Raleigh, Night 1

The Woman Who Knows Most Things and Yours Truly arrived in Raleigh in late afternoon.

The only NHL-centric activity was the fantasy draft at the Convention Center which I didn't feel the need to attend, so we checked into the hotel (La Quinta, which we all know means "Next to Denney's" in Spanish) in Morrisville, near RDU.

We decided to get dinner so I fired up my laptop and started looking for restaurants...

Now, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill is ground zero for some awesome BBQ, phenomenal Southern Cuisine, and other Southeastern specialties.
And to top it off, not 2000 feet from the hotel is... wait for it....a Hooter's restaurant.

So... Where did we wind up?

Well... As we were perusing the entries on Visit Raleigh (which was TWWKMT's idea) we settled on a little place not too far from the hotel, right next to the Vegetarian Indian Joint, across from the Islamic Center. It's called Mawa's Taste of Africa.



We settled in and ordered beverages- Moroccan mint tea, which was refreshing and very sweet.
I decided to skip the lamb and goat specialties, deciding to stick with the chicken.
TWWKMT chose the Tiga Deggeh from Mali which was chicken with potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage & carrots in a peanut sauce with couscous, and I had Chicken Yassas from Senegal - citrus marinated grilled chicken with a spicy onion/olive sauce and jasmine rice.
At the last second I also ordered a cup of Harira, slow cooked lamb and lentil soup with a great blend of spices from northern Africa.
The verdict- everything was great, and the service was prompt and very friendly...
The entrees were flavorful, the couscous had peas and carrots and a hint of sweetness, and the jasmine rice was light and had a hint of coconut.

There were a few items on the starter menu that I would have liked to try- the felafel(sic) -chick pea fritters, in case you didn't know, or maybe the Accaras - black-eyed pea fritters, kinda like Cuban bollos... and there are some other entrees- the Ganar Ginger or the Doro Wat, or perhaps the Merguez - a spicy lamb sausage from Tunisia, that have my interest piqued...

Mmmmm. Tasty tasty...

If the fit for unique cuisine takes you, I highly recommend Mawa's for a vicarious trip around the Dark Continent.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE