Cover image: Façade at A la Banane Ivoirienne
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After a stimulating visit at the opening reception for Studio Art-Z on rue Keller, I met my husband, Tom, for dinner at A La Banane Ivoirienne.

The approximately ten minute walk from the gallery to the restaurant took me through a neighborhood that is completely "off the beaten track."  It was refreshing to walk along streets that were peaceful and completely devoid of tourists!

A la Banane Ivoirienne has been in operation for over 32 years.  Even if the restaurant were to remove the sign out front, the banana tree motif that dominates the façade and the African-themed carvings on the door make it impossible for those searching for the establishment to mistake it for anything else.

Walking through the entryway, the walls of which are covered with cloth bearing images of an elderly man smoking a pipe and an elephant, Tom and I stepped into a small dining room with walls painted the color of mango.

Woven green wall sconces are perhaps meant to evoke banana leaves.

Entryway wall hangings
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Ground floor dining room
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Wooden tables are decorated with more African-themed carvings, and chairs with wicker seats are covered with bright African-themed cushions.  Small sections of the walls are covered with kente cloth.

Chair cushions
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Corner with kente cloth
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Sconce, wood carving, and kente cloth
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A curved staircase leads to a dining room on the lower level. (We ate in the dining room on the ground floor.)

Stairs to lower level
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I ordered a Détonateur -- a "punch" made from koutoukou (a liqueur derived from palm wine), cane sugar, and coconut syrup -- and sipped it while Tom and I looked long and hard at the menu.  

We reminded ourselves that portions at African restaurants are generally too large for us to finish and made up our minds to order only a main course and a dessert.

We asked the waiter several questions before selecting our dishes.

A la Banane Ivoirienne menu
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I wanted to know what the Poulet "Belle Ivoirienne," whose description translates to English as "double chicken chef's special," was.  The waiter explained that it is an entire chicken cut in half and served with rice or aloko (plantains)!

Based on this information, I forwent ordering Poulet "Belle Ivoirienne" and selected Zomamazo instead.  This was chicken with a maffé (peanut) sauce served with spicy red beans, rice, aloko, and attiéké (a grainy preparation similar to couscous but made with manioc).  While I found the sauce to be less peanutty than I like, the chicken, beans, and plantains were scrumptious!

Zomazazo
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Tom selected Garba Supérieur, which featured a generous portion of braised capitaine (croaker) fish served with aloko, a tomato-based sauce, and a sliced tomato and lettuce leaf for garnish.  He finished every morsel on his plate.

Garba Supérieur
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To accompany the meal, I ordered my favorite African soft drink, bissap. I was not disappointed - the beverage had the perfect flavor, sweetness, and consistency.

In keeping with the theme of the restaurant, Tom ordered a banana beer.  He was surprised to find that it was made in Belgium and not on the African continent.  He enjoyed it, even though it had no frothy head when first poured.

Bissap
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Chapeau - banana beer from Belgium
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We both enjoyed our main dish and turned our attention to dessert.

I ordered banane en boubou, a banana roasted in its skin.  It was supposed to come with candied ginger, but the dish the waiter placed before me did not have ginger on it.  When I inquired about this, the owner of the restaurant came to our table and told me that the ginger had fallen off the banana and onto the floor of the oven during the cooking process.  He did not offer to replace it, which surprised me, but because the hour was late, I let that pass.

The banana and the syrup drizzled on the plate were a light finish for my meal.

Banane en boubou
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Tom ordered Koutou Glace, which is a serving of mango ice cream with koutoukou.   He requested that the mango ice cream be replaced with coconut ice cream, and the waiter happily obliged him.  Tom thoroughly enjoyed this dessert.

Coconut ice cream with koutoukou
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Despite the couple of less-than-optimal elements that we experienced during our meal, we'd try A la Banane Ivoirienne again if we found ourselves in the neighborhood.

A La Banane Ivoirienne
10, rue de la Forge Royale
75011 Paris
Tel.: 01.43.70.49.90
Métro station: Ledru-Rollin (Line 8)