#TasteOfAfrica You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food, especially not in Cote d’Ivoire
Open air restaurants known as Masquis line up most streets of Cote d’Ivoire serving traditional food such as bananas fried in palm oil known locally as Alloco, attieke (a cassava based food), chicken and fish with a local tomatoes sauce. All great meals loved by the locals.
Although Cote d’Ivorie is the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans it is unfortunate for the chocolate lovers that their dishes are not ‘chocolate oriented’. Ivorian cuisine is more inclined to tubers, chicken, fish and grains.
There are a couple of foods in Cote d’Ivorie that are not commonly found in Africa, they include snails which are mostly grilled or eaten in a sauce and pan fried frog’s legs is a delicacy in the West African nation. Getting meat served in peanut sauce (locally known as Maafe) is also unique to the country.
There are restaurants that give a wider variety of food mixing local with international or catering for just local or just international food. Here are a few of the restaurants that a worth a visit for a good plate of food.
Le Grand Large
Found in the city of Abidjan the restaurant offers a variety of food. A French restaurant at heart, the place is known mostly for serving great sea food. It has been praised for having excellent service with an ability to cater for large crowds thus quite good for business gatherings. A bit pricey but worth even cent.
La Taverne Romaine
One of those that looks dull from the outside but classy with a modern interiors, Italian restaurant. With a reputation for serving excellent Italian Pizzas and great salads, the place offers a variety of Italian food and western food.
Found in the heart of Abidjan, the restaurant is known to be affordable and serves good deserts.
Montparnasse
Uniquely nice place with separate restaurants one French and the other Italian, found in Abidjan. There are fusion dishes as well.
It is a fine dining kind of experience, with prior booking a necessity since it is a busy place especially on weekends and holidays. Dark cosy interior set for fine diners.
Restaurant des Combattants
Found in Abidjan the place is a local favorite for fine African cuisine. Has an eccentric interiors with a waterfall and pond. It has pretty good escargot and manioc leaf sauce with delicious crab, fish and beef tail (sauce feuille). A huge colonial building with a wide-ranging African menu featuring escargot , sauce feuille (manioc leaf sauce with beef tail, fish and crab) and other dishes not often found in sit-down restaurants.
Allocodrome
Known for its outdoor grill and delicious barbecue and Espace 331 (Rue 12, Cocody, Abidjan), which touts the best grilled snail kebabs in Cote d’Ivorie. This is an open space, often very smoky, where you can eat cheaply typical Ivorian dishes: meat skewers, alloco , attiéké , fries , braised fish and chicken
