Suuyar
West African restaurant · Peckham
150C Rye Ln, Choumert Rd, London SE15 4RZ, United Kingdom
Highlights
Expertly grilled beef, chicken, fish, and asun with yaji
Expertly grilled beef, chicken, fish, and asun with yaji
"There’s always a crowd at Suuyar. The Nigerian stall on the corner of Rye Lane has an infectious energy that attracts those looking for a hit of yaji, as well as locals joking around in the background of Suuyar’s always-running TikTok live stream. Showmanship comes naturally to this stall but so too does expertly grilled beef, chicken, and fish. Make your order, take a ticket, and patiently wait your turn. You’ll know yours is almost ready when Kolawole, head chef and content creator extraordinaire, reads your number and prepares a taster portion of whatever you’ve gone for on a cocktail stick. The beef here is griller thinner than other suya, and pieces grilled to a blackened char on top are the kind you’ll daydream about for days." - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak, sinead cranna, daisy meager, riaz phillips
"There’s always a crowd at Suuyar whether they’re eating or not. The Nigerian stall on the corner of Rye Lane has an infectious, sizzling energy to it that attracts those looking for a hit of yaji as much as it does Peckham locals joking around in the background of Suuyar’s always-running TikTok livestream. Showmanship comes naturally to this stall but so too does expertly grilled beef, chicken, and fish. Make your order, take a ticket, and patiently wait your turn. You’ll know yours is almost ready when Kolawole, head chef and content creator extraordinaire, reads your number before carefully preparing a taster portion of whatever you’ve gone for on a cocktail stick. The beef here is griller thinner than other suya, and pieces grilled to a blackened char on top are the kind you’ll daydream about for days after. Get the tilapia too. You'll have to unwrap the foil layer by later, pass the parcel style, to uncover your present: soft, charcoal-cooked fish topped with a sweet, nutty suya-spiced sauce. photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch Food Rundown photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch Beef Suya Every piece of beef is pounded flat, rubbed liberally with yaji, carefully grilled over hot coals, flipped, brushed with marinade, then grilled some more. The result? Lean, moreish bites of suya with the occasional layer of crispy char on top. A combined bite with red onion and cooling tomato is maybe the pinnacle of food on a cocktail stick. photo credit: Daisy Meager Chicken Suya These chicken wings very nearly stole the show. They're meaty and smoky, with well-seasoned, crispy edges, and sprinkled with yaji. We didn't want to share." - Jake Missing
"Kolawole Ajayi — aka Nigeriacuisine — is a YouTuber with over 90,000 subscribers, all of whom tune in for his charismatic and opinionated takes on everything related to Nigerian food. Sample title: AGEGE BREAD EXPOSED. He also has a street food stall on Choumert Road in Peckham where he patiently slings out excellent suya on a small grill, portion by portion. The beef suya — the most popular option — is pre-cooked at home and finished on the grill with two yajis, one cinnabar and hot, a blend made by Ajayi himself that is heavy with kuli kuli (roasted peanut cake) and sprinkled generously from trays resembling red sand dunes. The other is lighter, complex and gingery, and used more sparingly because it is flown in from one of his favourite spots in Lagos. Much of the joy of Suuyar is in the back and forth with Ajayi himself (“How is it?” “Eight out of ten, if my wife likes it you can get the other two”) and he always offers a taster to newcomers to make sure no portion is knowingly underspiced. The asun (peppered goat usually, but this is London, so mutton), however, is non-negotiable. Chock full with the heat of circa. 1 million scotch bonnets, it takes absolutely no prisoners." - Jonathan Nunn
Cheila Gongo
Alfie Bloomfield
Doyinsola Sogbesan
Cian Oba-Smith
D Patrick
Fatai Taofeek
Obie washington
Nav
