A long-running Nigerian restaurant in Riverdale Park is noted for bringing homemade West African dishes to the corridor, especially its award-winning jollof rice, a mainstay of Nigerian cooking made with parboiled rice, a tomato base and seasoned stock.
Located at 5851 Riverdale Rd., Queensway Restaurant is what’s known as a “bukateria,” an informal restaurant serving homespun African soul food where jollof rice, pounded yams, and Egusis soup with goat remain the most popular dishes.
After immigrating to the U.S. in 1984 from her home in Lagos, owner Atinuke Ogunsalu started Queensway in 1998 because she and her husband couldn’t find a restaurant like it in the D.C. area.
Ogunsalu, whose mother ran a restaurant back home in Nigeria where she helped prepare food growing up, studied to be a professional chef at the now-closed Washburne Trade School in Chicago, then worked at hotels such as the Hyatt before opening Queensway.
In 2017, she won top prize at an African culinary festival in D.C. for her jollof rice. Her secret ingredient, she told the Hyattsville Wire, is in how she prepares the jollof rice which she believes makes hers among the best.
Ogunsalu makes Zobo in house, which is a popular Nigerian drink made with dried Roselle plant flowers, pineapple and spices such as ginger. She also makes a traditional non-alcoholic ginger beer on site as well and sells the popular Emu palm wine, which is made from fermented palm tree sap.
In 2018, Ogunsalu opened a second Queensway in Bowie.
Queensway is one of 10 that are being highlighted as part of a self-guided restaurant tour in Riverdale Park over the next month. Other participating restaurants include 2Fifty Texas BBQ, Banana Blossom Bistro, Riviera Tapas and Taqueria 3 Reyes. As part of the Taste of Greater Riverdale, customers at Queensway who post a photo on social media with the hashtag #tasteofGR by Sept. 18 will be entered to win a $200 Target gift card.
The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. and you an order for pickup from Queensway, by calling its main number, or for delivery on Grubhub or DoorDash. The Bowie location is available on Grubhub, Seamless, Postmates and Uber Eats.
Queensway also offers catering services for occasions of all sizes including weddings and birthday celebrations.
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