Djibouti - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
There are 5-10 restaurants that most expats go to and order from. A surprising amount of Asian fusion, French, Indian, Lebanese, Yemeni fish, a great pizza/burger joint, and one 'fancy restaurant' that everyone goes to for celebratory dinners. KiKi Drop is the new food delivery app, which has made life a lot easier on the past year or so. - May 2022
Good Indian, great French and Yemeni options. Expect long waits and pricey bills but I still miss the food. - Sep 2020
There is everything in town except fast food restaurants like McDonalds or Taco Bell. Camp has Pizza Hut and Subway and there are plenty of pizza places for take out. - Apr 2018
There are several really enjoyable and delicious restaurants. One of the oldest restaurants is Cafe de la Gare, which recently underwent stunning renovations to its dining area and they built a second-floor bar/lounge. The food is pricey ($50/pp with cocktails) but delicious, and the service is the best in town. Definitely an expat watering hole. La Gazelle is another great French restaurant located in Gabode (near some Embassy housing). The friendly owner is from Senegal (and used to be a chef at Cafe de la Gare). It's BYOB and open late. La Mer Rouge and The Melting Pot are favorites among expats for their seafood, sushi, and camel meat (!). Hotel Palace Kempinski has an outdoor restaurant named Bankouale, known for seafood, and an Italian restaurant indoors. Both are expensive but okay when you're feeling like a fancier night out. Following a terrorist bombing at a local restaurant in 2014, Embassy personnel were restricted from visiting downtown. Now however, that restriction has been lifted and we can experience some of the nightlife. La Chaumiere is a hodgepodge of Asian/French cuisine and the site of the aforementioned bombing. They rebuilt and are better than ever (with better security, too). Time Out Cafe has a restaurant downstairs and a sports bar/lounge upstairs. Color Cafe is a hole-in-the-wall local restaurant with good fish sandwiches and fries. Beverly Cafe's top floor restaurant has great views of the city and port. L'Historil is a clear relic of French colonial times, a bit rundown and overrun with cigarette-smoking French expats, but the food is decent. There's an Ethiopian spot called La Terasse down the street. You can find the open-flame Yemeni fish specialties at Jenatyn (pronounced Janna-TAIN) and Saba. For Indian, there are two restaurants - Singh's and Kurry (located near the Embassy). Near the Port of Djibouti, there's a Lebanese restaurant called Mont Liban with very inexpensive large plates, fresh juices, and hookah. Pizzaiolo is also near the Embassy and expensive -$20 for fish and chips! Allo Pizza serves, yes, pizza. A new restaurant named Urban Kitchen just opened near the airport and for now, they serve an array of coffee/desserts, hamburgers, fries, and chicken/beef sandwiches. At Camp Lemonnier, there's Pizza Hut, Subway, and the galley (Taco Tuesday, Steak Saturday, and other specialty food nights to feed the 3,000+ military personnel). So, in short, there's something for everyone! - Jun 2016
There was a "Big Boy" hamburger place here (an obvious knock off) and someone actually tried it. Other than that it's all regular restaurants and diners. And nothing in Djibouti is fast. - Aug 2015
There are some good restaurants in town, although nothing in drive-through style unless you count the roasted chickens sold outside the grocery markets. Expect to pay in the range of $12/plate to $50 for dinner. - Feb 2013
"Fast food" is non-existent here. Everything takes an hour or longer. Many people call ahead to restaurants and then swing by to pick it up. Pizza is done this way a lot. There are rotisserie chickens at many of the supermarkets. No side dishes. - Apr 2010
No fast food. There are many decent restauarants in Djibouti city. You can find gourmet French food, the - Aug 2008
There is no fast food and only one good restaurant outside of the Kimpinski Hotel. - Apr 2008
