Little Senegalese at Bissap Baobab (San Francisco)
Senegal (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal ... is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa.
--from Wikipedia
Besides the fact that it was in Africa, everything I knew about Senegal (for example, their official language is French) right before my dinner at Bissap Baobab I owe to a quick read of the Wikipedia article. We were greeted by a tall well-built guy speaking French.
The place was hopping and we had to wait a few minutes for a table. I decided to have a drink and tried the Tusker, a Kenyan pale lager ($4)
![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4825016364_17538464c6.jpg)
My friends went instead with the Coconut-infused rum. Be careful with these, they are as easy to drink as a Calpico soda and you can get drunk in no time (plus they're reasonably priced, making getting drunk even easier).
![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/4825071546_d4ee8a4271.jpg)
While we were waiting at a bar for a table, the bartender gave us some piping hot plantains for free!
Well, it's hard to mess up fried plantains, and the tamarind sauce was an unusual but delicious accompaniment.
Though I was wary having African cuisine given my first experience involving mango pits (Nigerian), the appetizers we tried all had familar flavor profiles. The somone was similar to a potato croquette, a bit sweetened by corn and served with a creamy avocado sauce instead of aioli.
![](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4824647589_2d85145fb7.jpg)
The menu explained where many of the dishes came from, and I had no choice but to order the Tiep Dien since it was supposed to be the official dish of Senegal.
This somewhat reminded me of a seafood paella + jambalaya. The snapper is meaty and while it could be a little more moist, it was plenty flavorful and so was the rice. A rustic, comfort food dish. The Brazilians have their feijoada and the Senegalese have their tiep dien.
Bissap Baobab was a much better African food experience than my first, with more familiar flavors (I'm not trying to say the restaurant I went to before was bad, perhaps I'm just not used to it). It was a good, hearty meal with tasty and reasonably priced drinks and a fun vibe. Service was pretty slow though, so don't come here when you're in a hurry.
Bissap Baobab
2323 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 826-9287
http://www.bissapbaobab.com/
![Bissap Baobab on Urbanspoon](http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/81054/minilogo.gif)