In driving around town, I've noticed Tam-Tam African Restaurant in the Florissant Oaks Shopping Center and always wanted to check it out.

There are plenty of Italian, American, Chinese and Mexican restaurants in Florissant, but not too many outside of those ethnicities. Doing a restaurant review gave me the perfect excuse to try Tam-Tam's cuisine.

Tam-Tam's has a wide variety of menu items, including dishes that offer lamb, seafood or chicken for protein. For vegetarians, they only have a couple of options, a Fried Plantain appetizer ($3) and an Afro Stew entree ($8.50), so I decided to try them both.

I was eager to try the fried plantains, as I'm a lover of bananas, which are essentially sweeter versions of plantains. Tam-Tam's plantains were delicious.

I was worried that they might be overcooked, but they were perfectly crisp on the outside, while warm and sweet on the inside.

The Afro Stew comes with your choice of rice or couscous, and I opted for the white rice. As is the case with a lot of Chinese or Thai dishes, the rice was served separately from the stew. I tried the rice first to make sure it was cooked well, and it was.

Then, I had a bit of the stew to get the flavors of it on its own. The stew is composed of large chunks of vegetables (carrots, squash and zucchini) and potatoes in a light tomato broth that is accentuated with some spice. I found the chunks to be a little too large at times, but otherwise the stew was very flavorful, and it went well with the rice.

However, I should warn you to be cautious about the stew if you're not a lover of spicy food, as it has a strong kick that will definitely have you reaching for your water glass. The food is also served fresh and piping hot (temperature-wise), so be sure to keep that in mind before you take a giant bite of something.

When choosing a restaurant to try out, I always have a fairly open mind. As long as it doesn't have meat in it, I'm pretty much willing to try anything. I've had instances where that has had a negative outcome, but choosing to eat African food for the first time at Tam-Tam African Restaurant was a great idea.