Bintü Atelier. African inspired cuisine
Restaurant · Charleston
8 Line St # D, Charleston, SC 29403
.jpg "Bintü Atelier. African inspired cuisine by StarChefs/Alexander Zeren/Bintü Atelier")
Highlights
West African flavors, rotating menu, soursop juice & patio
West African flavors, rotating menu, soursop juice & patio
"Chef Bintou N’Daw recalls childhood memories of her grandmother roasting peanuts on a wood fire—sometimes leaving a bit of skin on for color—and describes how peanuts were central to her upbringing: peanut soups and stews like mafé were her first solid foods, some peanuts were pounded into flour for sauces, others pounded with oil into peanut butter for mafé, and peanuts even appeared on morning sandwiches served in warm French baguettes, underscoring the ingredient’s versatility and cultural importance." - Amethyst Ganaway
"Chef Bintou N’Daw couldn’t find the food of her homeland, Senegal, in the Lowcountry, so she created African restaurant Bintü Atelier. The petite spot on Line Street offers shito crab rice, beef suya, crispy prawns, and supa kanja, an okra stew with red shrimp. N’Daw keeps a few staples on the menu but rotates the dishes to highlight the different African countries. The plant-covered patio is a cozy place to dine when the weather is nice. Bintü is BYOB, but most customers are happy to order a fresh soursop juice or sorrel tea. Best for: A table with friends to share plates from the only African restaurant in Charleston." - Erin Perkins
"Tucked into a neighborhood house on the Eastside, arriving at Bintü Atelier feels truly like going to someone's house for dinner—and that's the point of this intimate, welcoming spot. Charleston has a strong culinary through line to Africa through Gullah Geechee cuisine, so many of the ingredients here are true to that: okra, rice, and local fish included. The menu is well-edited, so many tables will order a lot of dishes and share; the spicy shito crab rice should always be included—filled with vegetables and spicy and topped with a lightly breaded crab, it is addictively good, especially for those who love seafood. Fresh juices, including Soursop and Passionfruit are available, but when it comes to bar beverages, it's BYOB. Groundnut stew is another go-to here, but no matter what the order dishes are colorful and plated beautifully, which is evident any time a whole fish arrives to the table and receives a chorus of “wow.”" - Stephanie Burt
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"Chef-owner Bintou N’Daw launched her Line Street spot in a bid to bring the underrepresented cuisine of West Africa to Charleston. The Senegal-born breakout culinary star spent her formative years in France, before working in New York City restaurants, and during the pandemic she relocated to the South, opening here in July 2023. “I wanted to make authentic dishes,” she says, “while tracing the culinary roots of the Gullah Geechee communities back to West Africa.” N’Daw works with local ingredients, such as black-eyed peas, while importing key ingredients (palm oil, the West African grain fonio) to achieve Senegalese-inspired flavors, and she strives to keep prices accessible so the city’s diverse communities can discover her food. (Avoiding the sky-high liquor license fees in favor of a BYOB program certainly helps.) This, along with a a placement on Bon Appétit‘s 2024 list of the 20 best new restaurants in the USA, keeps the place packed."
"In Downtown Charleston, you won’t find much African food, let alone anything that comes close to the quality of Bintü Atelier. This is one of the newer restaurants on the East Side, and they cook classics you’d find throughout Africa, including Senegal’s national dish of fish over rice thiéboudieun. The menu constantly rotates, but you can’t go wrong with anything involving grains, whether that’s a side of jollof rice or a heaping plate of peanutty chicken mafe stew over broken rice. Don’t be surprised if you end up talking with the staff about all the regional cuisines they're repping while hanging out and drinking sorrel tea in the casual space." - jai jones, emily yates
