BUKATERIA AND RESTAURANT: THE BEST PLACE TO EAT

Image: Forbes

Hi Friends,
The issue I am about to delve into shouldn't even be up for discussion. But you know how we sometimes make a big deal out of issues that can otherwise be put to rest. Just recently, about a few weeks ago, some peeps on Instagram took to arguing about which is the best place to eat out; a Bukateria or a restaurant. Before you get slightly confused about what this means, I will throw light on the nature of the two and the stark differences between them.

THE RESTAURANT

Image: Google

First off, a restaurant is that kind of place with a brand and an identity. You know, every restaurant has some name or another by which it is identified. Moving forward, a restaurant is also always very chic and simply beautiful. You walk into a restaurant and you can find good lighting brightening up every corner, the walls are aesthetic, the tables and chairs are colourful and well organised. Practically everything about a restaurant is just tushed up. And then, the manner of ordering food in a restaurant is quite organised. There is either a waiter coming up to take your order after you must have browsed through the menu list or you get to walk over to an over-the-counter attendant who serves your food from within a show-glass.

The whole point is a restaurant is a posh place where boxed up people get to have their stomachs fixed, and maybe their affairs too. To eat in a restaurant means one has to have all of these three things- money, etiquette and a good breath.

THE BUKATERIA

You can tell from my former description that a Buka is quite the opposite of a restaurant. For one, they rarely get to have a name or something to call them by. You see a Buka by the roadside and you don't even know what to call it. And worst still, every Buka is always named after its owner, who is usually a female. So, you hear things like Iya Arike Buka or Mama Ogechi food joint.

Not just that, most Bukas do not have the grandiose setting of a restaurant. They are usually located in remote streets and you get to see all the cooking actions take place even as you eat within a shack of a place with coal walls and leaking roofs. Depending on the organisation, the place where you get to order your food might just be where the food is being cooked as well as where you get to find yourself a seat and eat. Nothing fanciful, nothing hidden. This is unlike a restaurant where you do not even get anywhere near the backyard or see what goes on behind the scene.

Again, most Bukas deal in specialised meals. They rarely get to serve all kinds of food. Like I know a Buka that specialises in Igbo meals. So, you can't eat rice there, just Yellow eba, Akpu (forgive my spelling), Oha and Egusi. There is yet another food joint that specialises in Wanke and Tuwo; then another only serves Amala, lafun, and fufu. There are yet other Bukas that offer a wider variety: Jollof rice, beans, yam, plantain, pasta etc. But no, you can never get intercontinental dishes at Bukaterias.

But truth be told, whatever one or two dishes they serve, beat the ten different dishes you might get to eat at a restaurant. A Buka's food is usually homey and right on point. It's almost like it is cooked by your grandmother.

ARGUMENT

Image: Musa Jibril

Ok, from the tone of my writing, did I somewhat give away the fact that eating in a Buka actually makes more sense than eating in a restaurant? Well, I think I did. But this is actually true. If you are looking forward to something homey and really simple and just filling, then a Buka will be the best bet. Apart from the fact that Bukaterias make homemade meals, eating there is actually less expensive. For as low as #200, you can get something really satisfying. And then, you can eat however you want, you can belch, you can scream for more food, you can laugh and gist with a friend. You can even meet a stranger you don't know and get all friendly with him/her. In fact, a Buka is just like eating at a Bed and Breakfast. You get to form relationships and make Iya Risikat or Mummy Shalewa your best friend. You can get bonuses and jaras every now and then. A Bukateria is the life of the hood. The haven of bachelors and spinsters.

But are they without their disadvantages. No, not at all. Admittedly, Bukas are not as neat as a restaurant. While you can eat at a restaurant, knowing fully well that your food has been "Nafdac approved", you can't say the same for a Buka. Sometimes, you can be eating in a Buka, only to find one of the women cooking, and at the same time, pouring sweat into the food. Of course, you will be disgusted and might even try to puke. But then, it ain't going to change anything. In fact, once I have seen a housefly in some meal I bought at the Buka. What do I do? I picked it out, threw it away and continued to eat my food. I mean, it's what you get used to after a couple of times at eating out in a Buka. But you go to eat in a restaurant and you find a housefly in your food, it's impossible. Because if it happens, you actually can sue the management of the restaurant for unhygienic operations.

Again, Bukas are very infamous for their bad services and customer relationships. There is no waiter or waitress or attendant in a Buka, just scrawny, sweaty girls who have been imported all the way from Togo or the Bene Republic or Ijebu Ode or Akwa Ibom to come and serve hungry people. And yes, they have no training in PR or marketing or sales management. Some of them may not even know how to speak English, only understanding a smattering of the language. This makes it very frustrating to deal with them. They sometimes sell the wrong things or insult customers rashly, especially in their respective languages. You don't understand what they are saying, yet you know they are abusing you even as you order for rice and plantain. This is usually annoying. And this is surely one thing that will never happen at a restaurant.

POINT OF VIEW

But then, you can't blame these foreign girls. They go through a lot of stress and pressure. The same girls who fetch water from the borehole in the next street are the same girls who cook and clean up the whole place. And these are still the same girls who serve. And they are not even paid well for their service(s). So, it's a big joke to expect any act of courtesy and propriety from their part.

I know this girl from the Buka where I buy food regularly. They way I see it, I reckon she is Togolese. Early in the morning, she usually comes, with her friends, to fetch water from the house. By then, I am just brushing my teeth, trying to reset my brain and remind myself I have a work to go to. She fetches water for a couple of times. And then, alongside her friends, they start cooking and then washing the plates and cleaning the joint (they rotate these chores). So, by the time I get there to buy food, she is serving already. And by God, she always looks so sweaty and fagged out- hair net on her head, her eyelids coming together like a drowsy cat, some flimsy cloth doing little to cover her shapely figure and then a plate in her hand that looks like it will fall and shatter the next second. Trust me, it's some shitty sight.
Another thing, this girl is as slow as an eel while serving. So slow I actually have to walk away sometimes or say some infuriating thing to get her back on track.

In fact, her dizzy slowness inspired this post because several times, I have always had to wait for her as she picks her steps one by one trying to fix my cooler. This morning was so bad that I even forgot to give her money in my haste and frustration.

But then, I can't really get angry at her, can I? She actually does more work in the morning than I do the whole day. I am just saying this is one hell of a disadvantage when it comes to eating at a Buka.

So, I must say eating at a restaurant is treating one's self to a good life, the easy, big man's life. Eating at a restaurant reminds you of the place of money in the helms of one's affair. Eating at a restaurant gives you options, makes you into a first-class citizen. But a Buka makes you know the real life, you get to find out that even on a plate of food, many sweats and toils have been expended, you get to see things the way they really are.

So tell me, for you, where is the best place to eat? A Bukateria or a restaurant.

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