North African fare has long been a culinary favourite: tagines, couscous, rich goat stews, fresh vegetables combined with sticky fruits and herbs; but recently cuisines from across the entire continent are getting a good footing in the UK.
Tunisian, Ugandan, Nigerian, Eritrean and Ethiopian food all feature in our guide to London's best African restaurants.
And if you're looking for great African food on the go, then try South Africa's Bunny Chow
Tagine is the national dish of Morocco, an aromatic stew that’s simmered in a clay pot over a long period of time. Incredibly Le Rif offers them for a fiver alongside a few western dishes like spag bol. The only drawback is that the venue is unlicensed, although food is available to take away.
If asked to name a restaurant that serves African food, most Londoners will mention Momo, the glamourous Heddon Street eatery serving North African tagines and wood pigeon pastilla. There’s also a Moorish-inspired terrace for smoking shisha and a nightclub in the basement.
They’re sticklers for tradition at this Ethiopian restaurant. The menu has wot, the national dish, a spicy stew with meat, fish, vegetables or pulses, served with injera, a slightly sour, spongy bread that’s often used instead of plates and cutlery. You can eat at a conventional table or at a ‘mesob’ on the floor, and there’s a range of Ethiopian beers available too.
Given that Eritrea was once a colony of Italy it’s not unusual to see Italian dishes on menus, however it has a distinctive gastronomy in its own right. At Mosob the only trace of Italian food are desserts like tiramisu and tartufo; instead top billing is given to grilled meats and things like minchetabish, a spicy minced beef casserole with boiled eggs. Injera, a type of spongy pancake, is served with most dishes to mop up the juices.
This daytime restaurant has a mixture of Ugandan, Indian and Caribbean dishes, so you’ll find curry goat stew, charcoal grilled meats and rotis. It’s a no-frills kind of eatery, but you’ll get plentiful portions at low prices.
This Moroccan restaurant first found fame on Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word, but it’s stood the test of time. During the day it’s a café and deli popular with the local yummy mummies; in the evening couples feast on tagines and grilled meats with flatbreads. The sleek bar serves cocktails and enticing snacks like prawns tossed in harissa and chicken and almond pastilla.
The speciality here is Tunisian couscous, but Adam’s Café first became a local favourite thanks to its hearty breakfasts. It’s still open all day as a caff, but come in the evening for tagines, ratatouille and merguez.
Nigerian food is not for delicate palates, as it’s intense, often spicy and uses parts of the animal you might turn your nose up at like cow’s foot and cow’s liver. However it’s an exciting cuisine with strong flavours and great combinations of ingredients – yams and cassavas mop up stews, smoked fish and meat are cooked together, and starchy foods like semolina abound. 805 is beloved of Nigerians and therefore a great place to start; be aware it’s not cheap and cheerful however as mains are around £15, but portions are big.
If the sound of roasted chickpeas mixed with crispy dried meat, cooked in Ethiopian batter, simmered in red onion, garlic ginger and served in a sizzling clay pot doesn’t make you salivate, quite frankly what will? The Queen of Sheba is popular with Ethiopian expats and vegetarians.