New Nigerian Restaurant to Host African Farmers Market
Dining at new local restaurant Handie might be the first time many East Lansing residents and nearby neighbors have tried authentic Nigerian specialty food, but it’s not the first time Taiwo Adeleye has served the Lansing area tasty dishes.
From 2021 until earlier this year, Adeleye owned and ran Tatse & Alobosa Bar in downtown Lansing. Now, he has relocated and rebranded to Handie, a fast-casual Nigerian restaurant located at 515 Grand River Ave. in East Lansing.
The local business owner is hoping the rebrand can introduce Nigerian food to even more people, including local college students. It’s not just food either, their upcoming event aims to help folks explore culture, clothing, crafts and community. On Sunday, Nov. 24, they’re hosting the African Farmers Market in East Lansing from noon to 4 p.m. The free event, held inside their restaurant, includes local farmers, artisans and vendors.
“We realized that the community needs more than just food in order to learn about African culture,” Adeleye said. “There’s clothing, jewelry, artwork and more. We believe that in order for the community to really get the full advantage of the African culture that we’re working on presenting to them, then we need to do more than just food.”
The market has seven vendors so far, providing clothing and accessories, snacks, pasta, sauce, raw produce and more. Most of the vendors are local, and some are traveling from Grand Rapids.
Adeleye hosted similar events at his former Lansing location, and the community enjoyed trying new things and stepping out of their comfort zones, he says. The business owner hopes to bring even more community engagement to the area with future events centered around fashion, art, music, festivals and more.
Adeleye says the new East Lansing restaurant location provides a unique cross-section of diners.
“We decided to bring the food closer to the campus, and we know that Lansing can still access this location, in addition to East Lansing, as well as Okemos,” he said. “It’s like now we can serve three communities at a time.”
Handie’s menu takes the traditional dishes from Tatse’s initial lineup, and remixes them into more on-the-go-friendly options like wraps and sandwiches. The African-infused American casual brick and mortar restaurant sells yam bowls, pepper soup, oxtail bowls, goat meat bowls, smoked turkey bowls, okro soup with fufu, fish bowls, spicy chicken bowls, stir fried veggies and more.
“Not everybody wants a chicken bowl, some just want them in wraps,” Adeleye said. “We decided that we wanted to cater to the students on-the-go, or the professionals that just want to quickly pick up the food to go.”
Handie had its soft opening in September, but had a grand opening celebration last month. Adeleye said the community response has been positive.
“They love it,” he said. “I spend most of my time here with my staff, and I get to see the plates come back empty, which gives me joy.”
Handie is located upstairs at 515 E. Grand River Ave. in East Lansing and is open seven days a week.