'Saymama For Tae'

Check out the first ever 'Saymama for Tae' line - one of Nigeria's most hardworking and creative talent in the burgeoning world of fashion design in the country. This is a first attempt at a collaboration with a designer and I'm very proud of the outcome of our 'experiment'. I may be biased but the pieces are gorgeous! I'm in no way a designer, nor do I want to be. But it's nice to come up with some ideas and letting the pros do the designing. This all came together from a random conversation and voila! Guess which one's my favorite!

So if you are anywhere near Lagos, hit the store now! They are selling out fast! Stay tuned for more to come.

Tae: 15B Oduduwa Crecent, G.R.A., Ikeja - Lagos

Saymama's Best in City Series - Lagos v.1

Hi folks! I know, I know...
So! I’ve put together what will become one of many series based on my personal reviews and recommendations of certain things or places. This is my Lagos series highlighting where to find the best of certain things. These are my favorite things in Lagos that I can’t live without.

Best Cappuccinos in Lagos – Candies on Kofo Abayomi in Victoria Island; Orchid on Isaac John in GRA Ikeja

Best Croissants in Lagos – La Saison - off Awolowo Road in Ikoyi (Tosan Cakes’ café); Chocolat Royale - Etim Inyang in Victoria Island

Best Breakfast in Lagos – (rankings 1-4 with 1 being the highest) Orchid on Isaac John in GRA Ikeja; 2. Candies - Kofo Abayomi in VI; 3.Chocolat Royale on Etim Inyang in VI; 4. Robert’s Café -Akin Olugbade Street, VI

Best Bread in Lagos – Hands down! And the award goes to Oasis Supermarket -Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, Ikeja; 2. Agoyin Bread from the clay ovens of central Lagos -off Igbosere Street; 3. Chocolat Royale in VI

Best Ofada Rice Lunch in Lagos - And the award goes to Terra Kulture - Tiamiyu Savage Street, Off Bar Beach Road, Victoria Island. Check out their newly updated website above. This is an arts centre that comes with a restaurant, art gallery, book store, to name a few. The rustic ethnic theme of the restaurant sets a somewhat cosmopolitan tone for the authentic nigerian cuisine on the menu. When in the mood for a lunch of very good Ofada rice in particular, this is the place to go as they have managed to maintain a consistency in the quality of this item on the menu. This is a great place for lunch with the girls or business meeting and get this -they actually have reliable WiFi! - in the event that you want to lunch and cyberwork on your lappie by yourself. Ofada and the internet go very well together.

Best Bookstore - Quintessence - Falomo Shopping Centre, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi - This is a unique Oasis that meshes art, books of African and Nigerian origin, magazines, ethnic nick-nacks, music with mellow but rich ambience that makes you forget the bustling madness that is Lagos. This is a favorite haven of mine. Don't be surprised if you go in there just to look around and you end up spending all the money in your purse or pockets. Perfect place for unique book or gift items too for friends local and abroad. Trully worth it.

Best Unique Shopping Experience in Lagos -(if you just wanna get that dress and go and possibly wear the same day or night ‘prêt a porter’)- Tiffany Amber -Palms Mall, Victoria Island(I must say though, that for that unexpected pleasant surprise in an outfit is what one gets on the off chance that you find yourself in a Tiffany Amber store. It beats me though as to why the company still does not have a website, even after 10 years in business! Even if its just for general information with a nice picture of an outfit on the main page. It's almost 2009 people!); Tae in GRA Ikeja; Jewel By Lisa - Ikoyi

Best (favorite) Cafes in Lagos – Orchid Bistro (can the real Dr. Robert please stand up!)in GRA Ikeja; Chocolat Royal (best and most courteous service); Candies on Kofo Abayomi (best salads and sandwiches in town; the waiters are a bit grumpy, but once you smile they soften up and smile back – usually. Also, it has a decent window view if you want to look out on to bustling Victoria Island will you eat or sip.

Best Chin chin in Lagos – The mama with the big boobies and extended derrière on the corner of Moloney Street in Central Lagos. They have the franchise of the very best chin chin this side of the equator on lock.

Best Plantain chips in Lagos – Laide’s on Adeyemo Alakija Street, across from Citibank’s old offices (Commerce House), under a big faded Celtel umbrella. She’s got attitude though, so watch out. When your car is slowly moving in traffic as you approach her, she’s quick to tell you, “I can’t run o, I’m not a young girl”. Nor does she deliver (which is quite narrow-minded for a small/micro entrepreneur in Lagos, given the fact that these days, “everybody” delivers for the right price; even the guy selling telephone credit will be happy to deliver to your house if you so choose, since everybody has a mobile phone these days! But you can call her to place large orders and pick up yourself. BUT, her chips are THE BEST. Take my word for it.

Best Cosmopolitan in town – Orchid Bistro in GRA. To my utter surprise, I finally found a place in Lagos where cosmos are made the way the gods initially intended and designed, and served in the martini glass that it deserves to be in. At other bars and spots, whom I shall have mercy upon and not mention, if you order for a cocktail drink, especially for something as simple as a cosmo or a spin of martini origin, it will come in a fugly drinking glass (big and unwelcoming), chock full of nastily shaped –looking ice cubes, all watery and nasty* with a big ol’ oversized straw crassly sticking out of the glass. SMH. So if you are ever thirsty for a real cosmo in Lagos, drive down (or up) to Orchid’s Bistro. They have it all figured out.

Stay tuned for new updates in theses series!

Love,

Saymama :-)

Saymama's Favorite Things - The July/August Edition

Tae Dress [pronounced Ta-yay with an apostrophe on the 'e']- One of my favorite recent purchases from one of many budding Nigerian designers using the very popular Ankara fabric. The label Tae, is run by Bisola Edun and I got this from a new collection show she had a couple months back at Terraculture. It's a perfect dress-up or down dress, with flats or heels, out with the girls or off to dinner with tha' man. And sorry I must say, very unabashedly, that it looked gorgeous on me:--). I love the ruffle detailing at the bodice. Check out the website here for more info and gorgeous numbers.

Cool Restaurants Istanbul - I discovered this book while sipping capuccino's at Salamader Cafe in Abuja a few weeks back. There's an entire collection of books in these series for different cities around the world. It feeds into my cafe and restaurant design obsession right now and gives quite a lot of ideas in terms of themes and the like. I'm on a mission to own all 15 in the collection. So far I have 2: Istanbul and Capetown. They make great coffee table reads too.

The Chloe Cyndi Tote - love it, must covet it and it's only $2,000. *Smirk*. Nuff Said. Here.

Love Quotes Scarves - These are sooo gorgeous. Must get these in every color. And regardless of the weather or country, a nice pashmina throw classes up any look - whether you're going for jeans casual chic, or a knee length tunic or if like me you're at work and your neck is always cold. These are particularly lovely. Plus they make great gift ideas for that special chica-sister-lover-friend. It's all in the wrapping :-)

The New Mack Book. I salivate. Not only is the packaging it comes in beyond sexy, it also lists what comes in the box upon delivery (or purchase): a display cleaning cloth to boot! Imagine, isn't this accessory obvious? But as all notebook lovers know, this never comes with a computer. And to be totally frivolous, the packaging alone just makes me...happy. Now to the computer itself. I currently use (and am about to dump) a Sony Viao. A pretty computer, but has been a most heart-breaking experience to put it mildly. Within the first 6 months of ownership, it crashed on me twice. I lost all important documents and unfortunately for me I hadn't backed up. Their customer service is awful, I got transfered to India and conversed with a totally clueless and barely intelligible unhelpful rep. Aside from that my Viao overheats because apparently, the Intel processor used for my laptop is of the cheap Chinese kind (Celeron). I've heard that some from this model had been known to catch fire. Go figure. The battery life sucks beyond measure. My Viao (from which I type)'s battery life after less than 2 years old is less than 20 minutes from full life. My friend's Macbook is 'over' 2 years old and the battery life on his still exceeds 3 hours!! Then lets not go into all the virus attacks and issues I have had nearly from day one. And lastly, for this entry, but certainly not the least, it took Sony almost 2 months to get the bloody thing to me from the day I placed my order. Macbooks ship in 24 hours. Of this alone I am ecsatic. I have, my whole computer literate-adult life, shied away from Macs, because I thought they were so cumbersome to use and incompatible with everything. In addition, I didn't like their previous keyboard arrangement and that just turned me off. They've since changed all that and Saymama's loving the prospect of a future of virus-slow processing-overheating-free life. They come in 2 colors: black and white. I'm loving the white. So off I go to the nearest Apple store..through the Atlantic, across the Sahara, over the hills and whatever else it would take to get me there. Steve Jobs, you rock.