During the same week a colleague introduced me to Bosnian cevapcici, another colleague, my better half, and I decided to try Haitian cuisine. The closest we could find was barbecued chicken from Yre's. Yre's is a take-out restaurant, located in downtown Ottawa at the intersection of Charlotte and Rideau (168 Charlotte Street). Unfortunately, it happens to be in a building that is slated to be demolished in lieu of another condo building. The same building also houses a shawarama place and what once was a barber shop.

When you enter the establishment, you will be taken aback by the sheer simplicity of it. There is a wooden bar with a cash and till (which only takes cash), a paper menu tacked to the wall nearby, a television mounted at one corner, and just enough seating along the walls for a half dozen people. What most likely will hit you first is Yre's colours. The walls are painted bright green and orange. With its white door, these happen to be the colours of the national flag for the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.

Between its colours, the faint smell of charcoal, and the friendly owner (presumably Yre?), Yre's is an inviting little location that's reminiscent of how one would picture a road-side eatery in Africa: informal and warm. This maybe purposeful because the only dishes on Yre's menu is West African Barbecued chicken and several sides. The sides include fried plantains, rice, and couscous.

According to a review from the Ottawa XPress, Yre's serves piri-piri chicken. Both wikipedia and congocookbook.com state that the word piri-piri is common to the Portuguese and several African languages and refers to African bird's eye chili. Piri-piri chicken is thus chicken that is marinated in a chili pepper marinade and grilled. The marinade also usually contains an acidic ingredient such as vinegar or lime juice. At Yre's the chicken is grilled over wood charcoal.

When ordering, you will be asked whether you'll have medium-spicy or hot-spicy. I've a feeling that Yre tones the spice down for people he thinks won't be enjoying it. That said, me and my fellow diners all had a medium-spicy quarter chicken with a side of fried plantains. Besides the chili pepper flavouring, the chicken seemed to be seasoned with salt and some other herbs and spices. Everything was so well flame grilled, that the herbs or spices weren't really discernible.

I found the chicken somewhat dry, but extremely flavorful and a little smokey. The golden brown plantains were cool-ish and very starchy. They were, however, sweet and a very welcomed change from fries. Since my colleague and I visited Yre's right after work (approximately 4:00-ish) and we found Yre sitting at one his stools eating, I think we were served what was leftover from the lunchtime rush. Yre also had run clean out of any couscous or rice.

If you're going to try the chicken from Yre's, I suggest you go at lunch or closer to dinner time, when there's a rush of people. The reviewer from OttawaXpress gave Yre's a really good review, but he seems to have visited Yre's at dinner time. I am assuming of course that "heading up to Starthcona Park....with a couple brewskies" isn't something you'd be doing during your lunch break. I also recommend that you go soon. Though it's been a year between the Ottawa XPress' review and my visiting Yre's, the rumours of the building coming down are more frequent these days.

Particulars:
Yre's
168 Charlotte Street
(613) 241-6060



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