Hello, I spent several days in Kinshasa back in early 2007. Good luck and enjoy your stay. Here is what I reported back from my dining experiences there:
Having returned alive and very well from Kinshasa, where I managed to avoid shootouts and other violence, I can heartily recommend several places. First of all, Kinshasa is an expensive city to visit, given that virtually everything is imported and the vast majority of foreigners are either with the UN (there are 17,000 UN troops in DRC) or with the mining or timber industries, and on generous expense accounts. The Grand Hotel (where Muhammad Ali and George Foreman stayed for the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974), appears not to have been updated in decades, and still charges New York City rates. It should really be renamed the "Not-So-Grand Hotel".
Safety is a major issue in Kinshasa. You will want to be very careful where you go. Expats in the city avoid walking even short distances. Heavily armed guards are posted in front of most major businesses.
The enormous Congo River, featured in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," provides for untold thousands of people who live in villages along its banks, as well as on barges and in floating villages, on the upper decks of freighters that partially sunk in the uncharted waters, and in shacks erected on stilts perched precariously on the river's sandbars. A huge variety of fish abounds in the river, and many people subsist on both fresh and smoked fish, sold in stalls all over.
Local seafood delicacies include: "Capitaine," a large, white-fleshed river fish, prepared baked, grilled, etc. with or without a variety of sauces, and "Cossa-Cossa," a local species of large shrimp served grilled, boiled or in stews. Both are fabulous.
Several great restaurants: "Chez Gaby" for Portuguese dining, at 9/B, Avenue de la Mongala, tel. 081 99 04 213, restogaby@yahoo.fr; "Le Cercle Gourmand" at 441 Avenue du Cercle, tel. 81 71 55 252 and 081 71 55 253; and "Restaurant La Piscine" on Avenue Bokasa, tel. 81 50 48 250 or 81 50 93 0005. For the freshest and tasties "Cossa-Cossa," there is a casual place called "Cecilia" near the employee residences for UTEX Africa, tel. 081 087 03 23 and 099 99 54 850. Enjoy!
Hello, I spent several days in Kinshasa back in early 2007. Good luck and enjoy your stay. Here is what I reported back from my dining experiences there:
Having returned alive and very well from Kinshasa, where I managed to avoid shootouts and other violence, I can heartily recommend several places. First of all, Kinshasa is an expensive city to visit, given that virtually everything is imported and the vast majority of foreigners are either with the UN (there are 17,000 UN troops in DRC) or with the mining or timber industries, and on generous expense accounts. The Grand Hotel (where Muhammad Ali and George Foreman stayed for the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974), appears not to have been updated in decades, and still charges New York City rates. It should really be renamed the "Not-So-Grand Hotel".
Safety is a major issue in Kinshasa. You will want to be very careful where you go. Expats in the city avoid walking even short distances. Heavily armed guards are posted in front of most major businesses.
The enormous Congo River, featured in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," provides for untold thousands of people who live in villages along its banks, as well as on barges and in floating villages, on the upper decks of freighters that partially sunk in the uncharted waters, and in shacks erected on stilts perched precariously on the river's sandbars. A huge variety of fish abounds in the river, and many people subsist on both fresh and smoked fish, sold in stalls all over.
Local seafood delicacies include: "Capitaine," a large, white-fleshed river fish, prepared baked, grilled, etc. with or without a variety of sauces, and "Cossa-Cossa," a local species of large shrimp served grilled, boiled or in stews. Both are fabulous.
Several great restaurants: "Chez Gaby" for Portuguese dining, at 9/B, Avenue de la Mongala, tel. 081 99 04 213, restogaby@yahoo.fr; "Le Cercle Gourmand" at 441 Avenue du Cercle, tel. 81 71 55 252 and 081 71 55 253; and "Restaurant La Piscine" on Avenue Bokasa, tel. 81 50 48 250 or 81 50 93 0005. For the freshest and tasties "Cossa-Cossa," there is a casual place called "Cecilia" near the employee residences for UTEX Africa, tel. 081 087 03 23 and 099 99 54 850. Enjoy!
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