Ebe Ye Yie
“We talk about language, about soccer (I know less about soccer than about Ghana), and about his dream of opening a restaurant of his own.”
“She helped me selected a couple of dishes and was OK that we weren't ordering an entire feast – there were still two stops on the tour.”
“We had the peanut soup with some kind of meat in it (not fish, but it was loud with all the fans running and I'm not sure what I ended up pointing at), with a side of Foufou (mashed plantain paste).”
Ebe Ye Yie
Take-out: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
2 reviews
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I love it here. If you are not sure what to get good luck because there is no menu to tell you what they have. Some things look like chicken but I guess everything kinda looks like chicken. Luckily there was a cab driver there to tell me what they were serving.
Well I had the yellow rice with chicken/beef and cow foot (yummy!!) I should have just ordered the cow foot cuz it was that good.
The woman behind the window was very friendly and gave me some free things to try. I guess cuz she knew Ghanian food was new to me and she wanted me to appreciate their food and I sure did.
I wish they had a Ghanian place closer to me rather than the BX. If so I would be there more often.
FYI…the Cascade on the table is actually Cascade so don't put it on your food unless you want a soapy mouth!!!
When reviewing restaurants of cuisines that are beyond the 'mainstream diet' of residents of even our country's most cosmopolitan of cities, it can be easy to let the establishment serve as a proxy for the culinary merit of the country as a whole. That's problematic, because a restaurant serving the traditional, or even modern takes on a particular regions, shouldn't be held to account for the entire agricultural and societal development that has evolved over hundreds or even thousands of years.
That's why I'm happy to have trekked up to the South Bronx recently with ten friends to try not one but three different Ghanaian restaurants. This wasn't my first time with the cuisine, I'd had it three times before, and certainly some of the elements that were present are available in other West African and Caribbean traditions. But for everyone else, this was their first exposure to the food of Ghana.
We met at Ebe Ye Yie, the smallest of the Bronx Ghanaian restaurants. The curtains are drawn from the outside with only a small neon sign showing the entrance to the small dining room. Our party took up nearly three-quarters of the available table space. I had the group gather at a nearby pharmacy to make sure that we didn't idle inside while waiting to assemble. (Whether they are coming from Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn, everyone underestimates how much time it will take to get to the South Bronx.)
The owner/woman behind the counter was incredibly friendly and worked with us when I explained that we wanted to try a few dishes. She helped me selected a couple of dishes and was OK that we weren't ordering an entire feast – there were still two stops on the tour.
At Ebe Ye Yie we focused on Ghanian classics – two heaping bowls of peanut stew, a couple of piles of fufu and some okra. I ordered the okra as a vegetarian dish, but was dismayed when the first person used a laddle to fish out a large bone. The meat eaters in the group loved this dish, the thick broth complimented the complex spice of the dish.
Peanut soup and fufu was challenging for the uninitiated – it's a messy way to eat, even when some people resorted to utensils. Ebe Ye Yie's rendition was solid, not as spicy as I'd had elsewhere, but cooked through so pieces of meat were nice and tender. We also had chunks of suya, a form of roasted meat that is pretty tough with a strong odor. It's challenging fare – this isn't another take on a kebab – and I'm not sure the cooking process at Ebe Ye Yie really helped it come out.
The vegetarians here did have to suffer. After the okra fiasco I requested a dish with no meat. The promised salad was a portion or iceberg lettuce and tomato slices, topped with a portion of canned baked beans. The vegetarians had a couple spoonfuls of rice, an African soda and a promise of more options at the next place.
The draw of this place, with its smaller seating area and more limited menu, is the wonderful generosity of the owner. She thanked us profusely for coming, and was a warm and attentive both inside of the kitchen and out in the dining room. We had the restaurant to ourselves during the visit, but I was happy to see a stream of takeout customers, making sure this will be around for a repeat visit.