Flavor of Oklahoma: Naija Wife Kitchen showcasing West African cuisine in OKC

On the bottom floor of the historic Robinson Renaissance building, Naija Wife Kitchen opens the door to West African cuisine and culture in the heart of Oklahoma City.

Trying new food can be intimidating, but chef Tahnee Francis says that is something she encounters every day at her Nigerian restaurant.

"We're hidden," Francis said. "It's on the corner of Robinson and Park in the same building as Stella Nova Coffee and Quik Print."

Francis said the name of her restaurant comes from the role she has taken on through marriage.

"So when an American woman marries a Nigerian man, you become a Naija Wife," Francis said. "That's where the name comes from ... That's my story."

Tahnee says her husband does not eat a lot of American food, so in 2017, she decided to learn how to cook Nigerian dishes.

"I just fell in love with the process because it's so different," Francis said. "Such a strenuous, long, tedious process, and I just love it."

The process took eight years, but eventually, Francis said she got the recipes figured out and started selling her food at pop-up events.

Francis opened her first permanent location in 2021, and continues to serve some of her most popular dishes.

"Mostly the staples are soups and stews, but the soups in Nigerian cuisine [are] different from American," Francis said. "Not so much liquid, they're actually meant to be eaten with your hands."

No matter what soup, whether the peanut butter soup, the okra soup, or the efo riro, which is made with spinach, all are served with fufu, which Francis makes out of yams.

Francis says oftentimes, customers do not know where to begin when they receive their meal.

"I don't want people to be intimidated because most people are," Francis said. "That's my whole goal here."

By wearing traditional Nigerian attire as a conversation starter, and using her social media platform to introduce and explain Nigerian cuisine to her audience, Francis says she hopes to bridge that gap with her customers.

"The reaction coming to my restaurant for the first time ... They say they have never tasted flavors like this, and they're very happy," Francis said.

Francis is in the kitchen roughly four hours before she opens at 11 a.m. every morning to slow cook all the flavor into everything on the menu.

Self-described as Afro-fusion, Francis says she puts an Okie twist on a few of her dishes.

It is because of that dedication and love for her food that Francis was named as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest.

"I'm sitting here in a takeout restaurant, I can't even cook, I only know how to cook Nigerian food," Francis said. "So for me to be nominated [for] Best Chef Southwest, it's hard for me to believe it."

Francis said she is most proud of how her food has helped put Nigerian cuisine and culture on the map in a place like Oklahoma.

"I like to look at myself as the bridge between cultures, because that's exactly what I am," Francis said. "I was born here, raised in Texas ... But I was introduced to a beautiful culture, and I want us to know that we can coexist through food."