Forodhani Gardens Night Market — Zanzibari Street Food, Stone Town
Forodhani Gardens Night Market is one of East Africa’s most famous street food experiences — a nightly gathering of food stalls on the Stone Town waterfront where grilled seafood, the legendary Zanzibar pizza (a locally invented fried flatbread stuffed with meat, cheese, and egg), and freshly squeezed sugarcane juice are served as the sun sets over the Indian Ocean.
The cooking at Forodhani is communal and immediate: the grilled octopus, the fresh lobster, and the island’s finest fish prepared on charcoal grills that line the waterfront gardens, while the call to prayer sounds from the nearby mosques and the dhows return to harbour. It is the most complete expression of what Stone Town is available at any single address.
The sugarcane juice freshly squeezed with ginger, lime, and the island’s spices is the food market’s most celebrated non-alcoholic drink — a preparation that uses three of Zanzibar’s greatest agricultural products simultaneously.
Forodhani Gardens is not a restaurant but it is the most essential dining experience in Stone Town: the waterfront, the grills, the Zanzibar pizza, the freshly squeezed juice, and the Indian Ocean at sunset constitute an experience that no sit-down restaurant on the island can replicate.
Best Occasion: Solo Dining
Grilled seafood at sunset on the Stone Town waterfront, surrounded by the life of the ancient city: Forodhani Gardens is one of the most naturally joyful solo dining experiences in East Africa.
Best Occasion: Team Dinner
The communal spirit of the night market — moving between the grills, sharing the Zanzibar pizza, and drinking sugarcane juice as the sun sets — makes Forodhani Gardens the most naturally team-dinner experience in Zanzibar.