BLD by Play Lekki (Closed Down)
Over the weekend, after a lot of personal errands to run, Y and I decided to try out BLD by Play in Lekki as we had never been there before and I often get asked if I had tried it out. BLD by Play is hard to miss once you get into Admiralty Road in Lekki 1 due to its big structure which is very visible especially on the busiest road in Lekki.
BLD stands for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner and apparently have a daily buffet for about N2,000/N2,500 which is not bad I guess but that would mean the kitchen is always busy.
Initially we wanted to sit upstairs on the roof top which looked really cozy and all but the fear of mosquitoes had us sit inside downstairs.
Buffet Area
As we walked in, they had this cute board to the left. It seems like this is becoming the “cool” thing at Restaurants these days. RSVP and Deli’s also have boards. I think its cute.
BLD has bold signs on the windows saying ‘Free Wi-Fi’ and the good part about this was that it was an unprotected network where you did not have to request for the password. We both had not had any proper meal the whole day and this was now 6.30pm so just imagine the level of our hunger and our hopes of having a rewarding meal. Flipped through the menu straight for the grills and I ordered the Jack Daniel Ribs while Y requested for the Grilled Fillet Steak.
For drinks, I had a Chapman while Y had the Strawberry Daiquiri and particularly asked the mixture be less of alcohol and not too strong. Our waiter – Kanto was well mannered and came over and went ‘your drinks will be with you in the next four minutes’ – I was like ok now? This is new.. LOL. and within four minutes, our drinks were indeed with us.
The Chapman was just ok as I have had better while Y really loved her Strawberry Daiquiri. Fifteen minutes later, our meals were out of the kitchen.
Jack Daniel’s Ribs
Grilled Fillet Steak
In terms of presentation, our meals scored good points.
Jack Daniel Ribs: I wasn’t particularly happy about my meal. It looked good but didn’t taste as good. First of, it was too salty and this was not the type of ribs I was expecting as it was more fleshy than the usual bony ribs that I’m used to.
I was given a standard knife which was tough to use to cut the meat and upon request for a steak knife or a sharper knife, they had none. They asked if they could cut it up in the kitchen since I was struggling and that took a while and by the time my meal was brought back to me, it was cold and the food now looked like struggle.
At this point, I just ate all the fries which were crisp by the way and just asked that it was packed up even though I was not going to eat it but just not wanting to seem wasteful.
To be plain, the lamb tasted and felt like chicken and had this newly defrosted taste like it was not fresh and had just been warmed in the oven or microwave and was not well marinated as the spices were just on the surface. So heart breaking for a hungry foodie.
Grilled Fillet Steak: As Y’s food was placed in front of her, she went “what is this” – clearly disappointed. The supposed 250g Steak was quite mediocre and was just plain meat as far as she was concerned. The carrots were not well steamed and were still so hard and pretty the level of raw carrots.
Y also felt that the portion of the steak was small for its price despite the menu reading ‘generous portion of our thick cut steak…’ It was so not thick an neither generous. Safe to say Y will not be coming back here for a Steak.
Thoughts
Ambience: The bottom floor is very cute and bright. Its simple enough and didn’t seem to have a fixed theme but had this feel of a place just to ‘chill’.
Food Quality: The presentation of the meals were great but it just lacked any wow factor. The supposed lamb ribs were just fleshy and made it seem like it was chicken and was not fresh. Y’s steak wasn’t tasty and wasn’t generous in size and the carrots were not well boiled or steamed. The chef should take proper time in marinating as steak and lamb are quite thick.
Location: very easy to find and just off the major road in Lekki 1
Price: ₦ 5,700 for the Lamb Ribs didn’t cut it for the quality while it was ₦ 5,300 for the Grilled Fillet Steak
Chapman – ₦1,500
Strawberry Daiquiri – ₦2,500
Service Delivery: Our waiter was an absolute delight and the staff there were very polite including who I’d like to think was the manager who approached our table asking if everything was ok and took the feedback quite well when we told her about how we felt about our meals.
A little observation though, the price on the receipt was different from the price on the menu. For instance, the receipt quoted the price of the Lamb at ₦6,270 while the menu had ₦5,700 and the same was the case for the Steak with the receipt stating ₦5,565 and the menu had ₦5,300. Seems like the taxes are individually being applied on each item. Oh well, I do not understand the taxes restaurants make us pay these days.
5 Comments
Always annoying when service is great but the food comes out rubbish!
Hopefully they take your feedback on board.
Thanks for updating us as always FIL
Love BLD. Their buffet is really good. At one point I went three times in one month. Their chicken pepper soup was the truth and the Jollof rice!!
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And i liked BLD when i went oh, but only been there once. Maybe an off day for them. Great review !
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