Star Wars newcomer John Boyega celebrated landing his first blockbuster role by taking Harrison Ford to his favourite childhood restaurant – an African diner beneath a block of flats in Peckham.
Staff and customers were stunned when Boyega, 23, who was plucked from relative obscurity to play stormtrooper Finn in the latest instalment of the sci-fi spectacular, arrived at Nigerian eatery “805” in Old Kent Road accompanied by the “real-life Han Solo”.
It happened soon after Boyega had landed a leading role in Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and before the publicity frenzy surrounding the launch of £2bn spectacular.
One suprised waiter asked: “Are you Harrison Ford?” to which the famously gruff actor replied: “I used to be.”
Boyega said the star-studded European premiere in Leicester Square last night was “particularly special because I’m from London.”
He told the Standard, Ford asked him to be shown around the area where he had grown up, adding: “In order to break Harrison into the London culture I took him to the Old Kent Road to have some Nigerian food - and he loved it.”
Ford and Boyega arrived on a busy Friday night last September and were made to wait several minutes for a table, before being seated at a far side of the restaurant.
Ford steered clear of exotic dishes like spiced gizzard and diced cow foot, instead ordering traditional Nigerian egusi soup and pounded yam, for £15, washed down with a non-alcoholic cocktail.
Restaurant manager Prosper Djoufak, 34, seated the pair when they came to dine.
He said: “I didn’t recognise him. But a customer realised and they asked me if it was Harrison Ford.
“At first I said no. I didn’t believe it was him. I’ve watched his movies but he’d lost weight so he looked a bit different. When I went back I realised.
“I asked him if he was Harrison Ford and he said yes. He was just like a normal person. He was nice, very quiet.”
His colleague Thierry Nkowyeb, 32, added: “We’ve had a lot of African footballers come in here but Harrison Ford is such a big star. It was a great honour for us.
“For him to come in and dine with us – we feel like we are in Hollywood as well.”
Standard.co.uk.
