Review: The Seetle (Ikoyi, Lagos)
The Seetle
9 Keffi Street, Off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi. | Instagram | Phone
FOLLY: Do you remember the There’s Rice at Home series that we used to post way back? Well, Anu Bello, from the videos, is now the person in charge of the kitchen at The Seetle. She has extensive experience in recipe development and if you’ve ever paid attention to the menu at Craft Gourmet, you’ve probably seen her work in there too.
NOSA: TL;DR: Anu is kinda good at this stuff.
FOLLY: Not only at the food but, but also with cocktails.
NOSA: A quick glance at the menu at The Seetle and you can already see her hands all over it. Plantain Hummus? Very very on-brand for the lady that gave us plantain lasagne. Even the Italian playlist that sounds like something out of the second season of Master of None is peak Anu Bello.
FOLLY: Beyond the pasta, the theme of the menu seems to be ease and comfort.
Initially, we weren’t planning on getting any starters but the waiter upsold us. I was impressed at how suave and casual he was with it, unlike the waiters, you ask “what is good on the menu?” and immediately they point to the most expensive thing. You’re not that slick, sir.
After we had placed our orders, he asked if we’d be getting any starters and I responded that I didn’t notice any on the menu then he pointed them out and we ended up ordering the Plantain Hummus to start.
NOSA: Only right, tbh.
FOLLY: The hummus as the name suggests has plantain as its main base as opposed to (or together with) chickpeas. It still tasted a lot like hummus as it was rich and garlicky, and altogether very delightful.
NOSA: As far as texture goes, this was closer to pounded yam than it was to hummus. That’s not shade, by the way. I just want to give you a bit of context.
FOLLY: Yes, it wasn’t as smooth as a normal hummus expectedly because chickpeas have more water than plantain. I’m wondering though if more oil will liquefy the consistency so it’s more of a dip than a spread.
NOSA: Of everything we had, this was probably my favourite thing. I like how adventurous it is and while it might not be perfect, it’s a couple of recipe tweaks away from perfection.
FOLLY: Additionally, at the Seetle, they are so generous with the lamb on their hummus (unlike our friends at Slow) which was packed with flavour. I’d definitely order this again.
FOLLY: Next, we had breakfast which was the English Breakfast for me and the Bodega Bagel for Nosa.
It’s hard to review an English Breakfast as there isn’t a technique/recipe except for maybe the quality of the eggs. For the most part, what really makes the difference between spots is the quality of the sausage, bacon, and hash browns. Is the bacon thick cut? Is the sausage a Cumberland sausage? How are the hash browns cooked? That’s how I’d judge. At Seetle, the bacon was meh, thin, and crispy. The sausage was meh but the hash brown was great - very buttery. I wish I’d had two.
In Lagos, my money is still on Churchill for the best English breakfast, however, if you’re an aesthete then I can see why not. Especially, if you’re trying to come with your family after church on Sunday, you’re not the target market for Churchill.
NOSA: The Bodega Bagel was not as exciting as I thought it would be.
Bodega Style Bagel - Everything bagel, eggs, bacon, cheddar, hot sauce, ketchup
It’s probably a “me” thing or maybe it was the absence of the cheese and the sausage out of nowhere that killed it for me. Not saying it was bad, but it just wasn’t very exciting.
NOSA: The bagel, minus the other stuff, was fantastic. I wonder if they bake it in-house or it’s outsourced. if you have any idea, please drop a line in the comments because I really want to try the bagel again. As for the sandwich, it does a serviceable job, but it’s not as good as it should be. Now that I think about it some more, I think it’s the lack of cheese that killed it for me.
The Cumin Lamb Pasta would’ve made up for it, but it was shockingly not the one for me either. I’d heard a couple of good things about the pasta at Seetle so I expected a lot.
FOLLY: I’m thankful we ordered a starter because the pasta dish was smaller in size than we imagined and we didn’t like it that much.
NOSA: What was that portion about? Maybe it’s because we went with fazzoletti and not tagliatelle. The latter is probably a larger portion or maybe I’m just greedy. It’s neither here nor there.
FOLLY: It wasn’t our initial first choice, so there was a bit of that letdown lingering.
NOSA: The Ragu was our first choice but apparently that was sold out when we visited so we had to settle for the Cumin Lamb Pasta.
FOLLY: It had strong flavours as expected it’s a Cumin Lamb Pasta. Both cumin and lamb have strong flavour profiles on their own so getting a Cumin Lamb pasta you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.
NOSA: I clearly didn’t know what I was getting into because my first bite knocked me back a couple of steps. Yeah, I get it’s a cumin pasta, but Jesus, this was overwhelming.
FOLLY: There was just a lot of it that it ended up tasting like a marinade that was coating every inch of the pasta and also the consistency was grainy and pasty like a marinade. I imagine that I would have liked it a little more if there was less of the sauce in the dish, especially since I like Cilantro, which is a dominant flavour in it. The intensity was fine but there was just too much of it for the five pasta sheets.
NOSA: It reminded me a lot of the yakisoba at Koi for some reason. They don’t taste alike or anything. They just have this shared kinship in aggressive flavour. I’m a million per cent sure that the ragu would’ve been a lot better than this. The fazzoletti was perfect, but the goddamn cumin is just so much
FOLLY: We got dessert, but it wasn’t what I expected.
NOSA: In their defence, I warned Folly but she didn’t listen.
FOLLY: It turned out it’s a Biscoff tiramisu tart and not a classic one. I likely wouldn’t have ordered it had I known.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: I’d go back to try another pasta.
NOSA: I like Anu and i’ve had delicious stuff from her so I'll definitely visit again to try something else.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Pink Lady - N3500
Bodega Style Bagel - N4500
English Breakfast - N6000
Cumin Lamb Pasta - N6500
Tiramisu Tart - N3500
PRICE RANGE
N5,000 - N10,000
PARKING
Very limited