Hajara's Kitchen & Suya Supply

I got to know the cook by chance. I trusted her to cater to my event without having a taste of her meal, and she delivered exceptionally. My guests were satisfied and loved the food, asking me who made the food. She makes very tasty food and drinks. I would recommend any day.

This authentic Nigerian Restaurant is AMAZING! It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are in America home food hits the soul. As an African American I was hesitant on trying African food but when I took the first bite I was in love with the jollof rice spices and tenderness of the chicken. They have a new customer.

Hajaras is golden! Honestly the best African food restaurant in Virginia, The portions are a great size & you can truly tell the food was made with love. I can tell through the flavors that they use quality ingredients and do not skip out on certain, specific, & critical ingredients or steps to give the food that authentic Affican taste as the food totally tastes like you bought it from a local cookery (resturant) in Naija or even Sierra Leone (my country) or like your aunt or mother who can cook really really well made it, so it is DEFINITELY worth every dollar because of that element, i literally want to hug the lady cooking this.

We ordered:

- Acheke with grilled fish platter: which is such a great experience, the grilled fish was seasoned very flavorful, the plaintains were moist and sweet, even the side salad was delicious as they used a very good salad dressing. It wasn't ranch but something creamier. Also came with pepper sauce, mayo & ketchup with lime.

- Fried Okra stew with BASMATI RICE: (YES, she gives basmati rice!!!) & let me tell youuuuu, THIS WAS SO GOOD! I'm totally not a huge fan of okra/slimy foods but the fried element adds such a difference it also had a great amount of fish & beef in it. I believe surprisingly it may had been my favorite?! Hmmm

- Suya Kan Kan Kan beef: Absolutely amazing!! The powdered seasoning & peppers they put ontop of it is absolutely flavorful but not too spicy. Came with a side of cucumber, onion& tomatoes. Can't wait to try the lamb

- Peanut butter stew with fufu: which was delicious but my least favorite thing as I don’t feel as if it had enough peanut butter but it was still good And the fufu was freshly made. For reference this is like a Thai peanut sauce in soup form.

- Cassava leaf: absolutely delicious and seasoned well. Which also came with plenty basmati rice. Even got kanda (cow skin: which is so good). Highly recommend this.

- Meat pies: which are an African twist to empanada and they were filled with beef, sautéed onions and small bits of potatoes, SO GOOD! & make for a great snack.

I would recommend to call ahead and check on what's available for the day before placing an order online as they were out of something's i initially wanted like the potatoe greens but it does also say those are specialties & only available certain days so I believe they just forgot to update their menu online, no biggie at all as they promptly called me to let me know & I was able to change my order around. So good customer service too.

Although it did take a little longer for me to receive my order (about a hour & half) they were honest about that upfront plus i live a bit over 20 mins away & it's expected as making some of these African dishes take time so that was no worry for me!
So heads up..I'll say order a hour/ hour & half ahead depending on your location too otherwise maybe you’ll have to wait.

I normally keep it light at every other restaurant of this type in this area and go for just acheke or the side orders or a peanut butter soup or jollof as it's pretty hard to mess those things up, and I've had not so great experiences with the green sauces at other places so i don't even bother with those, just keep it light haha. but by looking at the pictures on Hajaras Facebook page something told me to give hers a try and I'm not disappointed AT ALL so I cannot wait to try her spinach soup and potatoe leaf soup next time. Heck, I can't wait to try EVERYTHING on the menu.

Really happy & sad I found this place because now I'll be shamelessly craving this place daily.

I’ve ordered 3 times so far & each experience has been the same.
Insta: @Haja.Galaxie