What to Eat in Dakar (Thiéboudienne & Yassa) and Lac Rose Day Trip

In Senegal, food is the direct expression of Teranga. Even in modern restaurants across Plateau and Les Almadies, the culinary soul of the city rests on slow-simmered lunch dishes cooked in a single pot (benachin in Wolof) so every grain of rice absorbs the rich stock of fish, caramelised onions and tamarind.

Five signature Senegalese dishes and drinks to try

1. Thiéboudienne (Ceebu Jën): inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, Senegal's national dish is traditionally eaten at lunchtime. Firm white ocean fish (usually thiof white grouper) is stuffed with a fragrant green paste of parsley, garlic, spring onion and scotch bonnet (rof), then simmered in a tomato-rich broth (thiéboudienne rouge) or tangy leaf-and-tamarind broth (thiéboudienne blanc) with cassava, cabbage, carrot, aubergine and broken rice, topped with prized crispy toasted rice scraped from the bottom of the pot (xoon).
2. Poulet Yassa and Poisson Yassa: chicken or whole grilled fish marinated in lime juice, Dijon mustard and mountains of slowly caramelised onions with green olives, served over fragrant white rice.
3. Mafé: tender beef, lamb or chicken braised in a velvety, savoury roasted groundnut (peanut) and tomato sauce with sweet potatoes and okra.
4. Dibi (Dibiterie grilled lamb) and Fataya: in the evening, follow the woodsmoke to a neighbourhood dibiterie where seasoned lamb or mutton is roasted over open coals, chopped on brown craft paper with mustard, raw onions and fiery kanja pepper, alongside crispy fried fish-or-meat pastries (fataya and pastels).
5. Bissap, Bouye and Café Touba: cool down with ruby-red hibiscus flower infusion accented with mint and orange blossom (bissap) or velvety white baobab fruit nectar (bouye), and start mornings with Café Touba, dark roast coffee brewed with aromatic Selim pepper (djar) and cloves.

Half-day trip to Lac Rose (Lake Retba)

Thirty-five kilometres northeast of Dakar sits Lac Rose (Lake Retba), a shallow coastal lagoon separated from the pounding Atlantic surf by a narrow corridor of sand dunes. High salt concentration and Dunaliella salina microalgae give the water a rose-tinted hue when dry-season sunlight hits the surface around midday, while traditional salt collectors smear their skin with protective shea butter (beurre de karité) to harvest salt crystals from wooden pirogues.