Food: A Kenyan food safari – from traditional dishes to five-star cuisine

From traditional African dishes to tropical fruits and delicious seafood, Kenya has a wealth of choices for the travelling foodie

Wherever you eat in Kenya, the food will perfectly complement your surroundings. Are you sitting under the stars by a roaring fire, after a day of safari? Sensational five-star dining in safari camps in the middle of nowhere will be a gastronomic experience to write home about. Sitting in a beachside restaurant after a dip in the sea? A platter of seafood will hit the spot. Wherever you are in the country, you’re in for a treat...

Tropical flavours

You’ll need something to fill you up at the start of the day, and there’s no better breakfast treat than a few mandazi, sweet and lightly spiced doughnuts, and a cup of chai tea on the side. You’re also spoilt for choice when it comes to tropical fruit: the bananas, mangoes and passion fruit grown in Kenya positively burst with flavour – and taste a world apart from the stuff you buy at home.

A taste of the sea

It should come as no surprise that the seafood in Kenya is exceptional. With hundreds of miles of Indian Ocean coastline, the waters are a great provider when it comes to super-fresh fish. Expect to see menus filled with crab, prawns, snapper, yellowfin tuna and much, much more. Take a dhow trip on the coast and you might just pitch up on a deserted patch of beach, and eat the catch of the day cooked over a fire, with coconut rice on the side. Heaven.

Enjoy a catch of the day with a Kenyan twist

Campside dining

After a day of game drives, exploring the breathtaking Kenyan countryside and keeping your eyes peeled for the cast of The Lion King, you’ll be ready to relax over a leisurely dinner. The good news is that mealtimes in safari camps are an absolute treat – expect nyama choma (barbecued meat) that is smoky and succulent, gently spiced vegetable dishes and flaky chapatis to soak up all those juices. In the luxurious safari camps, the quality of the dining will blow you away.

Kenya for gastronauts

Dining in Kenya isn’t all about fireside barbecues – there are plenty of luxurious options for a decadent dinner. Just off the highway, Nairobi's Seven Seafood & Grill, a premium dining experience created by celebrity chef Kiran Jethwa and renowned for pushing culinary boundaries, is a popular destination for foodies. On the coast, Tamarind is a beautiful seafood restaurant in Mombasa with incredible views and an exceptional array of dishes, such as ginger crab and piri-piri prawns.

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