When two elderly friends of mine, Messers Bamisaye Ewu and Ajewole Aiyetoro invitedTribune Tourism Magazine for a drink at Finsbury Park, East ' London on Tuesday, 15 November, 2011, it never occurred to this writer that he was being invited to see an African landmark and meet a pathfinder.Picking me up at an Arsenal shop beside Finsbury Station, we headed for a building on Stroud Street adjacent Finsbury Recreation Park, and we descended into its basement .Inside the basement is a restaurant which retains a good setting; the facilities there, although they have seen better days, are still in good form.'Welcome into the first African restaurant in the UK,' said Mr Ajewole.As he paused a little to see my reaction, he quickly added another clause: 'and here you meet Eddie Isebor, the first African to run an African Restaurant in the UK.I responded intuitively, 'This is great. Whao.' I said, paced a little to have a handshake with the great Eddie.We exchanged pleasantries and I promptly pulled him to a corner for a quick interview, which generated strong reactions from those who invited me out.' We will give you just five minutes,' they said and I concurred.'My name is Eddie Isebor. A Nigerian from Issele ' Ukwu, Delta State. I came to South West London College for an HND in Business Studies, in 1973. I also did my postgraduate diploma in Marketing at North 'East London Polytechnic.'What fashioned my interest in catering business is that, after my graduation, I joined Mr Ason Ighlie,who ran the canteen at the Nigerian High Commission Welfare Section in London in 1992 'November 1984.'After this tutelage from Ighile, I moved out to establish Afric'Carib Restaurant at 20- 22 Inverness terrace, Bayswater W.2 London.At Bayswater, the experiment was impressive .I started with something like 10,000 pounds. Initially, I catered for about 100 people, but as time went on, my customers increased to 200 on a typical day. I then decided to look for a more centralized place where majority of African ' Caribbean live.I got No 1 Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park in August, but I had to spend a lot of money buying the place and on renovation.'Stroud was an instant success. The Africans and Caribbean had a place to eat out. What also impressed me was the deluge of white customers at that time.'The first set of whites came around in January 1995, three months when we opened at Finsbury Park and since that time, they made our restaurant a must visit. I found out that most of these white customers then were those who had served in African countries and were used to the cuisines and delicacies where they had served. They were in love with pepper soup, pounded yam or ground rice with dodo.'In those days, the eateries were mainly continental, hence my placing billboard outside announcing that we offered African and West Indians foods. These white people continued to come in their droves.'I must say that I included Caribbean and West Indian foods because No 1 Stroud Green Road formerly housed a restaurant called Silver, owned by a West Indian who served Caribbean foods. Realising that West Indians populated Stroud Green Road, I knew it would be unwise to do away with this mass of customers. So I employed West Indians, staff who, at take off, taught their Nigerian counterparts how to prepare Caribbean foods.This restaurants had played host to many distinguished Nigerians and has also served as launching venue for the ambition of many eminent politicians in Nigeria. Because this Restaurant has a hall that can accommodate 100-150 guests, it is being used for various social gatherings and I have made a lot of connections and networks.Two people were very fundamental to the success of this restaurant, my wife, the British born former miss Lorraine Nailor, who hails from Kent, and my assistant, Mercy Ofor who gave me inestimable support and assistance.'However, in the quest for efficient and dynamic service, we had to lease the restaurant to Prince Ogbonna, a go'getter young man, who has injected vibrancy and innovation into the Restaurant. It was when Sir Prince took over that we changed the name to Coco Afric ' Carib ' Dian IJ Restaurant from Afric ' carib Restaurant.You are very lucky meeting me here. However, when you get back to Nigeria, kindly help me give my contact number to Mr Sina Adedipe, the first and the only journalist to have written an article on this restaurant.'As I wanted to ask another question, Messers Bamiteko and Ajewole raised objections and pleaded that I should join them for the fun of the day.
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