Chefs in Ivory Coast cook up twists on African food

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — In the kitchen of his Abidjan restaurant, Ivory Coast chef Charlie Koffi prepares his country's staggering tropical bounty with the techniques of fine French cuisine. And he's far from alone.

A growing number of his fellow chefs in the West African nation are retouching local specialities with cooking skills picked up elsewhere.

One of Koffi's signature dishes is an adaptation of gouagouassou sauce, a local specialty.

In his version, a rabbit is stewed with African eggplants, spicy oil, powdered akpi seeds, and local fefe pepper.

"It is one of the dishes I really loved as a child," Koffi said. "As a chef, it was almost an obligation to come back to it."

Koffi was trained in France before opening his Abidjan restaurant, Villa Alfira, in 2017 to showcase his country's cuisine.

In the well-lit main dining room overlooking a pond where fish on the menu swim, Eric Guei tucked into a gouagouassou casserole.

"I find taste and audacity in this dish," the happy customer said. "It mixes Western know-how with local flavors."

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Guei enjoyed the copious but beautifully presented meal with his friend Yasmine Doumbia. "Gouagouassou is a very traditional Ivory Coast dish, and to see it in a restaurant like this is a real pleasure," she said.

Villa Alfira is a change from the "maquis," typical animated local eateries where braised chickens and fish are eaten by hand, along with traditional sauces, manioc polenta, and fried plantains.

Grilled okra and cassava chips

A few kilometers away, a chef at the upscale restaurant La Maison Palmier is working on her new creation: a taster dish inspired by placali, a typical Ivorian dish made with sticky gumbo sauce, bits of meat and dried fish, accompanied by fermented manioc paste.

Hermence Kadio, who trained locally, has her own much lighter take on the classic. She grilled the gumbo (okra), while the cassava is puffed up and turned into chips.

Every week the restaurant's French head chef Matthieu Gasnier offers amuse-bouche — small bite-sized appetizers — like these to "re-awaken the memories of people who grew up with these dishes."

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