Review of the Week/Africa's Tallest Cake!!!!

Date:14/5/2013
Time: 10.00 am
Location : Lagos (Cakes by Tosan's Secret Lair)
Mission : To make Africa's tallest cake!!?

Being a big fan of 'Cake Boss", and other t.v shows that feature ambitious yet edible cakes, I was really excited to learn that our very own Nigerian celebrity cake maker, Tosan and his cohorts were working tirelessly to bake what they hoped would be Africa's tallest cake. Very ambitious feat.

The Making!!!

The Ingredients

So this cake was made out of your usual ingredients but obviously in gargantuan proportions ; tons of butter, about 48 crates of eggs and countless bags of flour.

The Budget

Soooo, this cake 'allegedly'cost a staggering N 7,000,000 !!!! I would love to go into the ethical mumbo jumbo about what a waste that was, and how many children that would feed, but I won't ...

The Nigerian Factor

The cake was adorned with miniature sized Nigerians of different tribes made of fondant, also featured was sugar crafted pictures of past  and present leaders-including the infamous general Abacha-not sure I would want to eat that.

Tosan the cake boss!!

Attention to sugary detail

''Uncle" Jonathan's hand perhaps 

Traditional Musical instruments... shekere!... me thinks

The Unveiling

The unveiling of this 28 foot cake was at the Silverbird Cinema, Victoria-Island , where it was erected for display, three days after the project commenced. It was honestly(*sad face) a bit of a let down, it wasn't in the least bit attractive. It had about  5 jumbo sized tiers(plus 3 smaller ones) with extended "inedible" platforms to achieve the required height.

Clearly not the most picturesque cake ever...and unfortunately it wasn't made entirely of cake...which would really would have been a tall order. Either way thumbs up to Tosan on possibly the tallest cake in Africa, and for sure the tallest in Nigeria.

What do you think about the "Tallest cake in Africa," sheer genius or a waste of eggs and butter? Drop your comments.

Review of the Week!!!!!Brain Freeze

It was one of those scorching hot days that we have been experiencing here in Lagos, (thank you global warming!!), where even in an air-conditioned vehicle you feel the extreme heat, and I couldn't think of a better way to cool off than to indulge in some ice-cream that I had been craving all week.(the other way was to sit in a bucket of ice, not very practical!!).  And so on to the Ice Cream Factory, a place that I discovered a few years ago-really popular with the law school crowd.

Now most people know this place for just the ice-cream, but they have an array of ice-cream infused desserts which are a must try. Jump to my review.

Ambiance: Super cozy. The outside seating was refreshing, and the brollies provided ample shade from the sun. I was honestly surprised at how empty the place was. I suspect most of their faithfuls have 'ported' to the latest ice-cream spot,either way, it added to the cushy atmosphere.

The Menu: They had a super extensive menu, which was also very descriptive so you know exactly what is going into your meal.(all they needed was a calorie count ). Plus, Everything on the menu was available, from the classic waffle to the cookie monster sundae.

The Desserts!!!

The Sundae:  Topped with whipped cream and caramel, this looked extremely good. Not exactly a fan of whipped cream, but once you power through that top layer, you can really enjoy the rich creaminess underneath.

The Classic Waffle: This a house special. I thought it was a bit strange to top a piping hot waffle with scoops of ice-cream, but this surprisingly worked. The waffle was coated with a light layer of caramel which oozed out with every slice. Decadence was having the melted ice-cream and the warm caramel collide in my mouth.

The Strawberry Cheesecake: This was a nice way to end the factory experience. It had a thing layer of cookie dough at the bottom with a rich creamy middle made of cheese, with a thin layer of strawberry which bursted with zingy flavour. Heaven, if you love cheese like I do.

Totally demolished that Cheese Cake

Portion control: The mighty sundae was really a lot, even for me. I respect anyone who can singlehandedly finish one of these in a sitting. Everything else is really a decent portion, not big enough to share, but just enough to leave you satisfied.

Delivery Time: The waffles took about 20 minutes, which I thought was a bit too long, but everything else came out within five minutes of placing the order, so that was fair enough.

Staff: I have to mention that the staff looked very sad, however they were very courteous and added a pre-programmed 'Thank you,' after every order.

Loyalty Card: Every purchase over 1000 naira entitles you to a loyalty card. Get your loyalty card stamped ten times and at the tenth purchase, you get a 1000 naira discount...how generous eh!

Only 9000 naira away from a 1000 naira discount 

The ice cream factory was definitely a very sugary and satisfying experience and they get a Five Star rating from moi *****( Still working on the stars, really I am!)...It's a really cool hang out spot. Be sure to try out the Desserts, and if that's not your thing, you can settle for the variety of flavorful ice-cream.

The Icecream Factory is located at 1613 Omega Bank Avenue, Off Adeola Hopewell Street, Victoria-Island, Lagos. Feel free to call them for deliveries on 0702 826 4000. 

*Please leave your comments...

Review of the week!!! Lihao Chinese Cuisine /Finish your broccoli

Today on Dedah Eats , I will be sharing my latest discovery of amazing and affordable Chinese food. Lihao Chinese Cuisine is a three month old restaurant located discreetly in the new fun centered Yaba ( Fun centered because of the mall, e-center). So I had been a bit skeptical about this new place... I have this ridiculous theory that if you cant smell the food from outside, it's no good...(I know all about kitchen vents, but that's my theory and i'm sticking to it). So after months of sniffing the air around the restaurant(literally!!), I finally gathered the courage to go in and I was pleasantly surprised. There's a real charm and authentic "Asian feel" to it. Share the fun experience through the pictures and ratings.

Ambiance: Once you step in through the miniature door, you are greeted by a red carpet which ushers you into the lush and comfy dining area. Depending on the number of your party, there's the cute table for two, and the traditional spinning table for larger groups.

The Menu: Okay, so this was a bit of a chore. I liked the fact that they had pictures of the food in a huge menu, but then they also had a separate menu for the prices, which was a bit confusing. So you open this mighty menu with the picture,track the number on the price menu, and trace the price...stress!!

The Food!!!:

The Entree: Dumplings and Spring-rolls. The "pork"dumplings are definitely not for everyone.I personally thought the pork was well garnished with the spices bursting into my mouth with each bite. The accompanying traditional vinegar complimented the light flour casing of the pork. Unfortunately, if you are not a pork eater, then this isn't for you.

The Spring rolls were fried to crispy perfection and they were quite generous with the peppered stew, actually took some away for my licking pleasure.

The main course :In a quest to be adventurous, I opted for beef in oyster sauce with broccoli. Broccoli has a horrible reputation, and to be honest, I have never tried it before...and it tasted AWESOME!!It had been steamed so it was tender but still crunchy. The Oyster sauce tasted a lot like chicken sauce, and was garnished with peppers and mushroom. Good stuff!!

Portion Control: A medium bowl of any meal is ordinarily meant for two, but my tasting buddy and I were so stuffed, we had to get the food to go.

Delivery time: This was the only let down, the main course didn't arrive until a whopping 50minutes after the order had been placed, though the taste of the food more than made up for the tardiness.

Staff: The doting staff were so friendly and eager to help. It was also interesting that they had crammed a menu if over 300 dishes. The Chinese manager was a real doll, if smiling was a sport, she would win.

Happy Food Critic, Happy Manager!!

Dining at Lihao's was Budget friendly( I repeat BUDGET FRIENDLY!!aka VERY AFFORDABLE!!), and a food connoisseur's dream. They have earned a five star rating, which they'll get once I discover how to do that, for now they'll get asterisks ***** . Join me next week as I troll the town in search of my next eat.

Looking forward to your comments!!!

Rediscovering the Tastes of Lagos

Being a gourmand, foodie and wannabe gourmet, it is clear that I figure myself somewhat of an expert on all things yummy and great to eat. And so when my sister who had not been in Lagos for about three years came into town with a quest to discover the nicest places to eat, I was at a bit of a loss after exhausting my three... maybe four eating holes. As we scoured the town and called contacts who were apparently more current than I in the food world, I realized apparently that there was so much about the Lagos foodie scene that I was sadly unaware of, thus birthing "Dedah Eats,"the one stop blog for a discovery of food in and about Lagos. Join me on my foodie journey.