There are no prizes for guessing what dish Jollof Mama specialises in. That’s right – the jollof at this Camden spot is very, very good. It’s arguably the best you’ll find outside of someone’s home kitchen and worthy of a visit no matter what part of the capital you live in. That crimson rice is spicy, smoky, and the perfect accompaniment to the rest of Jollof Mama’s tantalising offering of suya, akara, and sweet and fudgy fried plantain.
In case you hadn’t already sampled their incredible food, Jollof Mama specialises in Nigerian street food with a modern twist. That modern twist encompasses everything from heaping portions of beef suya, chicken suya, to Nigerian-style burritos that come stuffed with their signature jollof rice and fried plantain.
Founded by the wonderful Tieyan Eweka-Olorunfemi in 2016, Jollof Mama started life as a business that sold quick-cook jollof sauces that customers could use at home to speed up the process. Although Tieyan saw a quick uptake on her sauces, the local council thought otherwise and shut that sauce operation down. Thankfully, the street food side of Jollof Mama’s operation, which was all about Tieyan dishing out plates of tasty food made using her signature sauces at street food markets across the city, took off. In 2017, Tieyan and her team started doing pop-ups in Granary Square and they can still be found drawing in queues of hungry people across London today. Their current home in Camden is just one of the many places you can find them popping up in the city.
Jollof Mama’s most popular selling dish is the chicken and beef suya – a combination of meats that Tieyan describes as the “best of both worlds”. The suya burritos, which are rich and hearty and one of the most filling and affordable lunches you’ll find, have been copied by many but never duplicated.
One of the keys to Jollof Mama’s success is Tieyan’s impeccable sourcing of ingredients. The cut of beef she uses for her suya sits somewhere in between a sirloin and a rump. Once marinated for 24 hours, that beef has an incredibly soft and satisfying texture that goes down a treat. Tieyan’s sourcing of ingredients has, however, meant that issues with food costs have arisen. “Plantain is so expensive now,” says Tieyan, “and the cost of everything is insane. It’s almost cheaper to eat out nowadays considering how much ingredients cost and the energy you’ll need to make dinner at home.”
A physical location where people can sit down and get the proper Jollof Mama experience is Tieyan’s ultimate aim but there’s nothing confirmed in the ways of a restaurant at the time of writing. Here’s hoping, though, that they’ll be a Jollof Mama opening up near you sometime soon.