New restaurant brings African flavors to Morningside-Lenox Park

ATLANTA - Just because area schools are back in session doesn’t mean you can’t take a last-minute trip around the globe. And if restaurateurs Aïda Lemma and Jacob Ilkner have any say in the matter, your destination will be Africa by way of Atlanta’s Morningside-Lenox Park neighborhood.

Lemma and Ilkner are the owners of Verdure Kitchen and Cocktails, the gorgeous new Western cuisine-meets-African flavors restaurant tucked away on Dutch Valley Road just off of Monroe Drive. Envisioned by the owners as a "hidden oasis," Verdure Kitchen and Cocktails features an atmosphere evocative of a safari lodge and a menu filled with Western dishes using African ingredients and spices. To lead the kitchen, the team brought in chef Jean Louis Sangare — and a quick click through the restaurant’s Instagram page showcases dishes including a crispy fried octopus (with corn puree and green herbs) and Kedjenou de Moules, a steamed mussels dish inspired by the Ivory Coast.

Verdure Kitchen and Cocktails officially opened last month, and is located at 560 Dutch Valley Road Northeast, Suite 100, in the bottom of the Belvedere Condominiums. Dinner service begins nightly at 5 p.m., and reservations may be made online here. 

We’re not quite out of "summer mode" here at Good Day Atlanta, so when we heard Verdure Kitchen and Cocktails described as a place that "transports" diners, we knew we needed to check it out. Click the video player in this article for a peek at our morning inside the restaurant, getting a first look — and taste! — and this new addition to Atlanta’s eclectic food scene.