After church in Matadi we went to the little terrace restaurant at the hotel to celebrate with a nice Father's Day Lunch. We were told by the cute waiter who had helped us during our stay that there were only Congolese meals as the power was out.
Only things cooked on a brassier (charcoal burner) could be prepared. They burn wood until it's charcoal, extinguish it, store it and then relight it when ready to cook. The charcoal is put in the bottom of the brassier and a pot or frying pan is put on top.
So, Congolese food was all that was available. We asked to see the Congolese menu. What a surprise we had when we saw it. It was in Lingala and French. Here is the English translation.
Poisson is fish.
Viandes is meat.
They consisted of :
Antelope,
Simbiliki porcupine,
Sanglier is wild boar;
Singe is monkey;
Tortue is turtle;
Crocodile;
Chevre is goat.
Then there was mystery meat of the day and lastly
Nguma is Boa constrictor.
There was also chicken but next to it, it said "a la" meaning WITH and that could have been with termites, with ants, with grubs, with who knows what. So, we opted for french fries.
Not being the adventuresome sort we passed up the adventure of a lifetime in eating exotic meats. We asked if there was anything else they could do in a brassier. They didn't seem to think so. We suggested that they could just heat hot oil in a pan and do French Fries. After about 20 minutes of discussion they decided that they could do that. Half an hour after that we had our Father's Day dinner of french fries and orange soda. The waiter was so pleased to serve us our French Fires and soda. African life is such an adventure!
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