Cupid's Chokehold at Southern Sun

Cupid is this evil little baby with arrows filled with a venomous potion, who goes about shooting people in the butt and causing them to fall into the irrational and indescribable feeling called Love. (definition culled from Dedah's Dictionary 2014 Edition). And there's no greater time for the expression of this infestation of love than Valentine's day.

Couples worldwide will engage in the frenetic search for a gift or a gesture that will curry the favour of their significant other. The beautiful city of Lagos is not left out in the Valentine's day madness. The roads will be filled with couples looking for a romantic spot to spark "L'amour." 

To ease the stress of looking for a lovely dinner on Valentine's Day, the Southern Sun Hotel Restaurant is offering a special dinner for lovers. Here's a peek at what you could be dining on on the 14th of February, 2014!

The Ambiance: Located on the ground floor of the hotel, the Southern sun restaurant is an open floor plan which draws out elegantly from the lobby. There's formal seating for just two and larger seating arrangement for a larger party. I would recommend the cozy seating at the end of the restaurant( for the couples of course who don't want to engage in P.D.A)

The Menu: Southern Sun restaurant is famous for their divine and affordable buffet, however their a la carte menu is nothing to thumb your nose at. Starters feature salads, soups & sea food, main meals include the finest selection in meats and desserts are the most decadent with healthy options. If your taste buds are longing for something more traditional, fear not, they have also got  a wide variant of Nigerian food.  

The Food: 

Starters: 

Coconut Crumbled Queen Prawns: 
After the complimentary basket of assorted bread rolls, I settled down into the aesthetically placed serving of prawns. The prawns which came with a side serving of fries looked almost too good to eat.

The crunchy prawns were seasoned to perfection and tasted amazing when dipped into the slightly peppery yet creamy chilli tartar sauce.

The Main Meal: 
In choosing the main meals, I decided to keep in mind all those fish loving people, who find it impossible to consume meat(weird, but okay).

The Fish Platter: It's no longer news that I'm not a fan of fish, however it seems like the folks over at Southern Sun have figured out a way to make fish in a way that anyone would love, boneless and for the most part skinless. What they didn't skimp on however was the amazing taste. The fish platter was of course not just a selection of the nicest fish I have tasted, it also had a generous helping of prawns and lobsters.

The Platter was accompanied by three boats of different sauces each offering an exciting flavour to the sea food. The Jakanada was a nice mix of vegetables, Three cheese sauce was a creamy light mix of cheeses (duh) and the Hot Chili was Hot Chili.

The Platter was also accompanied by a serving of fries.

The Beef Fillet Madagascar: 

This was one generous beef fillet. I was expecting the usual miserly cut of beef but out came a huge chunk of beef accompanied by a serving of white rice.

The fillet was seasoned wonderfully and grilled to perfection. The rice was under-seasoned and for good reason, the gravy was so explicitly spicy with tiny chunks of beef in it, any flavour from the rice would have caused a riot of sorts.



Portion Control: One serving of food is just enough for one. If your plan is to gorge on food, I suggest going for the buffet which offers quite an array of dishes. 

Delivery Time:  Most meals took an average of twenty minutes. This will allow you and yours ample time to gaze aimlessly into each other's eyes or whatever it is couples do.

Wallet Control: Most people would walk in here with the misconceived notion that you would have to spend a fortune on the food. Wrong!! Southern Sun is very budget friendly. I also believe in being a prudent eater and  with the right selection of meals, you shouldn't spend more than twelve thousand naira on a three course meal... Not so bad for the one you love.

Buffetlicious: Here's that buffet I was telling you about.

I would recommend the Southern Sun restaurant especially to the singles ladies out there. Don't sit at home miserably while your friends instagram pictures of themselves and their boos at dinner. Get yourself down to the Southern Sun and pig out with the ambrosial food, after all "There is no love sincerer than the love of food."  George Bernard Shaw

*SOUTHERN SUN is offering A SPECIAL COUPLES DINNER AT N 13,000 AND THE SEAFOOD LOVER'S BUFFET FOR N 7,500 !!!!!!Happy Valentine's Day from me to you...

* SOUTHERN SUN HOTEL IS AT NO.47, ALFRED REWANE ROAD, IKOYI, LAGOS. 

Dedah Eats was a guest of Southern Sun. Many Thanks. 

Country Club Grub

There are just a handful of country clubs in Lagos, which boast of uber exclusivity and a strict members only policy. If you can however smuggle yourself in, or happen to be a member, then you are in luck. Ikoyi Club, offers not just a family friendly scene with an abundance of sports you can try your hands on, but also very surprisingly affordable and indulgent food.

The Food !!! 

Chicken and Chips 

I am probably a bit biased when I say the best chicken and chips in Lagos, is made at Ikoyi Club. The chips are always super crisp, never soggy and never too salty. The chicken is also very well done and fried to golden brown perfection. If you are not a fan of chicken , you can also go for the chips and sausage option.

The Club Sandwich 

As many sections as there are in the club, so there are different club sandwiches. The Swimming section's take on the club sandwich is very juicy and squishy. this four layers of moist bread is filled with ample portions of chicken, eggs, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.

The main Bar offers a drier version of the club sandwich, grilled chicken, dried tomatoes and lettuce without any dripping sauce.This makes this sandwich preferable to me. But to each his own, so you can try out both and pick a team.

The Suya 

Once upon a time, I used to say that Ikoyi Club suya is the best suya in the whole world. Not anymore!! At least not today!! I made my way to what used to be the suya shack where the suya connoisseurs once hygienically prepared and roasted the suya in front of customers... the suya shack was no more, it had been replaced by some enclosed green and white building with clean tiles and all that. But no, that is not the new home of the suya spot. The Suya guys have been relegated to the back of green and white building which from the look of the nasty walls, once housed a generator. Despite the "gangsta setting," I still ordered my favourite chicken suya, beef and gizzard.

The Suya honestly tasted nothing like what I am used to. Blandest suya I have ever tasted. It was almost like the suya was caught in the rain or something, and all the spice had been washed away, and they just said ' what the heck, grill it anyway." Major let-down, bleh!! The only high-point was the signature pepper, which still tasted as good as ever. (some of us lick suya pepper just for fun. Don't judge!!)

Candy Floss!!! 

There is something utterly shameless about a twenty something year old proudly strutting around with candy floss. Sooo after pretending to be on the phone with my imaginary niece and asking how many candy flosses she wanted, I hid in the playground and wolfed the sugary treat down. Sadly, there are some things in life you have to outgrow, and candy floss is one of those things. The 6 inch floss kept sticking to my hair, and the sugar rush was ridiculous. Kids high off sugar suddenly made sense.

Ambiance: Ikoyi club is undoubtedly very picturesque. However, being the very exclusive club that it is, cameras are frowned upon and picture taking is also frowned upon. All pictures were strategically captured while no one was looking.Take selfies at your own peril.

Staff: The guys over at the swimming section are really polite and friendly, the ones at the main house, not so much.

Delivery Time: Food gets delivered in record time. The only thing that takes an average of about 15 minutes is the ill-fated suya.

Portion control: So the food isn't super excessive. One serving is just enough for one person, but the food is sooo affordable, you can literally afford to get more than one portion.


A great three course meal at Ikoyi club would cost you a little under N 1500. Ridiculous!! Apparently eating at a country club isn't that pricey. However, they get a four star rating because of the suya!! ****



* Ikoyi Club is located on Club Road, Ikoyi...good luck finding that with that address!!