Snack crawl
The Meze Crawl: Lagos
Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Lagos sell out long before the guidebooks say they open.
- Stops
- 8
- Walking
- 4 km
- Budget
- Moderate
Before you set off
Look for the place with the handwritten menu and the a bamboo steamer that has clearly been in service for decades. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering.
Stop 12 is a hole in the wall with four stools and a queue. Join the queue. The queue knows. Carry cash, tissues and a bottle of water. Thank us later. The owner, Yusuf, has been folding these by hand for longer than we have been alive and has opinions about dukkah. Look for the place with the handwritten menu and the a heavy cast-iron pan that has clearly been in service for decades.
We recreated this one at home — see the recipe section — but it never tastes quite like it does on a kerb at midnight. Finish somewhere sweet. There is always room; it is a separate stomach. Stop 3 is a hole in the wall with four stools and a queue. Join the queue. The queue knows. If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering.
Stop 1: The bakery hatch near the cathedral steps
We tested this 7 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with coconut cream won every single round. Do not skip the red onion; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. The crisp edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning.
If you only have time for one stop, make it this one and order the thing everyone else is ordering. We recreated this one at home — see the recipe section — but it never tastes quite like it does on a kerb at midnight. Here the green chilli is piled on with abandon and the chilli is not a suggestion. Finish somewhere sweet. There is always room; it is a separate stomach.
It is weeknight-friendly if you are organised and weekend-worthy if you are not. Walk between stops. It is the only reason any of this is physically possible. A spoonful of dried lime does the heavy lifting here, giving the filling a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it.
Stop 2: The basement counter near the bus depot
Start hungry and start early; the best stalls in Lagos sell out long before the guidebooks say they open. It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate. Look for the place with the handwritten menu and the a wide non-stick frying pan that has clearly been in service for decades.
We first ate something like this at a street stall in Lagos, balanced on a plastic stool, and spent the flight home reverse-engineering it. Yusuf, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink.
It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate. A spoonful of star anise does the heavy lifting here, giving the filling a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. The trick with meze is patience: let the filling take on proper colour before you even think about moving it.
Keep scrolling for more…