
4

"I spotted a new Nigerian restaurant shaking up Old City: Eatwell African Restaurant & Lounge is a spacious BYOB, 65-seat venue at 106 Chestnut Street run by cousins and owners chef Aisha Wahab and Stephen Oyelakin, who expanded their small Irvington, New Jersey takeout into a full-service dine-in spot to introduce longtime Northern Nigerian family recipes and broaden Philly’s culinary palate. The menu blends African soul food and inexpensive snacks ($4–$6) such as chicken pies, scotch egg, chin-chin, puff-puff and meat pie, with dinner entrees like asun (grilled goat meat), peppered snail, giz-dodo (seasoned gizzards with fried plantains), asaro (yam porridge), a variety of grilled and stewed fish dishes, and a "designer stew" (aka ayamase) served with white rice. Eatwell is open Mondays–Thursdays 12 p.m.–10 p.m. and Saturdays–Sundays 1 p.m.–11 p.m., offers a private 25-seat dining room for large groups, is accepting walk-ins and phone reservations at (215) 964-9213, and will release its website and social pages soon." - Ernest Owens