2014
to
2026
Twelve Years
The short version is that we never moved off this beach. The long version has a fire in it, two years of nobody coming, and a skipper called Nii who is the reason any of it worked.
How It Went.
Six tables and a tarpaulin
Kofi Ansah started buying the tail end of the Labadi landings — whatever the market would not take at a good price — and grilling it on two coalpots for people walking back off the beach.
Nii Adjetey starts calling from the water
The arrangement that became the whole business: a skipper ringing at half five with what was in the boat, and a kitchen that agreed to take all of it sight unseen.
The room goes up behind the terrace
Forty covers under a roof, which meant the place could trade in the rains for the first time. It also meant hiring people, which took longer to get right than the building did.
Two years of almost nobody
We cooked for the fishing families and sold smoked fish out of the front for eighteen months. The staff list did not shrink, which is the decision this kitchen is proudest of.
A fire in the pastry kitchen
Closed for eleven weeks. Rebuilt with the grill line doubled and the oyster bar moved out onto the terrace, which is where it should always have been.
Two hundred and twenty seats, six boats
The terrace runs the length of the plot and the board is still written after the boats are in. Nii still calls at half five, though his son does most of the ringing now.
The Arrangement That Made It Work.
Buying a whole boat is a bad deal on paper — you take the ugly fish along with the good, and you pay for both. What it buys is a skipper who calls you first, and twelve years of that is why the board is worth reading.
Read the journal12
Years on the same stretch of sand
6
Skippers we buy from, all by name
38
People on the payroll today
2.4k
Covers in an average month
Where We Are Going.
A second grill line so the terrace can run two services without either of them slowing, a smokehouse behind the kitchen, and — eventually — a boat of our own. That last one has been eventually for six years.
Work with us
Reservation
Book a tableBook a Table to Enjoy Our Sea Food Horizon.
Walk in and take your chances with the terrace, or call the house and we will keep one back for you. Large parties are easiest by phone.
Our address
12 Labadi Beach Road
La, Accra, Ghana
Contact
Phone: 030 274 1180
Email: hello@tide.com.gh
