Tayiba restaurant: Beautiful space and architecture

I had heard of Tayiba restaurant in Accra, Ghana before but couldn’t quite figure out what exactly I knew about it. My Dad and I had taken a trip to West Legon in a bid to hunt down more plant variety for the outside space of MyWeku Restaurant. On our way back I spotted Tayiba restaurant and instantly recognised the architecture from photos i’d seen online. We stopped off briefly to have super malt and to savour the space.

Tayiba restaurant is modelled on the traditional African mud hut with thatched roof. This giant hut was elevated on one side to make room for a beautiful upper seating area.

Upper floor seating area

View from Upper floor

The upper area and bar area had what seemed to be an exaggerated rough clay plaster to give the feel of the typically rough mud surface of a Ghanaian traditional hut.

There were huge clay pots strategically dotted around the upper floor with unobtrusive flower plants protruding out of them. The furniture came in three different kinds. A mixture of bar stools and high tables, more conventional dining chairs and tables and a set of lighter coloured somewhat semi formal dining tables and chairs. The flooring on the upper deck came in mocha coloured wood to match the furniture.

The downstairs seating area enveloped the bar and had an eclectic mix of flower pots on the edges of its circumference. The flooring was made of stone in contrast to the upper floor.

Downstairs seating area

Towards the grill area from the entry were an unusual traditional take on the American booth seating system. The landscaping in this area had clearly been well thought out, designed and maintained.

Perhaps my favourite feature in Tayiba restaurant had to be what I suspected to be a kiosk or store. I imagined this was a retail space seamlessly designed into the restaurant. The paintings on this wooden kiosk could be seen and admired from as far as the upper floor about 30 metres away.

The service was ok and even though the restaurant was not in full swing at the time we visited, it made a great impression on me. The creativity inherent in the structure is as good as any I have seen in Ghana.