 | Tripoli Restaurants | Tips 1 - 10 of 23 |  |
Popular Restaurants | Other Restaurants Tips | All Tips (23) How often do you get to enter a restaurant by walking through a Roman emperor's triumphal arch? That's what you do at Tripoli's Marcus Aurelius restaurant. In winter, you'll have to be content with sitting inside and looking at the view through the windows. Come spring and tables are set up on the terrace - fantastic!
The menu at the Marcus Aurelius features all the standard Libyan dishes you'll find in most restaurants, but the cooking is quite superior to some. Soup (of course!) to start, good crisp salads and then a wide choice of meat and fish dishes, tagines, couscous, pasta and stews. I rarely eat desserts, so can't comment on those dishes but I seem to remember there wasn't a lot on offer.
I ate here twice and - after the soup and salad - really enjoyed both dishes I ordered - a fish couscous dish full of beautiful fresh fish and pumpkin chunks in a spicy broth poured over the couscous - hearty, lots of flavour - good, gutsy cooking; and a more delicate dish of fish in lemon, herbs, garlic and oil served with well-cooked pasta. Portions are generous, there's excellent fruit juices on offer, this is a popular restaurant with locals and ex-pats and deserves its reputation as one of Tripoli's best places to eat. Leave a Comment Theme: LocalPrice: US$21-30 » Currency ConverterComparison: more expensive than averageAddress: You can't miss the archDirections: The restaurant is on the western side of the arch. Entering through the arch will take you into the lower floor - the main restaurant is then upstairs.
|
 | |  |
Visiting Tripoli?
Read reviews about Tripoli Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
Everywhere you go in Libya the one thing you can be sure of is that you will find somewhere to stop for tea. Enjoying the passing parade from a teahouse in a square or a park in Tripoli, under fragrant pine trees at Leptis Magna, a roadside cafe out in the country, sitting on a blanket with Tuareg in the desert, in cool Ghadames courtyard ... wherever you are, taking time to sit and relax over a glass or two of tea is a time-honoured tradition and one to enjoy often during your time in Libya.
Your tea will be served in different ways, depending on where you are. Strong and sweet always (you'll need to say "no sugar" if you prefer it that way, otherwise it will come with the sugar already in it). If you like mint tea, ask for "chay na'ana". In Ghadames it will probably come with a spoonful of peanuts in the bottom of the glass - you can eat them when you've finished. Tuareg tea is very green and very, very frothy and may have a strong taste of desert sage - we picked our own.
It will almost certainly cost 1/2 or 1LD wherever you have it. Leave a Comment Theme: LocalDirections: The teahouse by the clocktower in the medina is the perfect place to take a break from sightseeing in that part of town, as is Gazelle Park (near the Kabir Hotel) if you're in that area.
|
| | |
Short of catching it yourself, fish doesn't come fresher than this. Glamorous it's not but lively and full of local colour it certainly is. Hoffra Fish Market, a few kilometres east of of the city centre is a favourite with locals and ex-pats alike and considered to by many to be the best fish-eating in Tripoli.
If you arrive early in the evening, as we did, the fishmongers will still be setting up their stalls with the day's catch (photo 1). By the time we left, well after sunset, the stalls were all set up (photo 2) and the place was beginning to get busy as Libyans like to eat late.
The first thing you do on arriving here is choose your fish from one of the stalls. There's plenty to choose from (photo 4) - Tuna, red mullet (photo 3), grouper, eel, whiting, dendici, squid, seawater-filled tanks of live prawns and more. It's sold by the kilo but you don't have to take it home to cook it. Once you've made your choice, your fish, prawns, etc are delivered to one of the adjacent restaurants. You take your place at one of the tables, by the window overlooking the sea if you're there before the place fills up, choose any accompanying dishes and drinks you may feel like and enjoy the feast. The only thing missing is a chilled bottle of your favourite crisp white wine, but this is Libya so you'll have to make do with something non-alcoholic.
We were taken as guests so I can't tell you the cost, but although Libya isn't particularly cheap, the meal we had would have been quite reasonable by most western comparisons and, given the quality of what we ate, must have been excellent value. If you're finding your own way there, a taxi will cost you about 20LYD for the evening, ie the return journey and waiting time. Your driver will probably be happy to help you negotiate your fish buying but will neither expect nor wish you to invite him ti join you.
Three of us shared a feast of a whole dendici, prawns and squid, grilled to a golden-brown outside and succulent white perfection inside (photo 5). Among the range of excellent salads we chose to go with it was an aubergine salad that was, without any doubt, the most delicious thing I have ever had done with an eggplant anywhere. Leave a Comment Theme: SeafoodComparison: about averageAddress: Hoffra Fish Market
|
| | |
Returning from a day in the country, on our way back in to Tripoli we passed a makeshift row of roadside stalls all selling just one thing - desert truffles, the first of the year's crop. Whilst not as intensely aromatic as the prized black truffles of Perigord or the white truffles of Italy and Istria, these desert truffles are still a wonderful treat and are highly prized. 2000 years ago they were being exported in vast numbers to Rome from the Empire's North African provinces, the Latin botanical name Terfezia undoubtedly comes from the local term - terfez - by which they are still known here. Nowadays, it's the local people who get to enjoy them - and the odd visitor like us who is fortunate enough to have a friend living in Tripoli who can cook them at home. At just 20-40LYD a kilo you can afford to buy enough for a feast.
Sauteed simply in butter and served with fresh Libyan bread - it was a feast indeed. Leave a Comment Theme: LocalPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterDirections: Truffles appear for just a few weeks in Spring - late February to March - providing there have been good rans at the beginning of the growing season back in October-November.
|
| | |
Eat here at least once, depending on the days you intend to spend in Tripoli. A rather touristic restaurant due to it's location near one of the highlights in Tripoli. (The Arch of Aurelius)
Best time is the evening when the Arch is illuminated.
A classical Libyan menu, see my other pages, but good and a perfect service.
Libyan soup, small salad dish, couscous with fish or chicken, or a traditional "Tajeen" Leave a Comment Theme: LocalPrice: US$11-20 » Currency ConverterComparison: about averageAddress: vvvvvvvvvvvvvvDirections: Tripoli center
|
Visiting Tripoli?
Read reviews about Tripoli Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
Elburai risturant (((( since 1800 ))))
1:A famous local dish is couscous, which is a boiled cereal (traditionally millet, now fairly often wheat) used as a base for meat and potatoes. The meat is usually mutton, but chicken is served occasionally from 2.500 to 5.000 LD .
2:Sherba is a highly-spiced Libyan soup from 2.000 to 3.500 LD
3:Bazin, a local speciality is a hard paste, made from barley, salt and water from 2.000 to 4.000 LD
couscous ,Sherba ,Bazin,Libyan tea Leave a Comment Theme: OtherDirections: Elburai risturant . trig- alhelga No 38 tripoli -libyaOther Contact: Tel- 4443556
|
This Lebanese restaurant served what turned out to be the best meal we had during our stay in Libya. The food was excellent, reasonably quick service and the staff were very friendly.
We ordered
* Swarma (chunks of meat grilled on a spear)
* An extra potato dish (which turned out to be ordinary fries)
*Tabuleh (a salad of cracked wheat with lemon and tomatoes)
*Felafel (chick pea patties). We ordered one each, but really only needed one between us as there were nine on the dish!
*Baba ganoush (a mixture of mashed aubergines and spices)
Everything was absolutely delicious, it is hard to pick a favourite.
Bowls of freshly made bread kept appearing throughout the meal, and we were even given a small bag of them to take away. Leave a Comment Theme: Middle EasternPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: about averageAddress: Sharia al-Gargaresh, TripoliPhone: 4776978
|
Diafa Fish Restaurant is one of the nicest restaurants in Libya. The food, which is predominantly seafood, is excellent and the service is very good too and will come as a pleasant surprise if you have been used to the standard of service in the Funduq al-Kebir's restaurant. The restaurant is also nicely decorated, which makes it a nice place to spend an evening.
This restaurant is probably the most popular one on Tripoli for groups of foreign tourists and so it is usually fully booked. It is, therefore, advisable, to make a reservation. It is also expensive by local standards. You need to be aware that the price given for each fish is per 100gm, even though this is not stated on the menu. The stuffed squid is excellent and reasonably priced. Squid is the cheapest seafood everywhere on the Libyan coast.
The Diafa Fish Restaurant is less than a kilometre from Tripoli's fishing harbour, so the fish is always fresh here.
I would say that if you are looking for somewhere to go out in the evening in Tripoli, then this is a good choice. Leave a Comment Theme: SeafoodPrice: US$11-20 » Currency ConverterComparison: most expensiveAddress: Sharia al-BaladiyaPhone: 021 444 5757Directions: Behind the Funduq al-Kebir, near Green Square.
|
| | |
Safir Restaurant is one of the most famous restaurants in Tripoli. It describes itself as a 5* restaurant. It serves a range of high quality North African dishes, incluidng tajine and couscous. The average price of the salads is 2.75 LD, the soups 3 LD and of the main dishes 14.50 LD.
It is just along the road from Diafa Restaurant and it is popular with foreign visitors too, but as there are two floors, there is no need to make a reservation. The staff speak excellent English. One of their specialities is stuffed quail, but In a city where it is not easy to find a restaurant serving rice, the best dish is the seafood paella. Leave a Comment Theme: LocalPrice: US$11-20 » Currency ConverterComparison: more expensive than averageAddress: Sharia al-BaladiyaPhone: 4447064Directions: Behind Funduq al-Kebir, about 50 metres along the street from Diafa Fish Restaurant
|
You can ask about the Libyan cuscus with the camel meat its my favorite dish Leave a Comment Theme: AfricanPrice: less than US$10 » Currency ConverterComparison: least expensiveAddress: Street Ahmed Al Sharef / Al DahraPhone: 218 21 3338821
|
|
|
on February 6, 2007
on November 14, 2007
on August 26, 2002
on May 1, 2005
on March 23, 2007
