Most of the time, when choosing a restaurant for “Global Gastronomy,” the process is simple: I’ll pick a cuisine I haven’t tried before and search for restaurants that look good. By the end of my search, I’ll have narrowed down my choices and found my restaurant. For today’s column, this was not the case.

My initial choice for this installment was Mayowa Nigerian Cuisine; the food seemed good and the prices were reasonable. It was only upon arriving at the physical location, however, that I realized the restaurant was pickup and online order only. The warehouse-like physical location had a window where customers could pick up their orders but no seating of any kind.

Having taken a Lyft to the restaurant, Associate Managing Editor Anna Jordan and I decided to walk to a nearby Nigerian spot that I had also considered for this article instead. Six minutes and a few blocks later, we arrived at Jagabans LA.

The restaurant’s interior was small and quaint. Shiny, disco-ball-esque panels covered the wall near the kitchen, and pink, purple and white plastic flowers hung from the ceiling like colorful stalactites. After perusing the menu — and with help from our friendly waiter — we ordered two entrees to share.

The first entree we tried was the chicken with jollof. I enjoyed the chicken, but it had no strong or memorable flavors. However, it came with a warm sauce that brought together the entree with a rich, savory flavor, enhancing not only the chicken but also the other items in the entree.

The jollof rice came in a suspicious Tupperware shape and, despite having a seasoned and smoky flavor, didn’t leave much of an impression. The plantains stole the show, being a crispy, sweet addition to the entire dish. While the sauce helped bring a needed “oomph” to the rice, mixing it with the plantains made for a delicious combo. Mixing bites of chicken with plantain also made for a satisfying sweet-and-savory mix.

Our second entree was beef with egusi stew. Egusi is a traditional Nigerian stew made with ground Egusi melon seeds, peppers, onion, meat and dried fish. Depending on the region in Nigeria, the dish can vary in what vegetables, meat and fish it features. Unfortunately, in this case, I was not a fan.

The stew we tried had a strong scent and flavor of fish, overpowering every ingredient in the stew and making it the only thing I could taste. The beef itself was tough to chew and tasted just fine; pockets of fat in the meat brought a softness in both flavor and texture.

The dish also came with yam fufu, a starchy, dough-like substance made of boiled yam that gets beaten into a ball. Using your hands, you tear off a piece of the fufu and use it to grab whatever sauce or stew it is served with. The fufu had a neutral flavor but a very fun, doughy texture. It paired quite nicely with the sauce from the chicken, but was no match for the overly fishy flavor of the egusi.

As we paid, our very kind waiter helped us pack up our food with a gleeful smile. I tapped my card on the reader, disappointed that we had to pay $30 for the chicken and jollof and $35 for the beef and egusi. The waiter sensed my disillusionment and told me the food tastes even better as leftovers. I took his word as law and hoped for the best.

After letting it sit in my fridge for two days, I gave the food another shot. Unfortunately, my opinion stayed the same. The chicken and rice were fine, and the egusi was overly fishy. I finished my lunch with a banana I had at home, hoping to imitate the best part of the meal — of which there were no leftovers.

After having visited only fantastic restaurants for this column, I was bound to run into one that was disappointing. My dissatisfaction doesn’t lie in the experience itself; rather, I’m disappointed that my first taste of Nigerian food did not live up to the hype and admiration that so many people around me have for it.

Instead of ending my journey for Nigerian food like this, I want to keep exploring. If any reader out there knows of any great Nigerian restaurants in Los Angeles and would like to let me know, please email [email protected] with the subject “Global Gastronomy Recommendation.” I can’t wait to see what you recommend!

Pablo Rodriguez is a senior writing about international cuisine in Los Angeles in his column, “Global Gastronomy,” which runs every other Wednesday.