A Culinary Disappointment

Now that we have cooler weather in Burkina, Kathy’s felt more like cooking our meals at home and we haven’t been going out to eat very much at all. To be honest, we were getting heartily sick of restaurant food anyway. Variety is pretty limited here. Apart from a few Asian restaurants, most of the restaurants in Ouaga offer much the same fare. So when we do go out for a meal nowadays, we’re always on the lookout for something different.

Of course, there are absolutely no brand name restaurants here. No McDonald’s, Harvey’s, or Burger King. No Subway, Swiss Chalet, Pizza Pizza, Kelseys, or Montana’s either. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a brand name business of any kind here! No Wal-Mart, no Home Depot, no HMV, no Blockbuster, and no Rogers. No Starbucks either :/ Now that’s gotta be worth some hardship pay, don’t you think?

Anyway, last Saturday, when we were driving around in Ouaga 2000, the ritzier part of town, we saw a sign for a Thai restaurant! To say that we were excited would be an understatement! Checking out the business hours on the sign, we decided to cancel the supper we’d planned at home and go out for a date instead.

We got showered. We got dressed up. And we waited until a fashionably late hour (it’s the French influence :) before heading out. Almost drooling with anticipation at our upcoming gastronomic adventure, we pulled up in front of the restaurant. Strange... our truck seemed to be the only vehicle there. We got out and walked up to the gate.

After a few seconds, a uniformed guard opened the gate. “Sorry,” he said. “The restaurant is closed for the month of July.” “Well,” I replied with genuine disappointment and reproach in my voice, “couldn’t you at least have put up a sign letting people know that?” He just shrugged his shoulders and closed the gate. Obviously not his problem!

So much for our gastronomic adventure with spicy food and exotic flavours. We had to settle for a nearby Italian restaurant. Pasta is good, but it ain’t Thai food!