Buea Travel Guide

While spending ten days in Buea in 2007, I ate a number of meals in this local restaurant. Both the food and the service were very good, and the standard of sanitation appeared to be above average. Dishes served are primarily Cameroonian and include some items unfamiliar to Western travelers, but everything I tried was excellent, and the wait staff were eager to help me select dishes. The beer was good too.

On a repeat visit in early 2010, the quality of this establishment had declined somewhat. The food was still good, but the hours of opening had become erratic, and some evenings no food at all was available.

Like most Cameroonain restaurants, this one is in a covered area outdoors.

Favorite Dish: "Vegetable" (various types of greens) and roasted chicken with sauce.

I have eaten three meals here while in Buea on business. The restaurant, located in the Chariot Hotel on the outskirts of Buea, is surely the most elegant in town (see picture), and it is a good place to entertain business associates or friends. The prices, although not at all high by developed world standards, are the highest in Buea. Unfortunately, on my visits, the food and the service have not lived up to the image the hotel is trying to cultivate. The food is fine, but not noticeably better than what is available in other Buea restaurants, and the service was indifferent. On the other hand, the restaurant is never crowded, and it's a pleasant place to spend an evening.

I ate several good meals at this restaurant while in Buea in January, 2010 and again in summer, 2010. As in many small Cameroonian restaurants, there is no regular menu; a small number of dishes are available each day and may run out at unpredictable times. The dishes Idid eat were tasty and well prepared, and the restaurant was recommended to me by Cameroonian colleaguas as having an above average standard of sanitation. There is a nice airy enclosed seating area and some outdoor seating as well.

Favorite Dish: Chicken with sauce (tomato and onion) -- a Cameroonian standard

I ate one meal in this restaurant while in Buea in January, 2010. The restaurant is associated with a lab hotel operated by students at a school of hotel management, so I was expecting great things, and the advertising showed lavish spreads. In fact, the restaurant was at best, average. Only one undistinguished dish (chicken) was available, a low number even for a Cameroonian restaurant, and the service was unenthusiastic. I ate on the porch, as the restaurant itself was uncomfortably hot.

Favorite Dish: none