How do you handle exposition in the first chapter? by adaeze_writes

I'm on my third manuscript and I still haven't solved chapter one. I know what the received wisdom is. Start with action, don't explain too much, trust the reader to catch up. And I believe it, in the abstract. But then I sit down to write a romance set in Lagos and I find myself wanting to place the reader. The neighbourhood, the traffic, the specific quality of the light at four in the afternoon when you're trying to leave the Island before the bridges lock up. It matters to me that the setting is real and specific and not interchangeable with any other city. But every time I reread it I think, this is too much. You're delaying the story to decorate the stage. My current working method is to write the first chapter twice. Once where I put everything I want in, and once where I strip it down to what the plot needs. Then I look at both and try to find a version that's neither. It doesn't always work. Has anyone found a method that actually works for them? I'm especially curious whether people who write about specific places with strong visual identities have found a way to bring the setting in without stalling.