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Eat Zanzibar

Spiced rice, grilled seafood and Swahili sweets

Markets & street food

After sunset the seafront park fills with grills: seafood skewers, samosas, cassava and sweet potatoes. Agree prices before you order.

Stone Town

Darajani Market

Stone Town’s main food market since 1904: fish, fruit, grains and spices. Go in the morning for the bustle.

Restaurants with a view

Stone Town

Emerson Spice Tea House

A rooftop restaurant above old Stone Town serving Swahili high tea, lunch and dinner with sunset views. Book ahead.

Book ahead

Michamvi Pingwe

The Rock

A restaurant on a rock in the sea off Michamvi Pingwe, focused on seafood with Italian cooking. You may walk at low tide and need a boat at high tide. Serves alcohol.

Book ahead

Stone Town

Old Fort courtyard

A simple restaurant inside the fort’s walls; good for a cold drink between sights.

Swahili flavours

Pilau

Rice cooked with coconut, nuts and whole spices, brought by Omani, Yemeni and Persian settlers.

Biryani & curries

Indian-rooted dishes adapted to local fish, coconut and spices.

Samosas

Called sambusa or samoosa, sold hot on every corner.

Seafood

Octopus, kingfish, prawns and lobster, grilled or in coconut curries.

Eat more

Pilau

Biryani

Samosa

Octopus curry

Grilled kingfish

Cassava

Coconut rice

Fresh mango

Spiced tea

The January plate

Grills by the sea

Hot days end with cool sea air: January evenings are made for seafood skewers at Forodhani and a cup of spiced tea.

Muslim traveller note: local food is halal and alcohol-free. In beach resorts and international restaurants, ask about pork and wine in cooking.

04 Mosques & Muslim traveller notes

06 Culture, design & architecture

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City guides, month by month. Every place checked, with halal food and prayer notes in every guide.

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