Missive from the Congo 008

Originally posted on Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:15:02 +0200

Since I spoke to grocery shopping last week, this week I will cover dining out. This will be a short missive because there isn’t much to talk about. In Kisangani there are exactly four restaurants that we go to. There are others but they are either out of bounds, usually because of criminality (drugs and prostitution) or of dubious quality (and hence a health risk).

The four restaurants we do go to are:

• O’Donnell’s which is the UN welfare club. It is inside the UN logistics compound by the river. I try to get there every Friday night for happy hour. It’s a good place to meet the personnel from other sections.
• The Hawaii is our local pizza joint. The pizza is ok but just ok. Nothing to write home about so to speak. This missive notwithstanding. The place also doubles as a sports facility during the day inasmuch as there are two clay tennis courts. They are not lit at night so patio table are setup for evening meals.
• The Hellenic is the “Greek” restaurant but the only “Greek” thing about it is the name. The name comes from the fact that it is part of the Greek community center, next to the Greek Orthodox Church.
• The Pssteria is the best of the four restaurants. It has a covered patio and an air-conditioned dining room. They also have the distinction of being the only place in town where you can buy “Tembo” which a brand of beer brewed in Lubumbashi (about 1200 km south of here). I prefer Tembo to Primus though it is much more expensive ($5 vs $1.50).

O'Donnell's - The UN Social Club in Kisangani

With the exception of the pizza at Hawaii, the menus are remarkably similar. Chicken, goat, fish and some beef. There are also samosas which are a kind of deep frying pastry filled with ground beef (or at least ground meat). In terms of sides, they make very good French fries here. It must be the Belgian legacy. You can also get rice. Vegetables are hard to come by and when served come in very small portions. Not that I mind too much personally. They are what food eat after all.

Prices are generally similar with a main course costing between $10-25 USD. The Pssteria is the most expensive and O’Donnell’s the least. Pssteria has the most extensive menu (such as it is) and O’Donnell’s the least. The other two restaurants are in the middle. Needless to say that, with those prices, the only patrons are internationals such as the UN employees and well-to-do Congolese.

So I won’t starve to death but I won’t be getting very fat either. Quality and variety of meals is definitely one this I miss. I’m looking forward to some good cuisine during our holidays in January and I have already chosen the location for the first restaurant meal on my return to Canada.

Have a good week,

John