Yahuza Suya Spot Nig. Ltd is known for making the best Suya in Abuja. Beef, chicken, kidney, liver, gizzard; You name it? They have got it. Fresh off the grill, you can perceive the mouth-watering aroma for miles. Briskly chopped and neatly wrapped in aluminum foil, with the choice of raw cabbage, onions and Yaji (a mix of pepper powder and other spices), they also sell the fluffiest Masa I have ever had.
But, this is not a Suya review. I’m here about their Kilishi.

Yahuza Kilishi (Dried Meat) has been on the market for over 4 years now. In spite of this, I only recently started purchasing it regularly because it’s a great low carb snack I can enjoy on-the-go or while studying. Kilishi is very similar to the Western Beef Jerky. However, while Kilishi is often wide sheets of spicy dried meat, traditional beef jerky is lean meat stripped of fat and cut in strips, and in my experience, is not half as spicy as our Nigerian Kilishi is.

WHAT I LIKE

PACKAGING
Compared to Kilishi sold in the open-air markets in Area 1 and Area 2 in Garki, this cheap paper and foil wrapping is a huge improvement even if it is not exactly world-class. It’s not air-tight and it is sealed with paper tape, talk about bare minimum. Regardless, it is a decent improvement from the norm. It is somewhat more hygienic, and at the very least, it keeps the filthy hands, pregnant flies and bacteria laden dust off, especially since Kilishi is primarily a ready-to-eat product.

QUALITY
It’s difficult to say. Sometimes the Kilishi is fantastic and I love the taste. There’s something sticky sweet about the spicing. I can’t tell if it is honey or sugar, but I love the combination and haven’t tasted this anywhere else. In my opinion, it is finger-licking good. I’ve also never tasted any dust on it, it’s almost always fresh and chewy.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

PACKAGING
It isn’t much to look at really; white paper with the logo and address printed. It’s not perfectly sealed so something could crawl in the bag. This is a little scary for me because, much like popcorn, I don’t look at Kilishi before or while eating it. I just tear and gnaw away. Despite this shortcoming, I have to say that I have never seen anything nasty or unwanted in the pack. On the upside, paper is bio-degradable, it’s good for the environment.

It would be nice if this product has a part of the packaging transparent allowing us get a fair idea of what we are paying for. Right now, I am left pressing the Kilishi through the packet, and praying that my conclusions based on this rudimentary test is valid.

CONTENT
You don’t get a lot for your N1,000. To be precise, I got just about 200grams here. The quantity has reduced significantly over the years and as you can see, this paper packet is more than half empty . I’m not sure why they waste so much paper to wrap so little meat, besides marketing deception.  Most Nigerian companies seem to be doing this, cornflakes, burger peanuts, Titus sardine…all the packets are half empty.

INGREDIENTS
There are no ingredients listed anywhere on this product. It would be nice to know what exactly was use to prepare the Kilishi, and what we as consumers are eating, especially since people may be allergic to some content or spice. It’s a stretch but, best-before date, calorie content and recommended serving size should be standard and would be very helpful to consumers.

CONSISTENCY
This is the worst really. in this pack, you just never know what you are getting. I actually say a prayer before I make a purchase because, it’s got 50/50 odds. You either come up with the delicious sweet spicy sticky one or the dry, crunchy one. Last time, I was unfortunate and wound up with an extra fatty one. I mean it was all fat, and I ended up tossing it in the bin.

People enjoy food in different ways. Consequently, I would expect that this company will at least sort and label each pack of Kilishi accordingly so buyers expectations are met and they get real value for money every time. Personally, I wait to be in a risk-ready mood before I buy Yahuze Kilishi because my satisfaction on a purchase usually ranges from either “Wow, this is so good! I think I’ll need one more pack!” to “What the f**k is this mess?!”

DISTRIBUTION
You can’t get this Kilishi anywhere besides a Yahuza branch. This may be great for quality control seeing how poor the packaging is. However, it is really inconveniencing having to find a Yahuza branch every time I want Kilishi. An effective distribution arrangement will really boost sales for this company and help us customers access and enjoy the product more conveniently.

Summarily, I really like Yahusa’s Kilishi and if you want a quick low-carb fix, I reluctantly recommend it. For a product which has been on the market for this long, it could be so much better. A little innovation with respect to packaging and distribution would make a huge difference.

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Have you tried Yahuza Kilishi? Let me know what you think in the comments!
As always, thank you for reading!
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