Bennachin Restaurant

African food in the French Quarter of New Orleans?Ordered the $20 Kembel and the $19 Jamaican chicken at 5:47 on a Friday night. Service leisurely when the place as half empty. Food arrived at 6:11pm, a 24 minute wait.The Jamaican chicken was a baked chicken with bones in a mild caribbean sauce sauce with cabbage over white rice. Messy eating white chicken meat off the bones with your hand soaked in a sweet sauce. Wife thought it would be like jerk chicken and was disappointed. $20 kembel was boneless strips of lamb in a mild ginger sauce with a very few bell peppers over white rice. Could have used more vegetables, but the dish was a very large portion of tender flavorful lamb without the game taste. One of the largest portions of lamb that I've seen in a restaurant, and for only $20. Great value for the price, if you can be patient with the wait. Located in the farthest part of the French Quarter a good mile from Canal street.

2 Hours.... 2 Hours I will never get back....Geez.... NOLA... so many great places, the competition that exists... all vying for the attention of this town's well curated pallets... and then we have this place.... That seems to exist solely on the overflow from Mona Lisa.... Which is a great place and when the wait is too long.... People just say screw it... we'll eat here.... And I believe the good reviews are the direct result of the starving human condition.... Ie... make one wait long enough for food.... Allow starvation to set in.... And when pile of dog crap on a plate is finally served up..... will create a delightful and elating experience as if Chef Susan Spicer prepared it table side. To summarize.... This is a restaurant of last resort.... Gross

Stepping into this restaurant was akin to stepping into West Africa. The chefs and owners are honoring their African cultural roots within this restaurant, by way of the cuisine and surrounding elements.The black eyed pea fritters (akara) were so tasty and appetizing! On the plate there was a light side of tomato sauce which added some great warm and lively touches to the dish! I took my time with this appetizer, in an effort to savor the flavors.The main dish (Ndolè) was out of this world!!!The beef was seasoned so well, and it was honestly nice and juicy!/ It was cooked in ginger sauce and the spinach added a nice touch and balance, as it is a healthy green vegetable. The coconut rice was like nothing i've ever tried before, so light and fluffy, fragrant and altogether tasty! The sweet bread helped cool my mouth down with the tasty spiciness of the dish. The service was on point too! What a treat and New Orleans gem! I am thankful for this restaurant and experience! Cheers!

Stopped at this unassuming African restaurant for a snack. It was a small place with just a few tables; my waiter Aki (sp?) was full of a generous spirit and very attentive and helpful. I had the black eye pea fritters and their smoked Turkey gumbo. The fritters were impressively fluffy for being 100% black eyed peas. The red dipping sauce was fresh and just a little bland, but the Gumbo is some of the best I've had in the city. Many assume that New Orleans would be great at gumbo and crawfish, but I haven't found this to be the case; even Revolution's 'death by gumbo' (supposedly a standard) tries a bit too hard. I have no doubt that the chefs at Revolution have the ability to make a great gumbo, it's as if they tried a bit too hard though. However, Bennachin's gumbo was different with a deep smoke flavor from the smoked Turkey wings and an okra taste that only be recognized as such if you are familiar with boiling down Okra until it disintegrates. When you do this it thickens the gumbo and imparts an unmistakable flavor that should be essential for every gumbo base. It wasn't overly dark where you start to get a burnt taste, and not too thick. It had a wonderful aroma and a perfect amount of spice. A true comfort food. I requested to enter the kitchen and chat briefly about the gumbo preparations and compliment the chefs which I found to be extremely welcoming and I trust that I conveyed properly how much I enjoyed the gumbo. I look forward to returning to try some other items.

A lot of intriguing options on this menu. I chose the sisay singho, baked chicken leg and thigh served with fried ripe plantains, sauteed spinach, and coconut rice. Very tasty. The plantains were exactly as advertised and the way I like them. The sauteed spinach was rich and delicious, and the rice was flavorful. I don't know how to describe the seasoning on the chicken but it was a good complement for the rest of the meal. The restaurant is small, the service good. Overall, a solid experience. I'd like to return to try additional food on the menu!

So this is a hidden gem in New orleans- we were visiting city for a long weekend and was tired of eating all the fried food- This place has the most yummy healthy options right in middle of Bourbon street. Great food and best service- Portions are always very generous. One of the best african food ,i've ever had. MUST try in New Orleans.

They have some vegan options, so we decided to try them out for dinner after our other choice for the night proved infeasible. First time trying Gambian and Cameroonian cuisine, so that was somewhat exciting. We were seated right away, but it took about 15 minutes to have our order taken, despite being reassured that he'd come to us soon. We were about to leave when he finally took our order. We got:-Black-eyed pea fritters ($8). These seemed like donuts but without the sweetness, or much saltiness or much seasoning in general. What saves this is the tomatoey dipping sauce served with it. Decent appy, but not terribly exciting. 3/5-Lentil soup ($9). The picture looks bland, but this was anything but: salty, with a nice sort of gingery, crunchy character to it. Really liked this soup. 4/5 For our mains, we split:-Jama Jama ni Makondo / Sauteed spinach, fried ripe plantains, and coconut rice ($18).-Kone ni Makondo / Black-eyed peas in onion and tomato stew served with coconut rice and fried ripe plantains ($18)The sauteed spinach was like creamed spinach, and you get a lot of it to accompany the coconut rice. The black-eyed peas were much more flavourful than I've had them in soul/creole food, being cooked in a lightly spicy, tomatoey sauce. Quite tasty. The fried plantains on each plate went with the rice really well, adding a light sweetness and different textural element to the plates. Quite nice. 3.5/5Other than the slow service, this was a nice experience. Worth a visit if you're curious about this kind of cuisine.

We went to Bennachin on March 13th the waiter was so sweet and the style of the restaurant was very in keeping with the theme of the food. We had the Cope Ni Cone, the Fufu, Apricot Lamb and the Cope Ni Makondo. Everything was so good. But I really enjoyed the spices of the Cope Ni Makondo.

i love the food here! the staff is always so polite it's a realhole in the wall spot but always worth the trip to the quarter. the food comes out just like the picture. the food is very authentic even the spicy is not so over bearing you can't taste the food. we had an over all good time and will be back.

Has it really been nearly 5 years since I've been here? I hope not! (Perhaps I just didn't post a review last time)In any case, of 5 restaurants I suggested for dinner, my cousin & his gf (visiting NOLA for the first time) chose this one and I'm glad they did. We started with the Akara/Black-eyed pea fritters--tasty as always--and then I had the Apricot Lamb (Baked lamb in ginger/garlic sauce served with broccoli and cous cous)--absolutely delicious and I cleaned my plate!The dishes the others had (Ndole and Sisay Singho) had so much food on them that cousin & gf couldn't finish all (tho they said they thoroughly enjoyed everything they had) and so I took home their leftover fried plantains--wasn't gonna let something that good go to waste!Hope to return again soon!