Food Network star, Eric Adjepong opens contemporary Ghanaian restaurant in DC ‘Elmina’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the heart of D.C.’s U-Street corridor, you’ll discover the new restaurant Elmina. 

It’s a contemporary Ghanaian restaurant. The dining rooms are filled with art and bold colors that celebrate Ghana’s heritage, but of course, it’s flavors.

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“Ginger, bell pepper, peanut, soursop, passionfruit, hibiscus,” are just a few unique flavors that Chef Eric Adjepong says people will smell coming out of the kitchen at Elmina.

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Elmina is more than a name.

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“Elmina is one of my favorite places to go when I go back home to Ghana. It’s a fisherman’s town, a very humble but hard-working town, and it’s absolutely beautiful,” Adjepong adds.

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It’s a beautiful treasure that he wants to share with the region.

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“D.C. has embraced me so much,” he adds.

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Especially during his time on the Food Network’s competition show, Top Chef.

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“When I had the opportunity to represent where I’m from – I said the Bronx, of course, but I mentioned D.C. and just happening to do so well when I came back to my new home there was so much love and shoutouts,” he explains.

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It’s a love that still follows him through his success as a host on the Food Network’s Wild Card Kitchen. Now he’s returning that love; giving D.C. the first taste of his childhood dream.

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 “I give myself or my younger self a ‘high five’ every time I walk in here,” said Adjepong.

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Inside the restaurant that sits on 14th Street is where the chef hopes he can tell a perfect story of Ghana and all it has to offer.

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“Every dining room is themed to a specific commodity or treasure that brings wealth to the country,” he shares during a tour.

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 “We are in the tobacco room,” which is a gold-rust colored room that houses one of the bars and sentimental family portraits.

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In the next room over is the Cotton Room. It’s the first dining area you see when you enter. It also gives people a sneak peek of where the magic happens through an open kitchen concept.

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“We have a jollof duck pot. We have the delicious Banga stew. It’s a seafood stew with shrimp and octopus,” he shares.

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The bar menu also offers specialty cocktails that hold memories.

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“I named it after my step-father, Daddy Bofa. Sort of like an old fashion.”

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A restaurant built on the foundation of family, that he hopes people will experience one bite at a time.

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“I want a sense of curiosity to flow. A sense of being fulfilled, enriched, and I want you to feel like you left transported from one place, and then you walk out to D.C., wanting to come back to Elmina.”

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