The Yellow Plate

41a Ologun Agbaje, Victoria Island | Instagram | 0814 000 5098

Thanks to a viral video by TikTok creator Victoire Mahounou, The Yellow Plate's puff puff emerged on our radar, compelling us to see if it lived up to the hype. We're always game for innovative takes on puff puff; we even sampled The Puff Shack offering last year. Thus, the prospect of a fresh vendor elevating puff puff was exhilarating.

The video's caption raised my eyebrows, though. SEVENTEEN THOUSAND NAIRA for puff puff? It must be life-altering at that price. But, upon visiting the website, I found that a bowl of puff puff was actually N5000 — still a steep price for puff puff, but a more reasonable one. The additional items Victoire ordered, including lofty delivery fees, escalated the total to the aforementioned N17000.

However, over the next few days, alarming reviews about The Yellow Plate's customer service began to circulate online. By the time I was ready to place my order, my expectations were part excitement and part God-abeg-o.

The reviews were so negative that The Yellow Plate had to issue a statement apologizing for their subpar service, affirming, "We're committed to providing you with the best experience from start to finish. We have resumed our full service and look forward to accepting your orders. — The Yellow Plate Team."

Undeterred, I placed my order on their website quite smoothly one Sunday afternoon. Not feeling like having a milkshake, since their Combo Puff Puff and all its toppings already seemed like a sugar overload, I opted for a 'side' of their Asun Native Pasta instead. Plus, since The Yellow Plate initially gained popularity in Abuja for more than just their puff puff, I wanted to explore a broader range of their menu.

Things started to look promising when, approximately 20 minutes after placing my order, the delivery person called to say they were en route. I thought perhaps The Yellow Plate was earnest about improving their service.

A note on delivery fees: I had to pay N2800 to have it brought to me to Yaba and would have paid N4500 to have it delivered to Ikeja.

Unfortunately, two hours passed and my order was nowhere in sight (bonus: the delivery person had started to ignore calls in true Lagos fashion). There was no way the delivery from their location in V.I could have taken that long, especially on a Sunday. I found myself having to call their customer care to track my order. When a business has a dedicated complaints hotline, it's both amusing and disconcerting.

Nearly two-and-a-half hours post-ordering, I received my food from an extremely rude dispatch rider. I'm striving not to blame The Yellow Plate, since a separate logistics company handled the delivery, but the overall experience was far from satisfying.

However, it's all about the food, isn't it? My puff puff certainly looked tempting, but the pasta's appearance was underwhelming.

What I got:

What I ordered:

Despite my initial doubts, I sampled the pasta, which sadly was as bland as it looked, resulting in a letdown. The spaghetti was deficient in flavor, spicier than requested, and certainly not worth the N10000 I paid. After a few bites, I decided to abandon the pasta, except for the Asun chunks, which I devoured. Abeg, the money couldn’t waste completely.

Thankfully, the puff puff tasted as good as it looked, salvaging the meal. Some pieces tasted like the average roadside puff puff (which is a compliment), but once I got to the pieces that were generously glazed with sugar and milk, I felt justified in spending the N5000. The addition of crushed Oreos was a pleasant surprise too.

Also, it was quite a generous portion; there was about 20 puff puff in the pack. I’ll admit that at some point, I actually got tired of eating them, but they were delicious nonetheless.

In retrospect, I believe I would have been better off sticking solely to their puff puff. Based on what I've observed, The Yellow Plate might benefit from concentrating on this aspect while striving to refine the rest of their menu. A word of advice: if you're particularly hungry, I'd suggest having a small snack to tide you over during the lengthy wait for delivery. *Major side eye*

damage

Asun Native Pasta — N10000

Combo Puff Puff — N5000

Delivery (Yaba) — N2800