Kente Café
Chef Olivia
Cuisine: West African and American
Chef Olivia, originally from Togo, has decided to bring something special from home to share with the Salt Lake community.
Kente Café specializes in integrating West African flavors into American comfort food staples. Her cornerstone menu item, the Soulfire Chicken Sandwich, is truly one of a kind. Olivia’s family in Togo dries and blends their own spices, which Olivia imports and brings to your table by including her family’s proprietary spice blend in every sandwich. That’s right - you’ll be tasting the heat and heart of Togo with each bite. That’s not all though - Olivia also makes her brioche buns in house and from scratch, a practice mostly abandoned by the industry.
As a young girl, Olivia would help her mother cook every Sunday, while they fed their friends, family, and neighbors. She learned to cook while watching her mother, and food brought people together in her tightknit community.
Olivia moved to the US in 2006, and felt overwhelmed by the culture shock. Life in the suburbs was very different from her community back home, and not speaking the language made it difficult to connect with others. Cooking at home became her sanctuary as she cooked her way through the isolation she felt. She was always cooking with her son who was 4 when they moved to Utah. They bonded together over the shared passion, and even perfected the brioche recipe together. This creative exercise helped her bond with her family, try new ingredients that were not available in Togo, and explore new techniques she hadn’t thought of before, sending her on a journey of culinary fusion rooted in the flavors of home.
Join Olivia as she keeps the practice of scratch cooking alive and shares a bit of her home with you.
Contact Chef Olivia directly by Email kentecafes@gmail.com or by Phone (385) 555-1212.
