Arusha has a wide assortment of restaurants and informal food joints to choose from, with Indian cuisine being the most prominent on the menu. There are also many local bars which are quite friendly and hospitable to foreigners who venture in.

Eating out in Arusha can be tasty, fun and good value!

This Arusha Restaurant Guide gives details of some of the cuisines available, as well as some recommended places to eat. Information about Tanzanian cuisine can be found by visiting our Tanzania Restaurant Guide.

Arusha Restaurant Guide

One dish that you must try here is Ugaali. It's made from a root vegetable, much like Tapioca, and is a cheap dish, regularly eaten by the locals. It is healthy, extremely filling and very tasty! Another dish, which is considered quite a luxury among the local populace, is Sukuma weeki, a curry made with lamb and spinach. The word weeki suggests its extravagance - this is something that can be afforded only once a week at the most! While these local dishes would be available in many places, try to look for the more traditional restaurants where there is a greater chance of them sticking to the original recipe.

While Arusha boasts of many restaurants and bars, the tastiest kind of food here is Indian. This is because of the presence of a huge Indian community in this city. Big Bite on Swahili Road and Ngalawa in Njiro are two of the most popular Indian restaurants. If Tanzanian fare is on your mind, then do pay a visit to Nick Bar in Njiro; their Tanzanian roast meat, or 'Nyama Choma' as it is called, is quite delectable. The price for a meal can vary from anything between US $0.80 for junk street food to $15 for a lavish main course at top-end hotels.  

While there are innumerable local bars the more spirited foreigners could frequent, the less plucky crowd prefers to hang around Via Via, which is a number of things at the same time. It's a bar situated in the area of an old German fort, and apart from being an engaging cultural centre, it's also part of an NGO involved in training local Tanzanians in the hospitality business.

For non-locals only

There are many restaurants and bars in Arusha which lack any local touch, and are a haven for those who wouldn't like too much interaction with the local population. But these are so numerous that you wouldn't miss them even without a guide!