The latest incarnation of Home Touch has lost a little of the original’s charm – developments on the military-owned land north of Giffard Road forced it move from a relaxed outdoor site near Cantonments to a rather anonymous space in the old Trade Fair complex. Gone, too, is the large, funky sign that used to make it look like Ghana’s answer to a US roadside diner. Still, Trade Fair itself has a sort of surreal, concreted charm, and Home Touch remains a good place to sample Ghanaian home-cooking in an accessible, restaurant-style environment.
It’s a very traditional menu, built on the mainstay soups and stews. My light soup turned up suitably powerful, with a couple of gnarled whole chillies floating on the surface; also in the bowl were chunks of akrantie, the rather tough but flavoursome rodent Ghanaians love (also known as grasscutter, and best sampled at professional restaurants that buy from farms – bush hunters have been known to use poison, with unpleasant results for diners). The fufu is as good as it comes in restaurants, which is to say acceptable. Most Westerners never take to it at all, and those who do are generally converted by home-made stuff; here it is merely ballast, designed to turn that delicious, fiery soup into a sustaining meal.
There’s also a range of Nigerian dishes, including eba, a slightly more flavoursome cousin of banku made with the cassava chips served as gari in Ghana.
Our visit on a weekday lunchtime saw Home Touch incredibly quiet, though that could have been down to the recent move. For a livelier atmosphere try a weekend, particularly after church on a Sunday, when you’ll occasionally be treated to some live music. While it’s still a restaurant environment, Home Touch isn’t a crossover place like Buka or Tante Marie – you will probably be the only obruni there, and they’ll be delighted to see you.
Expert Review
The latest incarnation of Home Touch has lost a little of the original’s charm - developments on the military-owned land...
The latest incarnation of Home Touch has lost a little of the original’s charm – developments on the military-owned land north of Giffard Road forced it move from a relaxed outdoor site near Cantonments to a rather anonymous space in the old Trade Fair complex. Gone, too, is the large, funky sign that used to make it look like Ghana’s answer to a US roadside diner. Still, Trade Fair itself has a sort of surreal, concreted charm, and Home Touch remains a good place to sample Ghanaian home-cooking in an accessible, restaurant-style environment.
It’s a very traditional menu, built on the mainstay soups and stews. My light soup turned up suitably powerful, with a couple of gnarled whole chillies floating on the surface; also in the bowl were chunks of akrantie, the rather tough but flavoursome rodent Ghanaians love (also known as grasscutter, and best sampled at professional restaurants that buy from farms – bush hunters have been known to use poison, with unpleasant results for diners). The fufu is as good as it comes in restaurants, which is to say acceptable. Most Westerners never take to it at all, and those who do are generally converted by home-made stuff; here it is merely ballast, designed to turn that delicious, fiery soup into a sustaining meal.
There’s also a range of Nigerian dishes, including eba, a slightly more flavoursome cousin of banku made with the cassava chips served as gari in Ghana.
Our visit on a weekday lunchtime saw Home Touch incredibly quiet, though that could have been down to the recent move. For a livelier atmosphere try a weekend, particularly after church on a Sunday, when you’ll occasionally be treated to some live music. While it’s still a restaurant environment, Home Touch isn’t a crossover place like Buka or Tante Marie – you will probably be the only obruni there, and they’ll be delighted to see you.