The best restaurants Congo Brazzaville

A garden planted with banana, safoutier, mango and lychee trees, tables lit by candle or kerosene lamp in the evening, plunge you into an intimate atmosphere. A menu as invariable as a celebration, such as the unique moringa salad or braised likouf. No stock, just the freshest, highest-quality produce. All prepared and served by Maman Ro, a person of great finesse and equal kindness. The best of Brazzaville's canteens.

After a difficult period during Covid-19, chef Honor Toudissa has relaunched his restaurant in his family compound. His kitchen is a veritable laboratory for creative dishes based exclusively on local produce. Returning to the sources of Congolese culinary tradition, Honor revisits and sublimates them in her own way, with exacting standards of presentation and original combinations of ingredients. Each of her dishes is a culinary voyage, as are her local juices and jams. Sleeping accommodation is available in a family environment.

Breakfast, gourmet break, lunch, light supper - any occasion is a good one to make a detour to La Gourmandine! Excellent coffee, ultra-fresh club sandwiches, large pastries and cakes, well-stocked pizzas, homemade hamburgers, delicious cakes and mignardises, everything is pleasant in this air-conditioned establishment. The standard, welcome and quality are the same as at Hotel Mikhael's, at more than reasonable prices, so you can give in to temptation without depriving yourself.

Small restaurant with outdoor terrace and indoor air-conditioned dining room. The menu features hot and cold sandwiches, fresh salads and local dishes such as freshwater fish broth, ginger chicken strips and sautéed carp. Breakfast formulas are also available to get the day off to a good start. The products are good, the service fast and the welcome pleasant. Occasional cultural events brighten up the place to the delight of customers. A good place to eat at any time of day.

The restaurant doesn't look like much, yet once inside, you're immediately seduced by its neat, elegant surroundings. The menu is exhaustive, ranging from European dishes to grilled meats, from Senegalese specialties to local dishes. Try thiéboudiène, rabbit simmered in red wine, or smoked fish broth with pumpkin seeds. A wide choice of side dishes: rice, safou, semolina, banana/fries, peas... However, there's little variety in the desserts, so make the most of the main course!

A small bar for aperitifs, two small wood-panelled rooms with a deliciously retro decor for dining... and it's all there: a fine menu of traditional French cuisine featuring quail, duck breast, foie gras, frogs' legs and sole with almonds. Another house specialty: papaya gratin, a true delight. Add to this delight an attractive wine list and the kindness of the owners. L'Arbalète deserves its reputation as one of Pointe-Noire's finest restaurants, without breaking the bank.

Hidden behind the wall of a large plot with a small cactus garden, lit up at night by original illuminated furniture and armchairs, La Perla is divided into two areas linked by a large modern bar: on the lounge side, where bands perform at weekends, for aperitifs or after-dinner drinks, and on the restaurant side, very bright, with pleasantly laid tables. Classic Franco-international cuisine, with no great surprises, even if it remains fresh and well-prepared. There's also a clubhouse, much appreciated by the locals.

Open since 1993, La Mandarine is a veritable institution in Brazzaville. A shaded terrace under the arcades of Avenue Foch, two air-conditioned dining rooms, another terrace at the back where a cosmopolitan clientele mingles for breakfast or dinner on the go. The main attraction is the tempting pastries and cakes, delicious viennoiseries and delicious bread. A wide variety of ice creams and sorbets. Sandwiches, hamburgers, pizzas and Lebanese dishes are also available. Too bad the service isn't up to scratch.

A vast terrace, covered and ventilated, lit up by little loupiotes when night falls, a Vietnamese team at the stove who know how to prepare good classics, with basic products and impeccable preparation, friendly service and bosses who listen to their customers: all these elements make l'Hippocampe a very good address, both for the plate and for the atmosphere. On Fridays, there's a barbecue evening, with music, cocktails and copious menus. Not to be missed!

Everyone will tell you that Ô Sympathic is a Brazzaville institution. This restaurant, opened in 2001 by a French family, offers both traditional, top-flight cuisine and fusion dishes combining French know-how and local flavors. On the menu, beef estouffade en cocotte with red wine, duck breast with tsuitéké coulis and lobster fricassee... everything is appetizing. For dessert, you'll be tempted by Turaine cream in Téké country. And the wine? Good bottles, expensive, but well worth the price. Not to be missed.

Once through the gates of this tropical garden facing the Atlantic, you enter an environment blending African and Indonesian styles. La Pyramide was one of the first establishments to be set up on the wild coast, which explains the height of the coconut palms. A cosmopolitan clientele shares an international cuisine based on grilled meats and fish, and an ever-changing menu at reasonable prices. For the more sporty, Patrick, the owner, will be delighted to introduce you to surfing.

Here, the food is simple, good and very affordable: the menu ranges from mixed salads to omelettes, from burgers and pizzas to more elaborate grilled dishes. Whether you choose the terrace, the (very) air-conditioned dining room or the central bar, which is as convivial as a hut in the middle of the bush, you'll come across a motley crew of expatriates in transit and Congolese enthusiasts. You're unlikely to dine in without making new friends, and it may just change the way you look at the city. An address not to be missed.

Mami Wata is a siren, an extremely jealous African divinity who can enter a woman's body, a beauty... just like this renowned restaurant. Before taking a look at the menu, it's worth taking the time to appreciate one of the most beautiful views of the Zairean capital. As for the cuisine: lobster, fish, world cuisine with a surprising ostrich carpaccio that's easy to appreciate, grilled meats... All fresh and tasty. Mixed clientele: wealthy Congolese, expatriates and dignitaries of the regime. A highly recommendable address.

A must for anyone wanting to sample local cuisine, Gaspard is an institution. From braised meats to brochettes and bushmeat broths, the menu offers a wide choice. The restaurant is very popular with locals and foreigners alike, so don't arrive too late if you want to choose the most popular dishes: braised fish, grilled sole or liboké. There's still some excellent saka saka left. During the day, customers sit in the closed, air-conditioned dining room, while in the evening, the terrace is packed. Pleasant service.

A restaurant dedicated to African cuisine in the broadest sense of the word, it features all the flavors of the continent in two air-conditioned dining rooms, which can be discovered in its all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. But La Source owes its reputation above all to the quality of its Ethiopian cuisine: you can eatgoret goret (lightly spiced shrimps) and other meats served on a heated stone, all accompanied by traditional ingera (Ethiopian pancake that replaces bread). Friendly welcome and efficient service.

Mess Gaps is one of Dolisie's finest restaurants, specializing in missalas sautéed in cognac or pastis. Above all, it's a meeting place where Gérard Athané, a.k.a. Gaps, and his wife Martha hold a salon and welcome visitors as guests rather than customers. Mess Gaps also offers well-maintained, fully-equipped, air-conditioned rooms with TV, hot water and a small swimming pool. Ask to visit the owner's collection of masks and fetishes, probably one of the finest private collections in the Congo.

Behind the white window window is a tiled and air-conditioned bistro, mainly dedicated to slot machines.

Small restaurant half covered, half under a canopy. It has the advantage of continuously serving. Meat in sauce, spaghetti, omelettes. In the morning it's coffee, tea and bread spreads, simple, good, cheap: a good canteen.

A painted and furnished container, a few tables on a land, a few others under a canopy, it may be the absence of music, or its discretion, or the surrounding activity that makes this minimalist configuration a pleasant and relaxing place.

There is a boats that offers 5 or 6 day dishes, classic grilled fish or fish, but also chicken/beans. It is fresh, good, at competitive prices in downtown: a lunch for the price of an espresso.