'Dream come true' for couple as they prepare to open Kettering African restaurant

A new restaurant will bring a taste of Africa to Kettering when it opens its doors this weekend.

Aso Rock will welcome its first customers in Rockingham Road after owners Katherine and Daniel Ememere took on the former Mu Mu unit.

The couple will be serving up African cuisine such as jollof rice, spicy pepper soup and fried yam when they open at 3pm on Saturday (February 10).

Katherine, also known as LoloKate, said: “I am very excited – it’s kind of a dream come true.”

The venue will have a restaurant area called Lolo’s kitchen, a bar named Tammy’s where people can relax and a VIP lounge upstairs called Kilimanjaro where people can dance.

LoloKate, who moved to the UK from Nigeria about 10 years ago, said she wants it to be a place for everyone to enjoy themselves.

The Ememeres, who live in Corby, moved to Northamptonshire just over four years ago. LoloKate said that, one Sunday, she was tired and didn’t want to cook – but struggled to find food from her homeland.

She said: “I was looking for African restaurants that would give me the sort of food I would eat at home and I couldn’t find any.

“I checked in Corby and Kettering but had to go to Northampton. My mum ran restaurants when I was a little girl and she said to me ‘why don’t you open one?’

“We saw they were looking for someone to lease the old Mu Mu unit so we talked to the agent and the rest is history.”

Aso Rock – named after a monolith outside Nigerian capital Abuja and the presidential villa – will also sell dishes including grilled fish and plantain as well as delicacies like spicy cow foot, with ingredients shipped over from Nigeria.

Their bar will serve cocktails, wines, spirits, soft drinks, Nigerian Guinness and more, with a team of about 20 people running the venue.

LoloKate, 50, hopes it will be a fun venue for the town.

She said: “If you want to dance please feel free – come here and have some fun!”

Aso Rock will be open from midday to 11pm from Monday to Thursday, from midday to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays and from midday to midnight on Sundays.