Ngoma Restaurant

Diners enjoy lunch at Ngoma, an African restaurant that has the look of a Kenyan hunting lodge.

Between the rose and turquoise swirls of the El Rey Theatre sign up the street and the neon pulsing drums over the Conga Room next door, it's easy to miss Ngoma. But this modest little place, probably the only Pan-African restaurant in L.A. at the moment, has been drawing African expats to the revitalized Miracle Mile for more than a year.

The soundtrack is Zairian Soukous, South African Kwaito and other Afro/hip-hop blends, played softly during meals. After 10 p.m. on Saturdays, a disc jockey cranks up the volume for dancing, but for the rest of the time, Ngoma is merely an expensive, though vibrant, place for serious dining.

Early one evening, as servers were inserting carefully folded napkins into rings carved to look like hippos and zebras, I had time to study the place. With African folk art placed strategically on sponged ochre walls, it has the luxurious look of a Kenyan wildlife lodge, rather than the funky travel poster feel of many ethnic restaurants.

Like the decor, the food turned out to be stylishly and caringly conceived. Before our meal, a waitress came by to wash our hands. In a soothing ritual, she poured water in a stream from a huge gourd -- an essential task, since fingers are the utensils of choice for many African diners (although the tables are set with cutlery).

Mostly the restaurant serves traditional dishes refined for international tastes, along the lines of the recipes in Time-Life's "African Cooking." Safari salad, with jungle dressing, however, matches its fantasy name. It's a bowl of baby lettuces and cut fruit in a sparkling grated coconut-garlic dressing. I wouldn't look for it at an outdoor market in Zaire, but it makes a refreshing preface to Ngoma's main dishes.

In the African manner, carbohydrates are really the center of the meal. Almost anything you order will be accompanied by substantial quantities of a starch such as matoke (mashed green banana), ugali (white cornmeal mush) or fufu (mashed cassava root), which will arrive molded into a dome that calls to mind the Griffith Observatory. You're supposed to roll some into a walnut-sized ball and use it to scoop food up.

Some West African dishes are seasoned with dried fish, which gives them a flavor that may need acquiring a taste for. I'm thinking in particular of egusi soup, a mole-like puree of melon seeds, and ogbono, a somewhat glutinous soup studded with meat chunks.

On the other hand, mafe (chicken or lamb in a peanut sauce) and poulet yassa (lemon-marinated chicken) have universal appeal. The chicken dishes can pose a slight problem if you're eating with your hands -- it's not easy to break chunks of meat from a thigh in polite company. Fortunately, there's the cutlery alternative.

From East Africa come chicken and beef stews served with pastry-rich flatbread (chapati) or irio, a dish of mashed potatoes and corn dotted with fresh peas. With most entrées you choose a side dish such as spinach or collard greens -- cut thin and sautéed with tiny flecks of tomato.

There's an intriguing list of vegetarian choices. In black-eyed peas in coconut sauce with collard greens or the jambalaya-like jollof rice, you can see the roots of soul food on your plate.

From the extensive drink list come two acceptable South African wines and a handful of African and European beers. I'm partial to the homemade ginger root juice, though. It's a powerful infusion of fresh ginger.

Many of the dishes make an appearance on the Power Lunch Buffet. This is a great way to taste a range of dishes (for only $6.95), though they'll lack the beautiful presentation that makes Ngoma stand out.

For dessert you'll want coupe Mount Kenya. It's three dainty scoops of barely sweet mango sherbet, luxuriating under chunks of pineapple that's had a long soaking in good rum. You may have come to explore Africa's food, but end your meal as it began, with an armchair traveler's fantasy of African flavor.

Ngoma
Best dishes: Safari salad, lamb mafe, poulet yassa, egusi with fufu, beef stew with irio or chapati, coupe Mount Kenya.
Prices: Appetizers, $3-5; entrées, $8-$10.50; dessert, $3.50 and $4.
Details: Beer and wine. Public parking behind building. Valet parking Thu.-Sat. nights.