Maquis du Bord de Mer — Togolese / Grills, Lomé
The Lomé beach maquis is one of West Africa's great informal dining institutions — a stretch of Atlantic shore lined with outdoor grills, plastic tables, and vendors carrying cold Eku beer through the sand. Maquis du Bord de Mer is the most consistently excellent of these beach operations.
The grill menu is mercifully simple: brochettes of beef and chicken over wood coals, whole grilled fish, and the roasted plantain that accompanies virtually everything on this coast. The beach grilling technique — direct coals, constant turning, a spice rub that builds up over the day's cooking — produces results that justify the simplicity.
Lomé's beach is the city's most democratic space — government ministers, university students, and market traders eat at adjacent tables with the equality that only sand can impose. The Eku beer and the Atlantic surf are the constant elements.
Friday and Saturday evenings reach the specific energy that West African beach dining achieves when the week ends and the music starts and the population decides, collectively, that this is the correct place to be.
Best Occasion: Great for Group Birthdays
Beach, brochettes, cold beer in rounds, and the democratic energy of a Lomé Friday evening. Birthday celebrations here have no ceremony and all the joy.
Best Occasion: Perfect for Solo Dining
A plastic chair, sand underfoot, a whole grilled fish, and the Gulf of Guinea at arm's length. The solo travel experience that West Africa provides better than anywhere.