Taste Africana Restaurant and Bar

The Taste Africana story certainly isn’t boring. Cynthia and Bright Chinule launched the restaurant in August 2023, where it became the first African restaurant in the fast-growing Greater Manchester town of Leigh, receiving much praise and support from the local community. 

However, they’ve had a torrid time over the years. First, the building collapsed, requiring a move to new premises. Then last year saw tough issues arise, related to visa fees and health insurance. For more details, and to help out, check out their GoFundMe page. 

We took a visit to their Market Street venue to try out some of the fresh flavours cooked up at this family-run restaurant. 

Despite the name, covering dishes from each of the 60 countries that make up Africa is a big ask, although the wide-ranging menu gives it a good shot. It even incorporates a good number of Carribean classics. Alongside, well-known dishes like curry goat and jerk chicken, the menu leans heavily into Nigerian cuisine – reflecting the heritage of the owners. 

This means an exciting array of meals you may not have tried before, such as abula and catfish peppersoup – dishes with powerful flavours and West African spices. 

The egusi soup is a fine example – made with finely-ground melon seeds, and a concoction of spices and plants you probably won’t have at the back of your cupboard. The flavours are unlike anything in British or European cuisine – semi-smoky, with a full, slightly bitter aftertaste. Grab a hunk of the accompanying pounded yam (a soft, neutral-flavoured dough) and scoop it up. 

But kick things off with some spicy gizzard bites. These chewy little blighters are fiery hot and enormously moreish – you’ll find them at the upper reaches of the Scoville scale. 

The jerk chicken is as good as it gets. Charred and smokey, straight from the grill, and packed with powerful aromas. You could add some jollof rice but really this and a salad is a filling meal by itself. 

But that’s a small sample from a wide-ranging menu that warrants repeat visits. This visit was all about the meat but next time, we’ll be exploring the the world of African seafood – that whole croaker fish sounds too tempting to skip. 

It’s not just food, Taste Africana has an energy like unlike anywhere else in a 20 mile radius. Host Christina is a delight, introducing us to African boardgames, like Ayo Olopon, which translates as “game of the intellectual”, that we were unfortunately too sozzled, or thick, to understand. And on occasional weekend nights there’s an in-house DJ, blasting out contemporary Afrobeats. 

Taste Africana is a great addition to Leigh, treating the locals and keen-eyed visitors to a whole continent of delicious and vibrant food.