Friday 6 April 2007




Culinary Treats in Dar es Salaam

Kempinski Kilimanjaro Hotel at the Dar es Salaam Harbour Front
(Tel. 022 213 11 11; e-mail: reservations.kilimanjaro@kempinski.com; www.kempinski-daressalaam.com)

In 2005 the legendary Hotel Kilimanjaro - freedom fighters from all over Southern Africa met, and had been hosted and entertained in the Kili by the Tanzanian Government for years - reopened under a Kempinski management. Breakfasts are absolute treats (6.30-10.30; continental: 12'000TzSh; cooked: 18'000TzSh): Fresh French soft cheeses nowhere else in town available, excellent Danish pastries and apple crumble, smoked fish and crisp rocket salad, liver pate on toast, fresh coffee, juices and even a glass of Champaign if you wish so. Go early, if you have the light flooded room and the attention of the staff for your own, it is nicest! Also a nice Sunday morning treat on your own - take a good book!

The Oriental Restaurant on the first floor (closed on Mondays, Tel. 022 213 11 11) is definitely one of the best foodie places in town – the Sushi is excellent, and the stylish place a rather unique escape in town. Reservations for evening meals are essential.

Excellent is also the Coffee Place and its bright green terrace on the ground floor for afternoon teas - pastries are among the best in town (try the cheese cake), and a different language is spoken on every table. The view from the Level 8 Bar all over the harbour of Dar es Salaam is not to be missed. When Sal Davis sings, it is a great place to spend a drink in the evening, however the legendary Kili singer leaves long breaks between the songs he performs, and some very average singers. And it is chillingly cold in the bar, so take your warmest jumper with you!

Sea Food

The Club Room Restaurant within the Protea Apartment Hotel Complex on the Peninsula, situated at the corner of Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Haille Selassie Road (opposite St. Peter Church) serves great sea food buffet lunches, for 15’000TzSh per person. The photos on the wall are by H&H Photography!

Tanzanian Food

Excellent, cheap and clean Tanzanian Food is served at lunch during the week in the little garden restaurant, to the right of the French Embassy (surrounded by a huge and long white wall) on Haille Sellassie Road (follow the sign for the Patricia Metzger Beauty Saloon, until you see the plastic tables and chairs under the trees). The menu included cooked banana with meat, sweet water sardines (dagaa) on a spicy tomatoe sauce, spicy Pilau rice, as well as tasty liver and meat on a spit (mishkaki). It all comes for 1200 to 1500TzSh for the food, including some veges and fruit, and a soda or water for 300 to 500TzSh. The place is very popular among Tanzanian staff of the surrounding embassies, UN offices and private companies.

International Cuisine

Thanks to the large Indian diaspora in Dar es Salaam, Indian food is excellent, plentiful and cheap. Try the tiny little vegetarian Retreat Restaurant on Mrima Street (turning off Kisutu Street – do not miss a glimpse into all the Indian temples along Kisutu street) for an excellent lunch, or the more family oriented Badminton Institute on the Corner of Zanaki and Lybia Street right in the Indian district of town, where tables are set in a big yard (you pay an non member entry fee of 600TzSh).

The newly opened Albasha Restaurant (Tel. 0786 00 00 09 or 0786 55 55 55 or 022 212 69 99; e-mail: chadi@bol.co.tz) on the corner of Morogoro and Indira Ghandi Street in the Indian district, too, serves delicious Lebanese Food, including humous, kebabs, taboule and a lot more mouth watering dishes, juices and even excellent La Cimbali coffee, and has tables in the street in the evening, giving it an urban touch. They also do take away and party services.

Excellent Ethopian Cuisine – various sauces are served on a huge sour dough omelette, and wrapped in smaller sour dough omlettes to eat – is served in the Addis in Dar Restaurant (Tel. 0713 26 62 99, 0754 46 11 67; e-mail: senaitmekonnen@hotmail.com; closed on Sundays), located on the terrace of a private house on Ursino Street in Regent Estate. Reservations are essential, evening meals only. The words painted in Ethopian letters on the stairs leading up to the second floor are said to mean “Through perseverance the egg walks on legs" or in other words: Tenacity enables one to succeed.
It is an Oromo proverb from Ethiopia. There is also a little shop with Ethopian handicraft, and the atmosphere is very warm.

For Chinese Food the Sichuan Restaurant (022 215 05 48) on Bibi Titi Mohamed road is warmly recommended. For a change, try the excellent Irish stew and Irish Coffee specialities in the newly opened O'Willies Irish Whisky Tavern in the Peninsula Hotel (Tel. 022 260 12 73) on Chui bay - there terrace right on the water is great, while others prefere the perfect immitation of an Irish pub inside, including all the drafts and ales reqired! Arca di Noe (Tel. 022 266 69 24 or 0713 60 12 82) in Namanga at the beginning of Kimweri Avenue serves excellent Pizza and Pasta, however the place is little visited and leaves the guests sort of lonely.

A long way out of town (you drive Old Bagamoyo Road North, over the bridge, until a sign post to the right leads you down on the beach) but beautifully located on the sea, with Jazz concerts on Saturday evenings, is the Mediterraneo Hotel, serving Mediterranean food as the name indicates.
Ice Cream

For deserts Azam Ice Cream sold all over town is great, but also the Ice Cream Parlour in Slipway on the Peninsula is excellent – try the Saffron one if it is available, absolutely delicious!
Home cooking

If you cook yourself, do not miss the Lutoni shop on Haile Sellassie Road, in the dead end street next to Shrijees Supermarket, behind all the Tinga Tinga painters. It sells excellent and all Tanzanian jams, juices, wine, diary products, dried fruit, spices and rye flower - look out for the products from Irente Farm in the Usambara Mountains. Another place for delicatessen, Tanzanian as well as imported, is the Deli in the Oyster Bay Shopping Mal (Corner Ghuba Road and Toure Drive) - look out for the smoked fish and the deep frozen sea food, as well as the freshly made mezze - or the Bustani Melani shop in Slipway, which sells excellent meat, diary and bakery products from a Christian Mission near Morogoro;

No comments: