What people say when we are not in the room.

“I have taken every person who matters to me to this room. My mother, my husband, my business partners, my daughter on her sixteenth birthday. It has never once let me down.”

“I host clients here because nothing needs managing. The timing is exact, the room is discreet, and the food does the persuading for me. We have closed three deals at table nine.”

“I ate the Seven Fires menu and then rebooked for the following night. The jollof alone would justify the flight. I have not stopped thinking about the smoke.”

“They remembered we had come for our tenth anniversary, and they remembered what my wife drank the last time. Small things. They are the whole thing.”

“We hosted ninety-six people on the terrace and I did not lift a finger all evening. Every plate landed hot, at the same moment, and the team treated my aunties like heads of state.”

“I have eaten in a lot of expensive rooms. Very few of them cook with this much conviction. The suya is better than anything in Lagos and I will say it publicly.”

“The waakye benedict should be illegal. I bring a different friend every month purely to watch their face when it arrives.”

“The sommelier talked me out of the bottle I wanted and into one half the price that was twice as good. That is confidence you cannot fake.”