Walk into our kitchen during prep and the first thing you notice isn’t the hearth — it’s the spice shelf. Here’s a field guide to the five blends doing the heavy lifting on our menu.
Suya
Nigeria’s great street-food spice: roasted peanut, ginger, cayenne, smoked paprika. We grind ours fresh weekly. It crusts our ribeye and shows up in the bar’s spiced nuts.
Berbere
Ethiopia’s backbone — a dozen-plus chiles and aromatics bloomed into a brick-red paste. It turns brown butter into the sauce for our whole branzino.
Grains of paradise
A West African seed that tastes like pepper met cardamom met citrus. We use it in marinades, in the Palm Wine Spritz, and in house bitters.
Scotch bonnet
Fruity, floral, and ferociously hot. It powers the aioli under our jollof arancini — we blend it with roasted garlic to keep the heat honest but round.
Uziza
Peppery leaves and seeds with a piney finish — the quiet note in our dumpling broth that makes guests ask what they’re tasting.
None of these are gimmicks. They’re the pantry of a coastline — and we treat them with the same care a French kitchen gives its demi-glace.