This post is an unabashed departure from this blog's theme of encouraging you to get out and about exploring all of Accra' s nooks and crannies. Today's post is a celebration of 'homebodying'! I love cities but one should never undervalue the importance of date nights spent in the comfort of your own home. :)
To facilitate your at home game night/movie night/Netflix binge/candlelight dinner, I do recommend trying out the Hello Food delivery service. The ability to order food to your doorstep with the click of a button is a luxury that I have missed from the very bottom of my exotic food loving soul. Hello Foods was instrumental in preventing any hanger (angry moments entirely caused by severe hunger, lol) episodes during our recent home movie night.
The Hello Foods website is very easy to navigate and divides restaurants by area. Once you enter in your location, a list of nearby restaurants appears for you to select from. You have the option of paying with cash on delivery or with mobile money (mtn, tigo etc)*. They promise to deliver the food within an hour and the delivery charge is a flat 5 cedis. They have consistently arrived in an hour or less each time we have tried them.
They have a variety of restaurants-Ghanaian, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Indian, American fare (burgers etc) and many many more. It is glorious.
Once we placed an order we received a call from Hello Foods confirming the details and within 40 minutes we had our pizza! The first time we ordered the pizza was cold and the slices were a bit jumbled up (I assume it got to us by motorcycle) but it was still delicious and we had the option of heating it (we didn't). I'm sure this won't be an issue with other foods that aren't as delicate as pizza. The second time we ordered it was in perfect condition.
Beau thoughtfully bought along some of his favorite sweet red wine for me to try (he prefers dry, tart wines) and to pair with our pizza order. He also got a copy of a movie I have really wanted to see in theatres. We have gone to Silverbird twice to see it without success (details in an upcoming post on cinemas).
If you are in the mood for some locally produced Kumawood films or Nollywood fare you have a few options. There are traveling vans throughout the city that have been outfitted with subwoofers and M gaphones that specifically sell movies on DVD. They are quite loud and obnoxious but do fulfill a service. One can also find such films for purchase at most major markets (Tema Station, Kaneshie, Makola, Lapaz etc) in Accra and even street hawkers on roadsides sometimes sell them.
For an easy foreign movie night in Accra you can use any online streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO etc. You need to have accounts or have a visa/mastercard who can set up an account for you or share their details with you. On a desktop or laptop you have to download the Google chrome browser if you don't already have it and then download a browser extension called Hola. Once you switch it on you can select america/UK and watch all the programs you want.
To have a game night instead I highly recommend classic Ghanaian games such as ludo or oware. Ludo (called various other names) is played in a variety of countries as far away as India! The rules for each are pretty simple and here are some guidelines for ludo and for oware. You can usually find these games if you inquire at any crafts market such as the Accra Arts Center. It can also usually be acquired at any big market such as Kaneshie Market, Madina Market, or Makola Market. You may want to try the arts center though as they usually have a variety of engravings on the oware gameset and you may be able to pay a little more to get an animal/name/symbol engraving of your choice. (Something symbolic for you and your partner perhaps? :)
Quick tip: For a game night on the town, Cuzzy Bros and Burgers and Relish both host game/trivia nights during the week.
*A SUPER easy way to transfer money to anyone across the country with no fees associated. All you need is the person's number to and service provider. Then you go to a service providers office where you can both send and receive the money. )
Note: I promise this is not a paid advertisement by Hello Food. I have no contacts there. I just genuinely love the service! :)
