I went to Little Baobab without quite knowing what to expect, which is how I prefer to arrive anywhere. There are not many opportunities to eat Senegalese food in London, and fewer still that feel considered from the moment you step inside. It sits within the Africa Centre in Southwark, and that context matters. To reach the dining room at the back, you walk through a small shop lined with books and records by African artists. Before you think about what you will order, you are reminded that this is part of something broader – cultural, communal and ongoing.
Drinks come from upstairs. Maquis, the bar on the top floor, sends down bottles of Star Lager and cocktails such as the Baobab Blossom – pink with gin, baobab and pomegranate, sharp with lime. It sets the tone without overcomplicating it and leaves the kitchen to work on something special.
The £47 set menu changes regularly and works for sharing. You hear it in the room – friends and families leaning across the table, negotiating over the last piece of chicken. Fried plantain arrives dusted with bissap salt, the floral note lifting the sweetness. Bread with tamarind butter does something similar, introducing a gentle sourness to what might otherwise be familiar. Ndambe Teranga bites – neat tartlets of black-eyed pea stew – offer warmth in a single mouthful. Thiou Boulette, usually a stew, is reworked here into refined fishballs resting on a rich tomato sauce that tastes slow and settled.
The starters sharpen the focus. Chicken Dibi – char-grilled drumsticks and wings served with a chilli mustard dipping sauce – balances smoke and acidity, improved further with a spoonful of the house chilli sauce. The mains stay with you. Lamb Mafe was the dish I found myself thinking about the next day: lamb chops in a deeply flavoured peanut sauce, served with fried cassava puree that carries the sauce just a little further. Soupou Kandja, an okra stew with two tender tiger prawns and rice on the side, builds heat gradually, without spectacle.
Dessert is also on point – baobab ice cream with strawberry and meringue, alongside a generous chocolate fondant. There is plenty on the plate, whether you are sharing or not. Around us, the room remains full – conversations overlapping, staff greeting people by name. In a centre built to serve its community, the restaurant feels aligned with that purpose, offering not just food but a place to return to.
