Tripoli Restaurants

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Al Ghazala Restaurant is a an upmarket city centre restaurant that specializes in pasta and seafood. I ate the mixed grilled seafood, which was fish, shrimps, prawns, squid rings, rice and french fries, with a candle in an onion! It was OK, but the fish was not fresh that day, maybe because it was a Friday. There is live music here some nights but, again, not on a Friday. Expect to pay about 25 LD per person. The food is well-presented and the service is OK, but they seemed reluctant to bring me my bill so, in the end, I went to the cash desk and paid it. Incidentally, this is one of the few restaurants in Libya where credit cards are accepted.

Ghazala means gazelle, but that's not on the menu.

On the shore of Mediterannean sea, in the North-west of Tripoli I had the pleasure to find one of the best restaurants. A friend told me about the restaurant. Situated in Gergarish area, 7Km, in front of Gofran Mosque and on the side of the sea, the restaurant offers a very intimate atmosphere. The specific of the restaurant is Sicilian and the chef is trully one of the best. The quality of the service combined with the elegance of the place complete the very good impresion on the restaurant.

Favorite Dish: The Fish Soup was marvelous as the ingredients were very fresh. The lobster with spaghetti were the best I have ever eaten as again evething was very fresh and very well cooked.
My favourite desert Tiramisu , was better even than in Sicily.

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In the old city of Tripoli is a restaurant at an absolutily stunning location, just beside the Marcus Aurelius Arch. You can enter the restaurant at the lower floor by walking through the arch first. When I visited the arch during daytime, I took the chance to look around in the restaurant and its terrace as well. Unfortunatily I had not enough time in Tripoli to eat here myself.

Favorite Dish: Though I didn´t eat here, I had a look at the menu and saw a big choice in Libyan dishes like tagines and couscous with meat or fish, soups, salads and desserts. Fellowtravellers who had here their dinner told me it was of good quality.

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The first evening we walked into the medina of Tripoli and found this lovely restaurant at the lifely square of the clocktower or Essaa tower. Outdoors at the terrace you can drink your tea or coffee or smoke the waterpipe.

The interior of the restaurant has warm red and yellow colours. We had our dinner at the first floor with a splendid view at the square. Two musicians were playing oriental life-music just close to our table. The friendly waitors told us they came originally from Morocco. It was a rather popular place with many visitors, a mixture of locals and tourists.

Favorite Dish: The restaurant serves varied Libyan dishes.
We took a delicious soup, salad, hummus, mixed meat and fish.

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.

Favorite Dish: 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"

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The Tripolis Restaurant is one of the finest in Tripoli. It has a beautiful location on the first floor of a restored Medina house, a good view of Tripoli harbour, top class service and excellent food. The spicy fish soup is delicious. My favourite dish, however, was the salt-baked fish. This is a whole fish, baked in a crust of salt. When the crust is broken open, the fish inside is succulent and, surprisingly, not in the least bit salty.

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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.

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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.

Favorite Dish: 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.