African Meal Palace at Mint Lane Cafe

By Laura Stratford

Coordinator

Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership

If you haven’t been to Mint Lane Cafe lately, there are some lovely surprises in store this summer.

Thanks to the work of the Friday community gardening club, the garden behind the cafe is bursting with life and beauty - it’s the perfect shady spot for a summery lunch amid the fragrant herbs.

If you fancy a spicy evening meal of freshly cooked Nigerian food - good news! African Meal Palace is open at Mint Lane four nights a week, thanks to chef (and lawyer) Kemisola Obafemi - and a warm African welcome awaits.

Kemi, who has lived in Lincoln with her husband and children since 2022, is passionate about good food - ‘colourful, beautiful, nourishing food’.

“It starts from a desire to share,” Kemi tells me, with a big smile! 

“It started with inviting my local community to come round for dinner. I don’t know how to make small portions!” she adds with a laugh, “so they said - why don’t you share your big food with the public?”

Kemi (above) cooks various traditional dishes that are unfamiliar to many a British palette - mine included - including catfish soup, porridge (made with jams), ofada rice, pounded yam with egusi soup, bitter leaf soup, fermented locust beans.

These dishes are all spicy, but Kemi deliberately makes some dishes that are less hot, such as jolof rice, for those unaccustomed to African heat.

Kemi is able to buy many of her ingredients here in Lincoln, thanks to AdeLincoln on High Street, and orders other ingredients directly from Africa to ensure the taste is just right.

“The food is nice!” says Kemi. “I want to share it with everybody!”

African Meal Palace is open at Mint Lane Cafe on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 4-8pm - all welcome.