Kololi Restaurants

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This restaurant is located next to the entrance of Holiday Beach Hotel. It was formerley the Bush Garden. The steaks are delicious as are the other dishes which include chicken, pork and fish. The menu is select and therefore does not take ages to decide. The proprietor is a lovely Gambian lady and her staff are amazing, so friendly and enjoy a good laugh with clients while not forgetting that they are working hard. The live music is great, we saw 3 different trio's on different nights and enjoyed every one. It is background music and during a quiet spell the waiters give a little floor show. I think that by the end of the season this place will be among the top restaurants in Senengambia.

Favorite Dish: Prime Tenderlion of beef (fillet). Just about the best steak I have tasted in years. So tender and flavoursome. Cooked to your liking all the way through. What more can I say, give it a try.

The menu contained all the traditional and famous African dishes like domoda, yassa (with either chicken, fish or meat) and benechin.

You could also order fresh exotic fish like butterfish, Captainfish and Ladyfish.

The ambience and surroundings were cosy, attractive and nice. It is an outside/terrace restaurant, so people eat out (it is enough warm in Gambia even nighttime). Colouring is nice; African yellowish, and the waiters wear yellow shirts so you can really recognise them.

This time it doesn't matter that the restaurant is full of tourists (we usually avoid touristic places). African Queen and especially its service made it our favourite restaurant in the Senegambia area (the tourist area belonging to the Kololi village).
The guys always had time for a smile, laugh, joke, handshake or a couple of words.

Favorite Dish: I really recommend you the yassa. But watch out and have lots of to drink beside you - yassa is ususally very hot and spicy.

From my journal:

"In the evening we had a table booked at Liao Thai Restaurant. Arranged a taxi to take us there, wait, and then take us home.

We had a lovely table in a little courtyard by a small pond with koi carp, plants and an Oriental bridge acros it leading to an aviary.

The only drawback was the appearance of a bunch of unruly children running amok. No parental control. We were expecting a splash any minute, but it didn't happen. Unfortunately.

The food was buffet, which was good.

Favorite Dish: My favourite was deep fried prawns with plum sauce. I had already helped myself twice to many of the dishes, when the owner came along and told us that the main courses were around the corner.

There was a choice of chicken, pork, prawns, fish and beef, which was freshly fried for you with your choice of sauce.

Deessert was deep fried banana.

All very nice."

From my journal:

"We asked if we could sit inside as it was rather cold outside, and they were very obliging, moving a table from the terrace to the inside corner of the restaurant, but I think it was the waiter's first night. Watching him trying to lift a roll on to the plate the silver service way was hilarious. By the time the roll had actually got on to the plate, it was more like a pancake.

Taking the order was a palaver, and had to be repeated several times, and trying to make him understand that we wanted two seperate bills was almost impossible. When the bill came, David and I ended up with all four main courses and my parents with the desserts.

My father went to bed before the dessert as he wasn't feeling well. When the waiter brough the dessert menus, he came over with three, gave me one and went back with the other two."

Favorite Dish: Trying to keep a straight face when the poor waiter was attending to us, was almost impossible. He was so eager to please, but obviously had no idea. It did not put a damper on the visit, quite the opposite - we all have to start somewhere!

All the food we had was excellent, and we went back to this restaurant twice more afterwards.

This covered café / restaurant is set right by the pool and is ideal for daytime snacks.

Favorite Dish: I had an African dish of ocra formed into little nuggets and deep fried, served with a bitingly hot chilli sauce. Delicious!