy or sunny out.
NOSA: If you’re trying to build a Sunday brunch winner, natural light is your friend. It worked for Craft Gourmet and it appears to be working for Maison Kayser. There’s even a little play area for the young ones and you know the after-church crowd is always out with their kids. The parking lot hasn’t been empty since they opened in December.
FOLLY: Except one Thursday afternoon that I drove by, I’ve never, ever since that lot empty.
NOSA: We held out on visiting Maison Kayser because we saw lots of complaints about the service on the internet.
FOLLY: I also really wanted to like Maison Kayser so I wanted to give them as much time as they needed to sort out the complaints and the extraordinarily long waiting time I’d heard about.
NOSA: The service was great and the food came out in a timely manner. But we’ll never know if this is the true state because that loudmouth snitched and we got served by the manager.
FOLLY: And like 2 other waiters as supporting acts.
NOSA: The menu was little overwhelming so we spread things out a bit. I got the Croque Monsieur, Folly went with the Kayser Burger and we split the Pesto Linguine.
FOLLY: We wanted to order a lot more so sticking to these was a challenge.
NOSA: For a franchise known for its bakery, the Croque Monsieur was a little disappointing. It tasted great, but I think the one at RSVP has spoilt me. Maison Kayser just stuck some slices of boring bread in there. When I ordered, I was expecting some fancy brioche or something. Not a slice that looked like I could’ve gotten across the street.
FOLLY: I expected a bit more exaggeration on the plating for sure. I didn’t taste it because it was gone in a flash - lol. However, I had the Kayser Burger and I found it to be really good. I’m coming off the heels of a very bad burger experience in Lekki so maybe I’m just scared but the burger was exactly what I hoped it would be.
NOSA: I’m actually surprised you liked it.
I believe there is no place for raw onions in sandwiches and everything should always be caramelised. The perfectly caramelised onions singled handedly carried the entire burger on its back. The burger sauce was a bit tangy and fought against the stickiness and sweetness of the onions; I preferred the bites when the onions won.
NOSA: The patty was a bit bland, but burgers are probably not their strong point.
FOLLY: I don’t why Nosa refuses to like this burger because I really thought it was special.
NOSA: Nah, it was an “ok” burger. Nothing special about it. It tasted expensive in the sense that the individual elements are expensive, but as a whole it wasn’t anything I’d crave. Definitely not their strong point and the bun was weakest part of it all.
Speaking of strong points, the pasta was surprisingly my favorite thing on the day. It needed some salt, but otherwise it was really really good.
FOLLY: The pasta was good, and made al dente too! Unlike some people. Their chef was very h'eavy handed on the parmesan and so, the pasta was a bit ‘creamy’ and sticky - no complaints. I don’t think they used nuts in their version (maybe to keep it accessible for nut-free folks). I do really like nuts and lots of olive oil in my pesto.
NOSA: It was definitely the highlight for me.
NOSA: The Sugar Crepe we ordered wasn’t really that great so let’s pretend it didn’t happen.
FOLLY: Let me just pretend that never happened. Maybe they made the mistake with the Nutella one because they didn’t want us to have this in the first place.
NOSA: You know what’s really funny? The desserts we got “on the house” were so much better than the crepe. Maybe dude knew something was wrong with the crepe. Either way, sha avoid the crepe.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: I wasn’t very whelmed, but I’d be a liar if I said I wouldn’t visit again. It’s not really a full “like” but it’s not a “meh” either.
FOLLY: I liked it a whole lot - In addition to the food that we had on this visit. I’ve gotten desserts from their display and gelato that I’ve really enjoyed on all occasions.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Gin Basil - N2500
Proseco (Glass) - N3000
Lingiune Pesto - N4500
Croque Monsieur - N3500
Burger Kayser XXL - N6500
Sugar Crepe - N2200
PARKING
Parking is a complete shitshow.