Dundee’s favourite West African restaurant Gidi Grill has finally opened its doors in Aberdeen.
The restaurant, which has captured Dundonian hearts through its unique African-style sauces and laid-back energy, launches at noon on Thursday on Aberdeen’s Union Street.
The new outlet is Gidi Grill’s third branch and the first outside of Dundee.
The launch comes eight months after The Courier revealed the restaurant was making the move from Dundee to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen move an easy decision for Gidi Grill
The Union Street opening is a landmark for husband-and-wife owners Mobolaji (Mo) and Eniola Adeniyi, who opened the first Gidi Grill in Dundee’s City Quay in 2018.
However, Gidi Grill director Pete Preston, who helped Mo and Eniola set up the Aberdeen branch, said expanding to the Granite City was an easy decision.
Pete, an Aberdeen businessman who like Mo and Eniola is from Nigeria, says Aberdeen has one of the biggest West African communities in the UK.
Many people were already making the trip down the A90 to eat at Dundee’s Gidi Grill’s.
“I did some exit polls in Dundee, and I found that 25% of the customers were from Aberdeen,” says Pete. “Those people now don’t have to travel. It’s on the doorstep.”
Gidi Grill hot sauce at heart of Aberdeen branch
The Gidi Grill owners are confident Mo’s West African flavours will appeal to everyone in the city and are hoping to hook as many Aberdonians as they have Dundonians.
The new restaurant’s menu will mirror its sister sites, with everything from spiced mac and cheese, burgers and grilled chicken to West African and Caribbean favourites such as jollof rice and jerk barbecue pork belly.
Meanwhile, underpinning the food in the restaurant is Mo’s very own West African sauce, which comes in two levels of intensity – red and green.
Unlike with other spicy sauces, the green version is the hottest. However, Pete says either colour makes a trip to Gidi Grill a unique experience.
“The reason why Gidi Grill is so popular is because of those sauces,” he says.
For Gidi Grill first-timers, Pete – a regular visitor to the Dundee outlets before persuading Mo and Eniola to come north – recommends the plantain and prawns as a starter before hitting the half chicken and jollof rice for a main.
And when it comes to dessert, Pete says the Gidi Grill rum cake is a “gamechanger”.
“The rum cake is to die-for,” says Pete. “I’d take that every day.”
Bookings for the Aberdeen restaurant are now open. The venue, on 263 Union Street, seats about 90 people and is open every day except Monday. Opening hours are from noon to 10pm.
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