Meet MAKC: Canberra’s first Nigerian kitchen and eatery
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Everyone calls her Mama, but Dorcas – the woman behind MAKC, Mama Africa Kitchen and Cake – spent years cooking for family, friends and events across Canberra, long before she had a shop to call her own.
She’s the one people hope has done the cooking. The one whose food they look forward to seeing on the table. And, after years of being asked, gently and then not so gently, to open a place of her own, she finally has.
Dorcas was born in Nigeria and learned to cook the way most Nigerian children do – at home, watching her mother, father and aunt, who worked in commercial food and taught her how to prepare meals at scale.
Beyond a home economics class at school, she considers herself self-taught.
“I just cook. I don’t have a recipe. I just cook from my heart.”
Dorcas remembers her father carrying in a big tray of rice, simply seasoned, and setting it down in the middle of the family circle. Everyone would eat together, by hand, from the same tray.
That’s the spirit she’s carried into MAKC. In Nigerian culture, food is how people connect, mark occasions, and look after one another.
Dishes lean into bold, layered flavours: tomatoes, peppers, onions, warming spices, smoked fish, and slow-cooked meats. At MAKC, all meat is halal, and the menu draws on dishes Dorcas has been perfecting for family and events for years.
There’s Jollof Rice, the tomato-and-capsicum-based classic – fluffy rather than sticky, rich and smoky with a gentle heat – usually served alongside grilled chicken, fried plantain, beef or fish.
There’s Egusi Soup, a thick, golden-green stew of leafy vegetables, earthy and hearty. Dorcas makes hers with three different meats: beef, goat meat and dried fish.
There’s Swallows, which comes in many varieties, including fufu, pounded yam, eba (cassava), semolina, wheat, and cocoyam. It is a smooth, mild dough served alongside soup and eaten by hand. It’s pinched off, rolled, and dipped. Dorcas is from a part of Nigeria where you swallow it whole, rather than chew.
For something to grab and go, there are Nigerian meat pies – golden, semi-circular pastries, buttery and flaky, filled with savoury meat – a snack found everywhere from Nigerian bakeries to roadside stalls. And Puff Puff, which are small, golden fried dough balls, soft and lightly sweet, the kind of thing Dorcas says people are already asking her for.
To drink, there’s Zobo, a hibiscus drink made with ginger, pineapple and cloves, served over ice. It has a tangy, floral, and naturally sweet taste.
For dessert, they have cakes in various flavours, including vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet. Dorcas describes them as lighter and less sweet than you might expect.
A more extensive menu, including full-sized cakes and pepper soup – a clear, warming broth often eaten as comfort food or after celebrations – will be available for catering and made-to-order requests.
MAKC will open its doors for the first time this Saturday 8 August, from 1 pm to 6 pm, at G02/2 Batman Street, Braddon. Expect a full spread of the menu, taste tests for anyone new to Nigerian food, tables set up outside, and a DJ keeping the afternoon moving.
Dorcas has spent her whole life cooking for the people around her; now she’s asking Canberra to pull up a seat.
