Afra Afro-can Grill - Edmonton

Had a lunch meeting with an old colleague at a restaurant we hadn't been to before. It's getting harder to find new places to try in our area.

I just had an amazing lunch at this restaurant. My dad has been here a few times and always raves about their goat entree, so we decided to go for lunch today.

I have been to Friendship Restaurant about six times and I absolutely love it. It is family owned and operated, serving fresh homemade dishes in generous portions.

I've now eaten at Afra Afro-Can Grill five times, and it's the only restaurant I've ever been where both my daughters have insisted we return (and they've done so twice!).The cuisine offers true value to the adventurous E-Town diner, because whereas Senegalese restaurants are common in New York (where there is only one Somali restaurant!), Afra is unique in all Alberta and possibly all Western Canada (whereas there are probably 15 Somali restaurants in Edmonton alone).At Afra, you'll get food and flavour combinations in Senegalese cuisine you won't find in other continental cuisines, and definitely not in ethnic restaurants such as Italian, French, etc.My favourite is Domoda; the online menu says it's with beef, but I've usually had it there with chicken. It's a slightly sweet meal in a magnificent red peanut sauce (I always ask for it "extra nutty") served on broken or short-grain rice, and a great alternative to Indian curries (which I also love). Today we also ate the Chicken Yassa, a citrus-marinade over rice that made me feel like I was sailing a river while listening to kora music (a very good thing indeed). For appetizers, it's hard to beat the samosas, with perfectly crisp shells protecting ground meat and vegetables seasoned to perfect savoury tanginess. Everything plays happily with Afra's two signature drinks: the ginger punch and the red bisap (hibicus) beverage.Dessert are excellent at Afra; we had a sampling of chocolate coated biscuits and nougaty-flavoured centres. The only thing that could match their sweetness is the friendliness of the husband-and-wife owners, and the chef whom I finally met today.I've brought friends to the diner and I'm going to keep bringing people to Afra and recommending it widely. It's outstanding, and rivals the excellent food I recently tried at multiple Senegalese restaurants in Harlem.--Minister Faust

Being a Gambian / Senegalese restaurant, you would expect something a little more unique. They do have lamb dishes. The wraps look a lot like donairs, but the wrap does not hold together as well. The Jolof Rice dish was okay but tasted a lot like a quinoa salad from the deli counter at a grocery store. They did say they toned down the food for the Western palate, so that makes it a lot like every other small counter diner. The prices on the menu posted on the net were 20% lower than those in the shop. They do have a wide variety of interesting looking desserts and chocolate candies. They had a habiscus flower based drink that I sampled and it was the most unusual thing I had that day. Nothing wrong with the place but I think I would go for more traditional of the culture and less Canadianized typical food you can get anywhere. The banana split crepe was tasty. The decor is that of an old donair shop which seems unusual for a new place.