Time for another round of ‘My favorite restaurants’ on Dakar Eats! Today’s recommendations come from Sharon, a mom of four who loves to bake and has lived in Dakar for 11 years.
Favorite pizza: Festival des Glaces in Hann Mariste is good, though I keep hoping for better!
Favorite hamburgers: Le Layal, downtown across from CDA
Favorite ice cream: The soft serve from the machine on the sidewalk at La Royaltine bakery and restaurant on Lamine Gueye – 1000 cfa for a huge cone of swirled chocolate/vanilla or chocolate/raspberry – whatever they happen to have on that day. Amazing! And on a hot day you can eat it inside the restaurant in the AC for the same price.
Favorite ethnic restaurant: Jardin Thalandais in Point E, Zaika Indian at Soumbedioune or the Ethiopian restaurant at Point E.
Favorite Senegalese restaurant: Chez Loutcha, hands down.
Favorite brunch: Home. 🙂 Haven’t found a better place for this yet.
Favorite little beach restaurant: The little crepe bretonne place at Almadies, right next to Le Recif. We have been going there since it was just the yellow container with 2 crepe grills. The original is all still there, but now surrounded with walls, tile floors and tables and chairs! The choco-coco crepes are worth the drive out there!
Favorite bakery: La Graine D’or has the most amazing multi-grain baguettes and their doughnuts melt in your mouth!
Favorite old standby: Can I have 3?? 1. Caesars for Chakala burgers (chicken breast on a yummy bun) 2. Le Layal, downtown, for the most garlicy chicken chawarmas and the best Zaatar ever! 3. Boulangerie Orientale, downtown, which I think has a very misleading name since it is totally about Lebanese food! I love their kibbe, kafta, fataya, fatouche salad and more!
Favorite splurge: La Terrace de Ouakam. French and other European dishes, a huge number of menu choices and some of the best sauces I have ever tasted.
If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one of Dakar’s restaurants: La Galette – because enclosed in one building are: a Take Out with delicious mini quiches and pizzas, a Bakery with mouth-watering breads and pastries, a Salon de Thé with comfort foods like huge Croque Monsieur and stir fries, and a high class French restaurant where every bite is delectable!
What is missing from the Dakar food scene: A really good Italian Restaurant. The Maison d’Italie on Ngor is good, but with a limited menu, and taking a ferry for dinner isn’t always convenient! There used to be an authentic Italian restaurant downtown called La Plaza, but there was a fire in the building and when they rebuilt it, the restaurant wasn’t there anymore. Sad. They had the most amazing homemade pastas and sauces.
Thanks, Sharon!
Dakar Eats 
Great info! Thanks! About Boulangerie Oriental, I once had a Lebanese describe himself as Oriental (in French, of course), and I understood that it means non-European/non-Western (i.e. Eastern). It confused me at first, too. I love that restaurant, btw. My favorite thing their is their fatayas, because they’re baked in their stone oven, not fried. And they’re super cheap!
I didn’t know Festival de Glace had decent pizzas. What a bummer, since we were in Dakar this weekend and picked up some burgers there before heading to Hann Park to take Isabella to play on the trampolines and jolly jumpers. I had wished I had your number so I could get a quick recommendation for something decent in Hann Mariste. The burgers were just ok, and it bummed me out to use up Weight Watchers points on mediocre food, but it sounded good when I ordered. Next time we head to Hann Park, we’ll have to try the pizza!
Angie:
Makes sense about the Boulangerie Orientale. And yes, their fatayas and kibbe are amazing. I wish their decor and ambiance were better, and there is almost always someone smoking in there. Great food tho. We had 3 pizzas from Festival yesterday and they were really good. Hope you get to try them soon!
[…] Layal specializes in Lebanese cuisine and was mentioned in Sharon’s post as having the best burgers in […]