Bistro7

After we moved to Lagos, Nigeria I haven't been to anywhere with Josephine except supermarkets. That day, I was determined to take her and get out of the house. I was feeling brave and enthusiastic. I've heard Bistro7 from another Turkish friend here and apparently they had lovely brunches on Sunday. I was aiming to go there for lunch.

Although its location was very obvious to expats living in Victoria Island (VI), it was incredibly difficult to find it. (It has a big "7" on their metal parking area door) Because the building numbers were not in order. If they would have said it is right next door to La Pointe then we could just manage to get there much easier. After the hassle in the car with our good driver Moses, we got there. First experience for a mother in Lagos: check with the restaurant if they have a highchair!! Well, they didn't have it. When I asked for one, they told me that they've ordered few from overseas and they don't know the arrival date. I had to live with it. My husband wasn't with us and I was hungry. I ordered hamburger which was easy to eat it with a baby on lap. It was an average burger. I have eaten much nicer burgers in VI.

It was a nice restaurant. It had a nice garden with a big tree in the middle of it, it was quiet away from honking cars and loud people. Most importantly, I went out with our little daughter and managed to eat without making her angry or grumpy.

Métisse

It is a restaurant in Lagos. Fusion!! That’s what its name means in French as well, “mixture”. We had been there for lunch and loved the food. Well we’ve never been there with Joey.

This weekend, we were invited by our manager and his wife for lunch. They like it, we like it. So great choice! You’d think. However who would know that they don’t accept kids under the age of 13!!! We told them Joey is 13:), and that they shouldn’t be fooled by the pram she was travelling in. They didn’t seem to believe us so they put us outside to the terrace and we ate our lunch with the company of flies, bugs, spiders and the rain!! Even though the restaurant was empty when we got there, the manager told us there is a group of 20 people coming at 1pm. Well that is OK then. Ha ha, after our lunch we asked to our waiter, he told us the group is delayed till 3pm and the restaurant was empty during our lunch.

September 2012

EDIT: I've changed my initial article about Métisse. I wrote a bit with my emotions at the beginning but now I think that people need to respect some rules. There are places that you cannot go with your children and there are people who want to be away from children, eat their meals in peace and have their holidays in peace. I understand that. That is my non-mother times talk. Now as a mother, I experience such thing for the first time, I apparently didn't think it would happen. There has been nowhere that I couldn't enter in my life. I guess everything has a first time.

Ayda Josephine

When we got offers to work in Lagos I was pregnant. My first reaction was “No, we cannot work there, what about our baby?” Well, obviously my opinion changed a lot afterwards so we are here… Working. However, I kept myself strong minded on one thing: Breastfeeding Jo... I wanted to breastfeed her for at least 6 months and Chris supported that wish all along as well as our company. It was decided I would start working in September. In the meantime, Jo can grow up older than 6 months and gets stronger, she can get used to the bottle and we can find a nanny in Lagos. I went to Turkey with Joey while Chris came to Lagos for his first rotation. It was so good for many people. I was enjoying Jo, Jo was enjoying summer in Turkey and her grandparents were enjoying Jo (or should I say Ayda from Turkish point of view?) After having 2 teeth in Turkey, cutting her from breast milk and going to bottle (with a lot of resistance) we came to Lagos. She has her nanny, Rose and is happy. If you think that we are talking about a baby who slept in 5 different houses in 5 months then you would understand how much I could be nervous. Luckily, we have a lovely girl who doesn’t give us hard time to cope with travelling and growing up at the same time (Bite your tongues!!)