A trip to Tanzania is incomplete without a visit to the bustling city of Dar Es Salaam. Easily accessible through the international airport, this city is one of the biggest in East Africa, and is home to many exciting tourist spots. One of the main elements of any trip is the food and cuisine: Dar Es Salaam offers a range of flavours and cuisines so tourists can enjoy the most delicious and mouth watering food! While travel is currently restricted due to the COVID 19 crisis, we can still enjoy planning an exciting trip to Dar Es Salaam!
Restaurants
This vivid city is home to many great local eateries. Here are some of the best and most popular restaurants!
- For Thai food, guests can visit Swadesee for curry, lamb, and dumplings.
- Known for its ambience, the Fire Restaurant is a popular eatery which serves curry, chicken, fresh vegetables, chapati, and many delicacies.
- Addis in Dar is famous for its delicious Ethiopian food, notably kitfo (minced beef), yebeg alicha wot (lamb), and ek alicha wot (chickpeas).
- The ideal place for vegetarians, Chappan Bhog offers Indian foods like dosa (pancake), idli (lentil cakes), naan, and pav bhaji (curry with buns).
- Samaki Samaki is a local chain known for its beautiful interior designs, and seafood, including prawns, fried calamari, tuna, and grilled octopus.
- One of the best restaurants is 305 Karafuu which offers mouth watering steaks, prawns, lobster, pasta, lamb, beef, chicken, calamari and tuna.
- Mediterraneo not only offers a great view of a serene beach, but also serves lobster, squid, clams, pasta, and delicious salads and cocktails!
Fresh Food
In any trip, it is essential that the traveller must take care of his/her health. For this, they should ensure intake of fresh foods, such as vegetables and fruits. In Dar Es Salaam, one can easily get fruits such as coconuts, avocadoes, berries, guavas, watermelons, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, jackfruit, passionfruit, and bananas. Major vegetables include onions, chillies, peppers, cabbage, beans, lettuce, carrot, and cauliflower. Visitors can also find fresh herbs and spices like vanilla, cloves, cardamom, turmeric, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and nutmeg! During their dining experience, tourists should ensure that their meals include these exquisite flavours, and make up a healthy and balanced diet.
Street Food
Apart from fine dining and restaurants, tourists should also visit street food carts in Dar Es Salaam. In Tanzania, street food offers a great insight into the local culture and tradition, and is famous for its exquisite flavour. Many carts offer Indian food, such as pani puri (hollow chips filled with potatoes, chickpeas, and a liquid containing a blend of spices and herbs). Tourists can enjoy drinks such as ginger tea, sugarcane juice, and avocado shake, and foods like Kuku Paka (spicy curry), Uji (porridge), biryani, pilao, samosa (fried filled triangles), sweet potatoes, kebabs, Muhogo (deep fried cassava), Mandazi (sweet doughnuts), meat skewers, and egg chops (an egg covered in mashed potatoes).
With exotic British, Indian, Swahili, Arabic, German, and Portugese influences, food in Dar Es Salaam is unique and unforgettable. The top restaurants offer friendly servers, beautiful interiors, and a great environment, as well as great food. Tourists can visit eateries for Thai, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Italian, and Ethiopian cuisines! Be sure to taste Ugali, the national dish of Tanzania, which is a cornflour dough served with meat, beans, fish, vegetables, and sauce.
