Dakar travel guide

Thieboudienne (fish and rice)

Senegal's towering national dish and the probable origin of all West African jollof rice—whole fish stuffed with herb-chili filling placed on broken rice cooked in fish broth with vegetables; every cook's version is considered definitive

Yassa poulet

Chicken marinated in lemon juice then roasted crispy, finished in a deeply caramelized slowly-cooked onion sauce with mustard and chili; Dakar's most beloved comfort food in family restaurants and neighborhood canteens nationwide

Mafe (peanut stew)

Slow-cooked beef or chicken suspended in a thick peanut butter and tomato sauce; warming, slightly sweet, deeply savory; West Africa's most comforting dish served over rice; Dakar's boulangeries sell the accompanying crusty baguettes

Bissap juice

Chilled ruby-red hibiscus flower drink—tart, refreshing and naturally sweet; Senegal's most beloved non-alcoholic beverage drunk with every meal and at every gathering; also fermented mildly for the popular bissap vin served at weddings

Attaya (tea ceremony)

Senegal's three-glass green tea ritual—boiled with abundant sugar and poured from height creating a thick foam; first glass is bitter, second sweet, third sweeter still; sharing attaya is sharing the Wolof way of life and time itself