This is a basic Kibanda on the beach in Malindi. I was drawn to the place by the wonderful smell of chapatis being freshly made (mmmmmmmm yum) that was wafting up from the cafe across the curio village and up to the balcony of the room where I was staying in Gillani guest house.
Favorite Dish: The chapatis tasted even better than the smell, but the podjo I ate there was excellent and cost next to nothing. I was so impressed with the podjo and two chapatis I ate that I went back the next day and had exactly the same thing and it was as good as the previous day.
Updated Jan 14, 2009
Address: Malindi beach
Love this place. Good service, great choice, including all my favourite swahili snacks such as Bhajia, Mkate kwa Morfa, Viazi, Samosa, Mahamri and loads of other stuff I havent a clue what they are called. Everything was fresh and it was all riculously cheap.
Updated Jan 10, 2009
I ended up eating here on a few occasions on my short stay in Malindi. This a really clean, top quality Swahili restaurant selling all the usaul coastal delicasies. Biriani, pilau, etc.
There are plenty of other similar smaller places sacttered around town where you can pick up bhagia, rice cakes, and mkate kwa mofa.
Favorite Dish: Maharagwe chapati.
Updated Feb 25, 2008
Address: Kenyatta Rd
The Palentine is a Swahili gaff that sells all the basics meals and snacks and has the added bonus of being open 24 hours a day. So if you are feeling a little bit peckish while you are staggering back to your gaff from a good session at the Open View or Wananchi you can pop in for something to eat on the way. Smart!
Favorite Dish: Mbaazi for breakfast
Written Jan 24, 2008
hi all,
My wife and I recently spent a week in Malindi in November 2007 at the Coral Key Beach Resort.The resort is amazing and its really really well taken care of. You'll have a brilliant holiday there.
The restaurants in Malindi are nice and a good place to visit is Karen Blixen.The owner takes personal care and food is really really good. We ate there twice in our holiday and were impressed both times.The pepper steak is exceptional.
Never EVER eat at a place called Bar Bar in City Centre Malindi.We had the misfortune of eating there one lunchtime.
The staff are lazy as hell and they must get it from the owner who was rude to everyone( including staff) and had no time for anything except reading the papers and his flock of call girls.There were three of them on his table when we visited.
We ordered the meat lasagne and a sandwich.The sandwich was really good but the meat lasagne was stinking and hence we returned it. The staff also agreed that meat seemed off.Lo and behold to our surprise the bill came and we were asked to pay for the lasagne that we had returned because according to the owner its the way Italian Lasagne is meant to be.He actually had the audacity to ask us if we had ever been to Italy.We have never been to Italy but know for sure that no where else in the world do they serve meat that stinks and say that it's supposed to be that way.Not surprisingly when we offered to pay for it, provided he had a couple of mouthfuls and swallowed them, he started swearing at us in Italian and asked us to leave the restaurant.He even proceeded to tear up the bill saying since we wanted it for free, we can have everything for free.
The same owner once owned Jacaranda Resort in Watamu that closed down within a few weeks of opening and I would not be surprised with the attitude he had.The same resort is now run by different people and its flourishing and in fact they even expanded the resort again this year.
Visit this eatery at your own risk.................
Favorite Dish: Sandwich was really good and fresh.
Be carefull about having any meat dishes here as they seem to prefer storing meat for a long time.
Updated Jan 8, 2008
Address: Lamu road malindi opposite Malindi Casino
Like already mentioned, there is significant colony of the Italians living in Malindi area and its surroundings. Most of them are restaurant or casino holders. This restaurant is situated on the main road and right in front of it there is seashore (see the pictures bellow). Unfortunatelly, I didn't catch the name of the restaurant but it's easy to find it.
Favorite Dish: There was already a few Italians in the restaurant and they confirmed me the food is good. The owner of the restaurant is Italian, aswell as the cook. We ordered different kind of dishes, steaks, grilled meat, beefsteaks and fish and all of it was very good. The price was very cheap, actually, we paid approximately 6 euros each, drinks included.
Written Sep 15, 2006
Address: Malindi
A gem of a restaurant! This little place is wonderful: it's located in a small house in moorish style and in the distance you can see the vasco da gama monument/pillar. It's also a very intimate and romantic place.
Favorite Dish: We had some smoked sail fish as a starter and it was really tasty - but the highlight came from the lobster: perfectly grilled and delicious. As a dessert there was a trio of tropical fruits sorbets - a bit risky, given the fact that we couldn't be sure that the water had been purified - but we could not resist: our tastebuds and stomach rejoiced - nothing nsty happened.
Written Nov 22, 2003
Address: Beach Front Road, Malindi
Phone: 254-123-31106
The restaurant looked normal - neither too dirty, nor too clean... average I would say. originally we had planned to have lunch at the Old Man and the Sea - which had just closed - so we opted for the Baobab - which the Lonely Planet seemed to praise. Once again the guidebook proved to be totally untrustworthy
Favorite Dish: My frienf ordered grilled scampi - and I fish in coconut sauce. All I can say is that the fish looked old and smelled even older. We did not eat it. The staff must have known it beforehand - as we were not charged for the meals we sent back.
Written Nov 22, 2003
Address: P.O. Box 5068, Malindi
Phone: (254-123)20439
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Reviews and photos of Malindi attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Malindi sightseeing.

The restaurant looked normal - neither too dirty, nor too clean... average I would say. originally we had planned to have lunch at the Old Man and the Sea -...
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