Zanzibar Monsoon Restaurant

We wanted to experience some local cuisine but didn't want to eat straight from the food market for fear of getting sick. Zanzibar Monsoon Restaurant was the perfect spot.

The food was amazing and the service was great.

We sat on little pillows on the floor in the dining area and were serenaded by local musicians.

It was a lot of fun and we left very satisfied.

Ba’arab on Wednesday and Saturday night provides one of the few regular opportunities to hear this unique Zanzibari music live.

You can buy CD’s in Memories of Zanzibar and other shops in town.

The fixed price dinner is a good buy at about TS28,000 – I had shredded chicken with mango (like a Thai salad, but not nearly as spicy-hot), grilled fresh tuna with a fruit salsa, and a date sweatmeat.

Other Restaurants and Quick Food Outlets

The music is in a big room inside – perhaps 5 m high and 10 square, with a huge stone pillar in the centre. You sit in cushions on the floor with cushions against the wall to lean – more comfortable than it sounds.

Ba’arab is a mixture of Arabic and African sounds, unique to Zanzibar.

In additional to traditional songs, the play some arrangements- Ravel’s Bolero with only a plucked horizontal string instrument and a talking drop is fascinating, - the Arabic tuning actually fits the music.

Not sure Mozart would fit as well, but who knows.