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Bala Café
No. 1 Coffee in Basse
Meat, omlet, fry meat, potato, boil egg & soft drinks
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Bala Café offers only indoor seating, which is actually okay because it’s next door to a motorbike shop, so there’s really not much atmosphere outside. Indoors the atmosphere is smoky and filled with flies.
The décor includes: two 2012 calenders (one advertising Coca-Cola, one Vimto) and a large poster advertising for Vimto: “There’s only one Vimto. Don’t skip on quality. Drink only the best. Tobaski Mubarak.” A page of from a Swedish newspaper, from the “Sverige i Världen” section, is also taped to the wall. This is puzzling because the article is not about football. The picture is difficult to make out, but the headline indicates it is about a "stora mystik" who has died. [I thought the article might've been about an Islamic mystic, but a Google search indicates it was likely Michael Jackson].
There is a stack of bread on top of the freezer and a dusty rag covering the TV screen. A bench in back holds a second box of bread and nearby is a crate of empty soda bottles.
Customers frequenting Bala Café include: two school girls who will split a NesCafé and some bread with mayonnaise; a man eating half of a roasted chicken; a deaf man who prefers his drink, a half-Ovaltine-half-NesCafé concoction, sweetened from a small packet of Equal; and the man accompanying the deaf man. The deaf man will invite you to join them at the front table, but you will indicate that you have several large bags and would rather remain to the side.
If you ask for a boiled egg, you will be told “There are omelets.” Agree to an omelet.
If you ask for a NesCafé you will be told, “NesCafé is finished.” Agree to Ovaltine.
"How much is it?"
"Thirty-five dalasis."
"Thirty-five is expensive."
"Thirty-five is not expensive."
"Thirty-five is expensive."
"Okay, give me five-hundred."
When walking home, realize your stomach truly would’ve preferred a boiled egg to the greasy mess that is a Gambian omelet. Pray to not-vomit.
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