Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
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Chef Ida Mamusu Ansumana
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Egusi, fufu, pineapple-ginger soursop lemonade and peanut sauce
Chef Ida Mamusu Ansumana has been dazzling Richmond with West African cuisine for decades. She left war-torn Liberia in the 1980s and opened her first restaurant on Broad Street in 1995. In 2010, she opened Africanne on Main at 200 E. Main St. and in 2021 relocated to the heart of Virginia Commonwealth University at Main and Harrison streets. The restaurant is a favorite among the West African diaspora, international food lovers and vegetarians, thanks to its pay-by-the-pound buffet and hard-to-find specialties. The food is made from scratch, rooted in her tribe’s traditions while incorporating modern recipes and influences.
Inspired by her daughter and protégé, Kullah, Ansumana has expanded the eatery’s plant-based offerings.
“When I realized that lane was open, I ran, I jumped in,” she says. “Now, a whole lot of vegans and vegetarians eat here because they trust the food.”
Diners won’t find processed plant-based substitutes here. Instead, masterfully prepared tofu, flavorful jackfruit and delicate banana blossoms replace meat. Vegans line up every Tuesday for jollof rice, fried sweet plantains, stews, black-eyed peas and desserts.
Omnivores can enjoy soulful favorites such as fried trout, Cajun catfish, mac and cheese, cabbage with smoked turkey, and chicken meatballs in pineapple sauce. Fufu and egusi — a classic West African dish — pairs starchy, pounded plantains with rich, nutty egusi stew made from melon seeds; palm oil; spinach; and chicken, goat or fish. The fufu is used to scoop up the stew. Recently, the dish has gone viral on social media. Ansumana gives the people what they want.
“This is why I’m still here,” she says. “I listen to customers, I listen to their needs, and I try to fulfill them. If you’re a good chef, you’re not restricted to food from your nationality. You can do anything.”
Keen to share West African foodways, Ansumana has learned from friends and taught others, serving cuisine from Liberia, Senegal, Nigeria and beyond and becoming one of Richmond’s most tenured chefs along the way.
