(This venue is closed.) Guinea fowl, Guinean style.
Guinean not so much for the style of the succulent roast pintade itself ($11) as for the acheke (often, attieke), the pale, granular side dish, made from fermented cassava. As previously noted on Word of Mouth, acheke can be dry and bland, but Mariam's version was relatively moist, as if cooked in some flavorful broth; that wrapped Maggi cube stayed wrapped.
Guinean cuisine is also well-known for its leaf-based sauces; one I especially enjoyed but couldn't photograph clearly was the sauce feuille patate ($10), potato greens stewed with beef, over white rice. (Literally, "potato leaves," but more likely, sweet potato leaves.) The oxtails, on the other hand, were redolent of some sweet-savory intense flavor; maybe it was that Maggi. Also shown below: poisson frit (probably tilapia; $12) with acheke; callaloo, heavily infiltrated by okra; a side of couscous; and thiakry, a vanilla-flavored couscous dessert mixed with sour cream.
Mariam Restaurant
975 Fulton St. (Washington-St. James Sts.), Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
718-398-3930
