The best restaurants Rwanda

Timetable

In restaurants, service is generally from midday to 3pm, then from 6pm to 10pm. Some bar-restaurants serve late into the night (Choma'd, Sundowner, Boho...). Others offer continuous service from noon to 10pm. If you're looking for a quick bite to eat right from breakfast (Indabo Café, Fika Café, Kivu Noir, Now Now Rolex...), there's really no time like the present.

Budget & Tips

With the exception of large hotels and a handful of gourmet restaurants, the price of a meal in a standard restaurant in Kigali ranges from Frw 10,000 to Frw 25,000. Lunch in a local buffet restaurant costs between 5,000 and 10,000 Frw.

What costs extra

In cafés and restaurants, tips are left to the customer's discretion. Generally speaking, 10% is left, but if the service is non-existent or mediocre, nothing should be left.

The local way

Rwandan cuisine is not very spicy. Local restaurants usually serve goat kebabs, grilled or fried tilapias (and sometimes just the head in tomato sauce...), stews half meat and half beans. Don't hesitate to try the igisafuliya, a dish in sauce with chicken or goat and bananas, or the zingalo, tripe eaten on skewers or in soups. Make sure they are from the day. Dishes are accompanied by ugali (a kind of dough made from corn flour), cassava (made from cassava flour), matoke (cooked plantain banana), chapati (flat bread), steamed potatoes or French fries. At home, Rwandans are particularly fond of umutsima (a dish of cassava and maize), isombe (cassava leaves with eggplant and spinach) and mizuzu (fried plantains). On the go, in the street, one eats amandazi, a fritter cooked in oil, sambaza, small fish cooked in oil and swallowed whole, or samoussa (of Asian origin), these small triangles of puff pastry containing a mixture of vegetables and minced meat.

To be avoided

Food hygiene in Rwanda is generally good, but avoid tap water, raw vegetables and ice cubes in street restaurants. Bottled water (Source du Nil, Huye...) is available everywhere.

Good to know. Traditionally, people never eat in public in Rwanda. Meals are taken exclusively within the family home. Eating in the street is considered a total lack of education and/or a lack of self-respect. What is bought on the street is usually not eaten on the spot. But mentalities are changing, and today, even if a certain modesty around food remains, Rwandans hide less to eat. Sandwich shops, open canteens, cafés, restaurants and fast food outlets are proliferating in the capital and it is increasingly common to share a meal, an aperitif or a snack outside. At least for the most urban.

Smokers

Since 2013, smoking has been prohibited by law in public places, including restaurants, bars and hotels. Establishments are required to provide smoking areas. Smoking outside these areas can result in fines of up to 50,000 Frw. Shisha is also banned in Rwanda, as of 2017.