REVIEW: THE SEASONING HOUSE, Troy
Cote d’Ivorian grilling outside The Seasoning House in Troy. Photo credit: Konrad Odhiambo/The Dishing
The Seasoning House
49 Third Street, Troy | theseasoninghouse518.com | IG: @the_seasoning_house_troy
We like it for: Lunch, very casual dine in, large group dinner, take out, party catering
Must try: Raissa’s famous wings with green sauce, kenkey, fried fish, dégué (dessert), Mathieu’s sorrel, tamarind or ginger juices.
The Vibe: Simply decorated, light bright restaurant with dine in tables, two armchairs seats in the window and a warm welcome. Currently they do not have a liquor license, but you can BYOB.
Sound: Afrobeats
Style: The plain white interior of the former Muddaddy Flats is a simple canvas for their African art and Afrobeats soundtrack.
Having relocated from Pittsfield, MA, chef Raissa Doumbia and her husband Mathieu Naimke have brought their unique Cote d’Ivorian flavors to Troy with a killer menu and Doumbia’s secret family spice blends. Although she guards the recipe, they are now selling their spices which seem to include kankankan, an African barbecue spice with origins in Nigeria and Mali, and sauces too. Share whole fried tilapia or fry croaker with crunchy batter and tender white flesh with a side of sour attiéké (fermented cassava couscous) or Ivorian kenkey, a sour stretchy fermented maize which you pinch between fingers to swab in the green sauce or chile-spiked tomato sauce.
In Troy, they are now open six days a week, lunch through dinner, and have broadened the menu for Troy’s more diverse African community with smoky, lightly salty potato-leaf stew, palm-nut soup and okra soup served with banku or fufu for their Nigerian, Ghanaian and Senegalese guests. Peanut soup, a rich orange-hued, creamy stew with tender chicken on the bone is served with fufu, a stretchy, pounded-cassava “swallow food” to pinch and dunk in the soup. They have also added new panini-style sandwiches — a creation by Doumbia — and marinated beef kebab skewers served with the green sauce you can now buy and bring home. You’ll find jollof rice, lamb shank with plantains, braised mackerel and waakye (red rice and beans with fried fish, egg and tomato stew.) Don’t leave without trying dégué, an African yogurt dessert made with sweet millet couscous and yogurt.
Want to know more? Read our tastemaker interview with Raissa and Mathieu here.
Parking: Street parking
Nearby: 1. Donna’s Italian + the Lucas Confectionery 2. Lime Leaf 3. 353 (Cocktail bar) 4. Craft 518 5. Bootlegggers
