by Anita Enahoro

Lagos Unfiltered

Say it as it is.

CRUST & CREAM REVIEW

Crust and Cream

One Saturday afternoon, my best friend Derin called me up and invited me to lunch at a new spot in Victoria Island she had just discovered. Without too much thought I quickly said a big yes to her invitation. I picked up my camera and headed down to Crust & Cream located at No. 11 Musa Yar’Adua street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

We walked into what appeared to be a café like setting, obviously because they are a bakery, pastry & bistro. At first glance all I saw were show glasses filled with various confectioneries that looked quite mouth-watering, beautiful paintings hung on the walls, huge windows that lit up a huge open space with a few tables and chairs. I was confused until I walked farther in and saw the other sitting area that was hidden behind a wall, sort of providing privacy from walk in customers.

Derin and I walked in and sat at one of the two tables by the window. A waiter came with a huge grin on his face, one of those ‘I love my job’ type happy grins and a transparent glove on his right hand, as did the other waiters. He gave us the menu. There were quite a lot of options on the menu. It was a three-course menu with fish, poultry and beef dishes. We hadn’t had anything to eat all day, so we skipped starters and went straight for main course. I ordered the Kalbi short ribs with French fries and a strawberry daiquiri (my staple cocktail) while Derin had one of the house specials, Salvatore, which is seared fresh salmon with herb curry sauce on a bed of squid ink pasta with baby shrimps.

The food arrived at a reasonable time after we ordered. The presentation was quite basic. At first sight I wondered if they were actually ribs or some sort of steak. I usually don’t use any cutlery to eat ribs but this was a different type of ribs. The waiter asked if I needed a steak knife to cut it up which even made me more nervous to try it and at this point I was thinking of changing my order but hunger wouldn’t let me! The ribs were well done but tasted odd, undermarinated or just the wrong mix of spices but then again, it could have just been because I was unfamiliar with that type of ribs. I wasn’t really enjoying it but endured the odd taste because I was hungry. On the plus side, the peppercorn sauce that came with it was lovely and the fries were crispy: just the way I like it and they ended up being my main focus on the plate. The frozen strawberry daiquiri was yummy too.

Contrary to my disappointing ribs, Derin seemed to be enjoying her house special. She kept swirling the spaghetti on her fork and swallowing, loving every bite until her plate was literally wiped clean.

When we finished our main courses, we had desert of course! I had the bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and Derin asked for crepe with caramel syrup but instead was given crepe with maple syrup and pistachio nuts. Huhhh?! A bit off the mark but the manager came and changed it at no extra cost. The pudding was spot on! Nice and warm but wasn’t a great pairing with the ice cream. The crepe was good; one can’t really go wrong with that.

We moved to the outdoor area, which had some plastic chairs and tables and some canopies overlooking a big church and the ‘Smokers lounge’. We had to move outside for shisha. It’s a bit weird that there is a big room designated to smokers (pic below) but to smoke shisha you have to sit outside. There is also an event space that can accommodate up to 25 people.

Crust & cream offer free Wi-Fi to customers. The waiters were well trained to deliver good customer service. They did their job quite enthusiastically. The toilets were clean and had a hand sanitizer dispenser mounted on the wall. The product prices range from N200 to N7000. The ribs I had cost N6500 and Derin’s pasta was N6800. All together, we spent N20500.

All things being considered, C&C is the perfect lunch break/quick bite spot. I wouldn’t suggest it for a first date or a family brunch.

I give it 4 Flame Emojis.