Places to eat in Benin

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Want to find some comfort in Cotonou? Head over to Livingstone's in Haie Vie. Near the airport and Novotel Hotel is a little slice of home in Benin. We only had drinks there but heard the food was good. There are peddler's trying to sell their goods while you dine/drink but when you said no, they moved on. Not a big deal. Safe area at night and many bars and restaurants down the street as well. Tell Leticia, the cutest gal with the best service there that we said hello. And she said she's from Togo. And their bathrooms were good, too.

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Who would think that Thai would be good in Benin. Yummy. Thai owner. No one speaks much English here so get your pointing finger and smiles out. We had 2 beers, crab fritters, rice, curry chicken for 12,000 cfa's. Service was okay. I think they were intimidated by our "American" presence as were we. Just smile and fake it. That will go a long way.

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Formerly named Indiana... not sure why. Being from Indiana in the U.S., it just seems odd. It was a nice welcome from the heat and hustle and bustle of Cotonou. The owner, from India, was welcoming and genuinely happy we were there. Staff were great. Food was good but we expected it to be spicier. There is a patio outside. It was too hot to sit out there for us. We ordered samosa's, chicken vindaloo, 4 beers, large water rice and naan. Total about 13,000 cfa's.

Nice place down the street from Le Livingstone.

Favorite Dish: It was all good.

At the time of my visit the Mangos were just coming into season and the trees were full of almost ripe Mangos. Everywhere I looked the roads were lined with Mango trees, villages were full of Mango trees. If only I had been a couple of weeks later…….

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Cassava is a root vegetable, similar to a yam that is grown and eaten widely in Africa. It has a high starch content but unfortunately no protein value, and forms around 30% of poorer people’s diets in West Africa as it can be easily grown and stored.
As well as being boiled and eaten as a vegetable it can be made into flour, called tapioca, or pounded into foufou. It can also be dried, enabling it to be stored for future use.
You can get Cassava served with vegetables and meat sauce in restaurants, it tastes a bit bland but no worse than our potatoes! It is more often found in the villages where people are poorer and use it as a staple food.

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Most of the bread in Benin is the French style bread which is extremely popular everywhere and widely available.
On the route between Dassa Zoume and Natitingou we passed a small roadside village where women were baking fresh bread, to sell in the market. Our driver wanted to stop and buy some so we did.
It had just come out of the big oven and was cooling down so smelled and tasted delicious!
If you are driving this route keep your eyes open for the big clay oven by the side of the road and you may be lucky enough to arrive at baking time, which is mid morning.
We paid 100CFA (about 15 pence) for a French stick.

Cashew Nuts grow wild in Benin on the trees along the roadside. My trip was in March and we had missed the main season but could still find a few cashews on the trees.
Benin produces a very small amount of the world’s cashew nut crop – about 3%, which is sent to India for processing.
You can buy fresh ones from roadside sellers.

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On our journey from Cotonou to the North of Benin we passed a few small roadside cafes where women were cooking food for passers by along the main road. We stopped at one of them so my driver and guide could get a meal but Alex didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to eat here in case it made me ill. So I waited by the road while they enjoyed a meal of pounded yams, goat curry and local cheese. Apparently it was very good!
You will pass a few of these places along the main roads between the big towns. Whether you decide to eat there I suppose is up to your own judgement. I think he would have let me eat there if I had insisted, but I decided it’s not worth risking being ill at the beginning of the trip. I would have liked to try the local cheese though! See picture 2.