A Taste of Ghana in NYC

On this Tuesday in late June, Ghanaian flags swayed on a string outside of Accra Express Restaurant on 125th Street in Harlem. Inside, cooks chatted and prepared foods like goat pepper soup and jolof rice for a World Cup watch party for the Ghana vs. England game.

Yahya Abdullah manages this family business, which is named after the capital of Ghana and serves traditional cuisine from that country. On this game day, cooks offered customers shot-cup samples of chicken, okra, pumpkin and peanut soups that are traditionally paired with either jolof rice or a Ghanian staple called fufu. Fufu has a dough-like consistency and is made of starchy root vegetables.  

"I would say the food from Ghana, if I had to make a comparison, it would be New York," said Abdullah. "It's a melting pot."

Abdullah grew up in the Bronx, where his father opened the restaurant’s first location more than 30 years ago. It is still open, and sits just north of an area on 167th Street, sometimes called "Little Accra." The borough holds the largest population of Ghanaians in New York City, according to the latest city data. 

Accra Express serves as a gathering place for the community. And during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it becomes a place for Ghanaians to show support for their team, with the business also selling soccer jerseys. 

"I was just telling someone yesterday that Ghana reminds me of the Knicks,” Abdullah said. “We love our team, we're the underdogs, and we're gonna shock people this year.”  

Ghana has not always been in the World Cup. In the '60s, the team boycotted the tournament after FIFA required Africa, Asia, and Oceania to compete for one remaining spot in the cup. This led to a continent-wide boycott of the 1966 event, and eventually expanded Africa’s place in the tournaments. Ghana later made their World Cup debut in 2006 – and this year marks Ghana’s fifth time qualifying for the tournament. 

"This game brings the diaspora from all over,” Abdullah said. "What's good about the World Cup is that you also meet other people that are a part of the community that you didn't necessarily grow up with.” 

This sense of community extends beyond the World Cup and right outside the doors of the restaurant’s Harlem location where people often line the busy block. Some gather and listen to music out of a large boom box and some sell cleaning products like detergent and soap. 

Others, like Harlem resident Rudy Rocker, stop by every day and calls the area is its own community.  “Everybody on this block is pretty much family, you feel me?” Rocker explained.  As business picked up in the afternoon on game day (the match was a draw, with neither Ghana or England scoring), Abdullah and his friends and family prepared for a watch party at the Africa Center in Harlem later that night.

They wore Ghanaian jerseys, which filled the restaurant with patriotic support and excited anticipation for the game.