Dinner In Gabú

Five o'clock came and I woke up after an afternoon nap. I decided to try the second of 2 restaurants in the Lonely Planet, more out of boredom than hunger. Restaurant Binta, named after Binta described as a feisty Senegalese lady who makes good peanut sauce. Well, if she's Senegalese, I can at least order in French. So I headed down the street toward the highway. When I got to the highway, there was indeed a catholic church at the corner of the street I'm near and the highway. I crossed and went about a block and voila. There was the handpainted sign for Binta Senegalese Restaurant. There was a woman out in front and about 3 huge pots sitting there on her porch. She did speak French and invited me in. The inside of the "restaurant" consists of a bed and a long table with benches on either side with a stack of more huge empty pots.

She asked me what I wanted. She had something called chiep (sp?). I didn't know what it was. She showed me--a red spicy rice. OK, I'll take that. With meat or fish? I'll take meat. I sat down and asked if there was anything to drink. I gathered they buy from a local store so I ordered an Orange Fanta. She went into a room and came out with a small lace tablecloth.

The food came--a full plate of the rice with about ten bits of goat meat on top. No sauce really, though the marinade was still out on the table. It wasn't hot--room temperature. I tried some of the rice. It was a bit too salty for me. Oh boy. What have I done?

The Orange Fanta arrived. It was cold. The Fanta would save me, but I'd need to ration it. I ate spoons of the rice with bits of goat. I had to chew extra long due to the unfamiliarity of the food. In the time I was there, another guy came in, ate, and left. He didn't get a tablecloth like I did. I guess I'm special. ;-) I worked my way through the rice and meat. One bit of meat didn't taste like meat--I spit out. Liver I think. I'm not ready to eat goat liver.

I got to the three quarter mark. OK, I gave it a good try. My spirit level was measured by the Fanta level--dangerously low. I finished the Fanta and headed out. I asked how much. 1500 CFA (US$3). I paid, thanked Binta, and left. On the way back I bought a Coca-Cola. It had a pull-tab. I haven't seen those since not long after the episode of Emergency where Johnny and Roy had to fish a pull-tab out of a guy's throat because he was one of those people who would put the tab into the can and then drink it.

Having made it home, I decided to type this up now. Hopefully the electricity will come on in about a half hour so I can recharge my computer batteries.

August 20, 2008 18:25 Guinea-Bissau local time