The English Premier League is by far the biggest spectator sport in Ghana and it can be found shown in high end restaurants to local eateries – but this is where to go with atmosphere.
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Formerly Bassline Jazz Club, +233 (named after the Ghanaian dialling code) is an intelligently designed club that has live bands six days a week. Inside, there are two floors. The band play on a small stage downstairs, but can also be seen from the U-shaped upstairs. There’s ample seating outside too, which looks onto a glass wall behind which the band play. And external speakers mean its almost as loud outside as in. Each section has its own bar with attentive servers. The food – burgers, hotdogs, chicken, chips, kebabs and pork chops – is mostly off the grill. The music varies between highlife, blues, jazz (although rarely hip hop) and anything else good. There’s only an entrance charge (usually GH¢10) when the band merits it. It’s a hugely popular venue, and rightly so. Probably the best place in Accra to see live music at the moment.
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Located in the hip, creative, and entrepreneurial enclave around Osu Ako Adjei Park is an oldcolonial-style building that is seeing a rather flamboyant new lease on life in the form of Little Havana: Ghana and West Africa’s first Afro-Latino inspired street-food style restaurant and bar.
By maintaining the building’s original wooden shutters and art deco detailing, and adding decadent chandeliers, charming vintage furniture, and vibrant eclectic décor, Little Havana’s founder and designer Marcus Morgan-Etty (of Santoku, The View, and Burger & Relish fame) has evoked the extravagant days of the Cuban capital’s pre-revolution era. Together with its mouth-watering menu, this exciting new spot offers upbeat Afro-Cuban and Latino music, carefully crafted premium rum cocktails, and energetic service, all of which adds up to a fresh and honest alternative to Accra’s swanky high-end social scene.
Looking strikingly similar to Jon Favreau’s lead character in the 2014 movie “Chef” as he bustles about the kitchen making a Cuban sandwich, Marcus enthusiastically explains, “Latino food is bursting with flavour and fresh ingredients, and has very strong crossovers with Ghanaian dishes. In designing the Little Havana menu I’ve taken inspiration from classic Cuban and Latino recipes and ingredients, but sourced everything from local producers here in Ghana.”
The result of this Afro-Latino connection is unique, but comforting soul food. Everything is gourmetquality , but served in a casual...
With dozens of bars vying for tipplers’ attention in the Ghanaian capital, it can be difficult knowing where to start when you embark on a night out. Whether you end up at a cocktail bar on the main drag or a side-street dive, there’s great boozy fun to be had here, and that’s why we’ve whittled the hundreds of brilliant bars in Accra down to just six. From a throbbing music bar with live highlife to mixology magic in industrial-chic surrounds, these spots offer some of the best good times imaginable. We recommend stocking up beforehand at one of the best restaurants in Accra, and if it’s views you’re after, go all-out with a drink at one of these terraces.
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It’s a bizarre moment. The temperature is hitting 37C at 11am in an old garage north of Accra. In my hand is a seriously impressive glass of Hefeweizen, the Bavarian wheat beer. It’s full of chewy banana flavours, yet crisp and light. The equipment around me is old. A mash tun and pump bought second-hand from Italy 15 years ago. The fermenter has been fashioned by welders from a photograph, under the direction of Clement Djameh, owner of Inland Microbrewery.
Clement is a Ghanaian from the Volta Region who through bitter determination fought to study in Germany at Weihenstephan, TU Munich where the oldest, and most respected, brewery in the world is located. The Hefeweizen in my hand, with a rich, creamy head, was first born in the valleys of Bavaria but has been recreated in the humid hills north of Accra. But there’s something even more remarkable: it’s made entirely from sorghum, a native grain that completely replaces barley in all the brewery’s Pilsners and Hefeweizens. Clement, in fact, was instrumental in also helping several much larger Ghanaian breweries to replace the expensive malted barley with sorghum, an abundant crop and one that offers a steady, and much needed, supply chain to rural farmers across Accra. Clement is also experimenting with the abundant sweet potato as an adjunct to limit the need of barley or even malted sorghum.
Brewmaster Clement started his microbrewery 15 years ago when he left the employment of a large commercial brewery, but the big...
While the dim lighting and pumping tunes advertise it as a drinkers’ hangout, Firefly Lounge Bar also has a comprehensive international menu to accompany its premium spirits. A selection of tapas is a tasty and swift re-fuel for barflies, as is the selection of Middle Eastern dips (GH¢18-28), with crisp slices of French bread for ladling fresh hummus, baba ghanoush and labne. Mains include steaks and Spanish classics such as saltimbocca. The fries are the perfect alliance of crisp and fluffy, and the goat’s cheese croquettes are as wonderful as they sound. As a sophisticated nightspot, Firefly is faultless; as a restaurant, it has some real strengths and sophisticated flavours, but the menu could benefit from a couple of tweaks to back up the price tag.
Fresh and bold Mediterranean flavours reign at this friendly Italian eatery. It’s recently been expanded, and diners have a choice between an indoor restaurant area, outdoor patio, or lounging on the banquettes in the bar area. Patrons devour Italian staples packed with triumphant combinations of smoky black olives, rich cheese, tender artichokes, full-bodied passatas and cured meats. Mains include tagliata with parmesan and rucola (GH¢45), but most people opt for the pizzas (GH¢28 on average), which are superb – giant bubbling disks liberally topped. For a loaded treat, the Quattro Stagioni has mushrooms and artichokes aplenty, and the piquant Diavolo is a simple pleasure of salami drizzled with chili oil. Those heroic enough to vanquish a whole pizza can revive with a espresso in stylish white cups.
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One of the most happening bars in Accra right now, thanks to its relaxed, music-forward approach to the good things in life: alcohol, fried food and really great music. It’s a tiny space that tumbles out onto the street when things really kick off late on a Friday or Saturday. Album covers and black-and-white photos of music stars adorn the walls as Ghana’s best music blasts out (often live on the terrace; check out the Facebook page and Twitter account for details – highlife legend Ebo Taylor has even played here). Even the cocktails use great ingredients not found anywhere else: the Republica is a caipirihna made from traditional palm wine. On a sunny day (and yes, it’s always sunny), try one of their ‘Wild Beers’: the Beer Sap has bissap concentrate added to it. Fittingly, the food is good beer fodder too – the cassava chips are a fabulous drinking accompaniment, while the Fire Go Burn You pepper soup and Ye Ye Goat curry, for around GH¢12, are superb value for something this tasty.
The Shisha Lounge is Osu’s newest hotspot, filled well into the night with partygoers attracted by its laidback vibe, outdoor seating, superb DJ roster and some very fine cocktails. It’s a small, but well-designed space with a series of patios, outdoor lounge seating areas, plus an indoor bar and lounge. They turn out great pizzas from the bespoke oven, plus sharing platters. There are, of course, shisha pipes to hire if you’d like to indulge. It’s a classy well-thought out joint that steamed to the top of the Accra VIP list. This is a place that is all about the good times!
Open daily from 6pm to very late.
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Kaya meaning ‘home’ in both Japanese and Zulu and 'pure' in Greek, and wellbeing lies at the heart of this multi-experience. Here, we care about the beautiful outdoor bar. Kaya is at its most alluring at night, when the sparkling terrace is illuminated and transformed into one of Accra’s best party venues. The vibe is soulful sounds and jazz. On Fridays it becomes resident to one of Accra’s most renowned DJs, who draws a younger crowd to the very buzzy cocktail bar. The cocktails are unmissable, with hyperactive mixologists using inventive ingredients to create masterpieces.
The hugely respected Ghanaian artist Ablade Glover established this renowned arts venue, which has become one of the most important of its kind in Ghana. There are three expansive floors of art displayed in cool marble galleries. Some are by established artists, such as Owusu Ankomah and George Hughes, whose paintings are reminiscent of Jean Michel Basquiat and Willem De Kooning, while others are by new and upcoming artists like Ebenezer Borlabie. Market, rural and urban scenes are interspersed with political satires – and naturally, there are also the shrouded figures and staccatoed crowd scenes by Glover himself. There are collectors’ pieces too: Asafo flags with appliquéd and embroidered symbols; ancient strip-woven Kente cloths by the Akan and Ewe; African masks of the type that inspired Picasso; and intricately carved furniture. Also on show are full-sized coffins in the shapes of crabs, running shoes and eagles. Everything is for sale. There’s a lovely pool out the back.
Loom’s Frances Ademola has a popular gallery that exhibits paintings and sculptures by a good selection of Ghana’s foremost artists, with a smattering of expressive Nigerian pieces. The modest space has been here since 1969, and is bursting at the seams with the work of nearly 100 artists. If Ademola is around, she’s delightful company, chatting exuberantly about artists such as Seth and Serge Clottey and Gabriel Eklou, and happily offering her great knowledge of the Ghanaian art scene, past and present. Loom is regarded as one of Ghana’s premier galleries.
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Along the seafront near Black Star Square is the Arts Centre. Hawkers attack from all sides as soon as you arrive, but if you’re not exhausted by the scrum you can find carvings, baskets, drums, bags, beads, fabrics, sandals, sculptures, stools, rugs and occasionally antiques. It’s a place to unearth some incredible finds and gifts. The best bet is to head past the hassle which you’ll inevitably encounter at the entrance and make your way towards the back of the complex, where it’s a bit more relaxed. Haggling is expected. There’s also an art gallery, which sells prints and paintings at reasonable prices.
ANO is an arts institution based in Accra. Ghana. It was founded in 2002 by Ghanaian art historian, writer and filmmaker Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, as a cultural research platform. Since then it has been involved in numerous collaborations, publications, films, exhibitions and events nationally and internationally, with artists such as Ibrahim Mahama, Zohra Opoku, and Serge Attukwei Clottey; institutions like LACMA, Los Angeles; KNUST, Kumasi; The Tate Modern, London and AccradotAlt, Accra. ANO is opening a new permanent space in Accra in March 2017, which will include an exhibition and screening space, as well as workshop and library areas.
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Gallery 1957 is one of the most exciting new gallery openings in the last decade. The 140sqm space, named after the year Ghana gained independence, is housed in the beautiful new Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City and has a curatorial focus on contemporary Ghanaian art presenting a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the country’s most significant artists under the creative direction of Nana Oforiatta Ayim. The gallery has evolved from over 15 years of private collecting by Marwan Zakhem, Managing Director of Zakhem, whose projects in Africa include the Kempinski. He said: "I first started collecting contemporary art when I moved to Africa. The work I encountered in Senegal and Ghana had a real aesthetic power to it while reflecting the society of our time. Many of the artists the gallery is working with are increasingly gaining a presence internationally in museums and biennales, but opportunities to reach new audiences at home are limited due to the lack of existing art infrastructure here. There is an abundance of talented artists from West Africa who is deserving of increased visibility." Find out more at http://www.gallery1957.com/
The Foundation for Contemporary Art at the WEB du Bois Centre (a research centre for Pan-African history and culture, named after African-American civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt Du Bois) was set up by Joe Nkrumah, formerly of the National Museum, and Australian artist Virginia Ryan. It exhibits work by up-and-coming artists in interesting ways, such as its Art in the Garden projects. Its growing library, now with more than 800 books about visual arts, is one of the organisation’s most important projects. It’s also developing a debating forum and a public database of artists, organisations, galleries and patrons. There’s a wide range of information on its website.
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African art is a good investment. New World Map by El Anatsui, a Ghanaian artist recently appointed as the first African Royal Academician, sold in 2012 for £541,250, a record for contemporary African art. The works of the late Nigerian painter are also fetching hundreds of thousands, while Ghana’s Ablade Glover, who had a recent solo retrospective at the October Gallery in London, has long gained acclaim internationally. And of course, Ghana’s now famous “coffin art” has understandably captured attention throughout the world; works can be seen in the British Museum in London
Yet locally, the art scene is only just beginning to get off the ground. This has been disappointing to some, although others have seen it as an opportunity – quality is getting better all the time. If you’re looking to purchase, aim for those works that aren’t mere copycats. Commercial galleries in Accra are great places to pick up quality art at a decent price. One new gallery, which also offers a “consultation service”, is Tiga African Art – it’s a good place to buy paintings and, not so commonly, sculptures. Loom Gallery owner Frances Ademola, doyenne of Accra’s art scene for decades, has been spotting emerging artists in Ghana for more than 40 years. She cites Gabriel Eklou, Gordon Amponsah, Seth Clottey and his eldest son Serge Clottey as the artists to watch out for. Samuel Agbenyegah (also known as Samkobee) is also a young and highly-regarded artist. “He came to me when he was 12 with two...
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ANO is an arts institution based in Accra. Ghana. It was founded in 2002 by Ghanaian art historian, writer and filmmaker Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, as a cultural research platform. Since then it has been involved in numerous collaborations, publications, films, exhibitions and events nationally and internationally, with artists such as Ibrahim Mahama, Zohra Opoku, and Serge Attukwei Clottey; institutions like LACMA, Los Angeles; KNUST, Kumasi; The Tate Modern, London and AccradotAlt, Accra. ANO has a new permanent space in Osu, Accra, which will include an exhibition and screening space, as well as workshop and library areas.
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