Teranga New York

The customer pictured might well be listening to the Sierra Leonese singer of palm wine music, Sooliman Rogie whose songs consider the of The Joy Of Love Making and The Importance Of Children sung to mesmerizing, heartbeat rhythms played on the lower strings of subdued electric and acoustic guitars and, when necessary, a cello or two.

Might be, I think, because the vibe in Teranga feels musical, with tables full of families and couples eating dishes of Liberian ruby rice, attieke imported from the Ivory Coast, and ndambe, a stew of sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas from Senegal.

The restaurant maintains its feeling of communal comfort because it is in fact connected to The Africa Center, where can be heard such events as Lupita Nyong’o hosting a children’s story time event.

Teranga began as a walk-in, sit down restaurant integrated into the Africa Center located on the edges of Harlem and central Park at 110th Street. COVID put a halt to that type of operation.

At long last the doors are again open on weekends only, and it has also reopened for daily delivery or pickup.

Its location at the northeast corner of Central Park makes it an ideal spot to kick off further exploration of Harlem. Across the street is the Harlem Meer, a beautiful lake with lushly edged pathways and an adjacent rose garden.