They Won't Show You This Side Of Lagos, Nigeria! 🇳🇬

Lagos, Nigeria is a city that never stops moving, where the streets pulse with life and the markets tell the story of its people. Markets aren't just places to buy and sell. They are the heartbeat of a culture, the meeting point of history, tradition, and survival. Today, we're diving deep into one of the most incredible markets in Lagos, where the energy is electric and every stall has a story to tell. We're here in Lagos Island and Giddy's gonna take me around this massive market. Giddy, where are we now? The Balogun Market. Balogun Market. Yes. So what is Balogun Market? What is this place about? Balogun Market is like a city market where we have like six or seven markets interwoven into each other, and these are like sections. This is the Lagos Central Mosque. That's the Central Mosque right there. Lagos Central Mosque, built in the 80s. Wow. It is a massive mosque with four minarets. Very beautiful. Right here in the center of the market. And if you look around us, it's like literally everything you can possibly want from clothing, shoes, food, whatever, bedsheets, slides, plastic. Perfect. Let's go eat something. Africa. Nigeria. Wow. This market is bustling. How many people here? Like 100,000, dude. I know, like close to. Close to, for sure, for sure. I mean, everywhere you look, somebody's doing something, selling something. This is it. Oh my gosh. Yams, house canes, crabs, chicken wings. These are fingers, turkey fingers, chicken legs. So what is this, though? It's gizzard. I'll try a gizzard. Yummy. Are you eating crab? Yeah. Oh, it's really good. Yeah, really tasty. It almost looks like a curry crab from Sri Lanka, that one. Yes, curry, all spiced up. All spiced up. And efferminate gizzard, gizzard. Have you had chicken legs before? Yeah, yeah. Looks to be it. For the cougar. I'll try, why not? We have a chicken leg, also. Have you tried chicken head before? Would you like it? It looks gross, right? Yeah, man, it's really good. It's got pepper. It's got pepper in it. Yeah, man, it's good. And what's she adding there? Pepper sauce. I told her. So this is gizzard. It's a gizzard. Gizzard. This is the fried yam. This is crab. And this is turkey fingers. So should I grab this guy right here? Yes, you can have it. You can have it. I know how to eat this one. Let's try to do it. Oh, wow. Not bad. The way you do this, you bite in and you have that cartilage. It's good, but let's move on. Yeah, move on. Let me try the crab out. The yam. I'll try the yam right here. Put some sauce on it. Where's your money? Wow. All right, so this is the crab. Yeah, you can see. So this is the leg. Turn it over. This is the crab, the crab egg. Eggs inside. So I'm supposed to go like this? Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Break it a little bit. It's so tasty. Yeah, yeah. I almost told her to add more pepper. Can you add some more pepper right there? Right there. Yes. This is the good stuff. You've never seen a guy like me eat this? The gizzard right here. Very tough. Not too peppery, just mild. This is the fingers. So far, the yam is the best for me. Best yam, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, this is not my favorite. Right here. Cool tea. Yes. That's fine. So, the one thing I didn't get this morning was my coffee. I'm having cold iced coffee. It's like a nice, milky coffee. Pretty good. I love Nigeria. I want to go to South Africa. Let me ask you, are you from Lagos? You were born in Lagos? Yes. The hard thing is that everywhere we turn, something's happening. You gotta be like watching. How's the bun? That is Ghanaian buns. I'll try one. Yeah, I'll try one. They're different colors. This just has a bit of color in it. This one is just like the same. Let me show you this. This is the bread. Yeah, yeah. I like how he like, he like squared it. Yeah, yeah. Look, nice and fluffy. Yeah, this is perfect with coffee. Yes. It tastes good. It reminds me of being in England. Tea and biscuits, bread and coffee. I approve his bread. One more. So we're about to walk through the entire market. It is really lively. It is hot. It smells of every type of food. That's too bad, yeah. That's the yam he eats now. It was good, yeah? Yeah. Lagos. That's momoy? Momoy is made with beans. So they kind of like grind it and mix it so like it's thick. Then they put it in like. So banana leaf? Yeah, banana leaf. And this is palm leaf. Palm leaf, man. You can see it has eggs in it. A spoon. All right, here we go. This is the momoy. Oh, so this is the momoy? Egg, yeah. That's like egg in it. So I've seen this in a few places in the Caribbean. So I'm guessing it comes from here, from Nigeria. Beans, man. Look at that. So this is beans. And this is steamed. Yeah, it's steamed already. It's kind of like hot. You can eat it with bread. You can eat it with rice. You can eat it with plantain or anything. Oh, it's delicious flavor. Good beans. Wow. It's like a very soft, crumbly. Doesn't remind me of my time in Venezuela because they have something called a yaca. Very similar. But there they throw raisins in it. And they throw like beans and stuff. It depends. Some put crayfish. Some put, depending on how you want to like spice it up. Yeah, is this sauce? Yeah, because that sauce looks fire. That sauce, yes. Is this also made with palm wine? Yes. This is just palm oil, tomatoes and. I mean palm oil, not palm wine. Palm oil, tomatoes, oil, and the legs, yes. Not like palm wine, yeah. Legs. This is actually amazing. Yeah, especially with that palm oil. And that's plantain chips, though. Oh, the plantain chips. Want to try it out? I think we should. I mean, I literally could not stop eating here. So this is plantain chips, huh? Plantain chips, but it's a little spicy. Spicy? Yeah, it's a bit spicy. You can see the spice in it. Not so spicy? Yeah. No. So it's probably banana? Yeah, banana. So it's like plantain. So it's like the spiciest, yeah. So do you say plantain or plantain? Plantain, yeah. Plantain. Wow. So is this avocado or coconut? This is avocado and coconut. Is that a dessert? Or is that just like a. It's just like normal, like side. Got it, got it. It's like normal side. It's cassava. Cassava. Just walking through here. Over here we have acaraje, which I'm going to try. It's made with beans. It looks like a puff puff, but it's not. So, acaraje. Acaraje. We also call it acara. Acara. So do you want to like, increase the price of beans? Definitely, I think. Namaste. Tastier than puff puffs. Yeah, tastier than puff puffs. Yeah, the beans. Whoa. Wow, the things people carry on their heads. It's so impressive. What is it for? This one is for Igbo. For Igbo? Yeah, this one is for beneath. Beneath that. Igbo. If you are doing wedding, for your wedding, you can use this one as well. Even this one is going to as well. If you see this one for wedding. This one's Igbo? Right? Igbo? I do like this. You're about to become a Benue groom. So I put this on when I'm getting married, and then the bride needs this? And then your bride wears the maché one. So right here we have sugar cane, my favorite thing on the planet. Usually they'll extract it, some places they just cut it for you like this, chop it into pieces, and you chew it. Here we're doing the chewy version. And over here there's a guy weaving, sorry, sewing. What are you sewing there? Skirt. Skirt? This one's juicy too. Chew out all that moisture. Yeah, it's chippy. The sugar. Oh, so good. Wow. I mean, it is a sensation overload right now. That we came with a tuk-tuk, they literally run into you. Like the first mosque in Lagos, it's called the Mwamechita Bay Mosque. So the founder of this mosque was a Creole defendant from Sierra Leone. And this is one of the first mosques in Lagos and was built in 1894. Getting through this market is not easy. And I have somebody holding my hand the whole way. Main character energy. That's what they're all about. Let's go. Wow, cinnamon. You got drinks. Crazy, crazy. So the hard thing here is that like the buildings here are like under construction. Yeah, like. And like literally building the whole area. Big buildings so they can contain more space, can make more money. Because it's like shops go for a lot of high price here. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Oh wow. Pineapple. You want pineapple? Yeah, yeah, let's get a pineapple. Does Nigeria have the tastiest pineapples? I don't know. Maybe. Oh, you want it? Come on, thank you. That pineapple looks juicy, right? Really good. Look at how it pours out. Look at that. It looks really good. Here, I'll open it for you. No, don't worry. She's gonna cut it right in here. That's how they do it, straight in the bag. Wow. Nice. Pineapple's the best. This is amazing. Best pineapple of my life. It's sweeter than the one in Antigua. Wow, and it's great for digestion. This is the African Velvet Tamarind. So, it's African Velvet Tamarind, or Liki Liki. Yeah, that was so long. Very nice. Let's go. Wow, the cinnamon, man. Smells good, right there. Wow. Well, that was intense. Crazy. So, are a lot of people just standing here, selling, like standing selling? Yeah, standing selling. Some of them are like hustlers. Trying to get through, but it's difficult. Doing my best. What's in the samosa? So, it's a vegetable samosa? Yeah, yeah, vegetable samosa. Mostly spring onions. So, it is vegetable samosa. Looks like there might be some meat in there, though. Yeah, some meat, yeah. Some meat's in there. It's nice. Sweet. Sweet dough. Just the vegetables. It's missing sauce. It was a really good samosa, guys. It's one of the oldest streets in Lagos. It's called the Broad Street. The Broad Street, and first one of the street that had stores in Lagos. It's called the Broad Street. So, the Broad Street, it's one of the oldest streets in Lagos. Very wide. Every single car is coming out here, and there's like no people. It's purely just tuk-tuks, buses, and cars. Lots of gold shops. I'm guessing there's some gold here, like jewelry, gold, apparel. America, God bless you all. That was Balogo Market, the biggest market in Lagos. Peace. Nigeria. So, we are gonna try a shawarma here in Lagos. Not any shawarma. This is a Lebanese-Nigerian shawarma, and it's, what is it? The sphinx? Mr. Sphinx? Mr. Sphinx. So, we're having Mr. Sphinx. They have two types of meat. They have, I think, ram, ram meat, and then they have chicken. So, we're trying that. We're going to try that. So, I'm going to try a mix, and I'm going to try individual shawarmas. So, what to expect, right? It might be spicy. Might be a burst of flavor again. Very creamy, very juicy. That's how Nigerian shawarma is. But mostly meats, less vegetables. All right. And over here, we have Omar, the owner. Omar, how are you? Fine, and you? You good? Yeah. Where are you from in Lebanon? From Lebanon, south of Lebanon. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I've been, where? Tyre? I've been in Nigeria. This place has been in Nigeria for 33 years now. This place? Yes. Wow. What makes your shawarma so special? My sauce. My special sauce. My Sphinx sauce. Your Sphinx sauce? Yes. Let's do it. So, over here, this is beef shawarma. Yeah. And that's chicken. Beef shawarma, chicken shawarma. So, how is your shawarma? Is it like a thin one, big? Because I know in Lebanon, it's thinner. Yeah, very big. Smells great. Shit, and over here, the beef. You're funny, Omar. It's sweet. Mm, mm. Tastes like Lebanon. Lebanon. Tastes like Lebanon. It feels like I'm there. Yeah. It's incredible. I think I'm gonna try one of these. Beef. Okay, okay. Beef is good. Yeah. Pan is bread. Yeah. Pita. Get some of the juices from the chicken. That's all the meat. Wow, some good meat right there. Wow. That's a lot of meat. So, what are you putting? Tomatoes, onions, and pickle. Tomatoes, onions, and? Pickle. And what sauce are you putting? Tahini sauce. Tahini's the best. Woo! So, you double wrap? Yeah. So, I'm going to put it on the toast. This is the topping of the shawarma. It's topping? Yeah. Shawarma looks phenomenal. And you put a nice fat layer of beef on top. The tahini. I love tahini. Give me some tissue. Tissue? Mmm. This is perfect. The pita bread, nice and crispy. On the bottom, you have to keep this closed because literally tahini's pouring out. It's a mix. You have that nice burst of vegetables. Wow, what a great shawarma. Number one shawarma in Lagos. Do you have pepper here? Can you throw some pepper on top? Yeah, let's try pepper on top. So, what is this? Nigerian pepper. It actually looks like ketchup, this one. Is it a spicy one? Yeah, spicy. Maybe just put it on top. You like spicy munch? It's very hot. I love it. Has like a smoky taste to it. It does have like a ketchup-y consistency. Mmm. Throw it on top. Yeah, if you have it just with the tahini, that's Lebanese, you have it with pepper, that's Nigerian. The fusion. Very good call. So, what do we got? Fresh fruits. This is avocado. And this is a mix of watermelon, banana, and orange. Mixed fruit. Fresh fruit. So, which one do you recommend? Mixed. All right, I'm gonna try the mixed. It feels almost like a shake. Yes, it's a shake. Shake. Healthy. Oh, no, it's healthy. No, it's not a shake. Shake usually they're gonna have milk, they'll add dairy into it. This is like pure. Mmm. I've been wanting to get this on the street, but you can't find it on the street. Right? Only in there. Random. Avocado. I'm gonna go with the avocado. I like this. The mix. So, Lebanese food in Nigeria. Yes, so, like, there is shawarma, which originates from Lebanon, right? So, there's Lebanese shawarma, but now you have people making Lebanese shawarma with Nigerian ingredients. So, it's now called, like, a Nigerian shawarma, which is what you just had. So, like, you can kind of come and see how the cultures clash, and just see how food is expressed when two different cultures mix.