5 great African restaurants in Edinburgh
From brunch spots to hearty meals, Edinburgh’s African restaurants are packed with punchy flavour
Kuba
1 Dundee Street
Edinburgh Printmakers is home to galleries, workshops and this spacious café. Kuba’s brunch/lunch menu of freshly cooked options seem conventional enough but deeper exploration reveals a number of African touches such as Ghanian shakshuka or ful medames stew. Keep an eye out for their monthly jollof Sunday roast.
Marobert's
7 Dublin Street
After years selling Tanzanian spice mixes and sauces, MaRobert’s opened a permanent café. There are just a handful of tables and high stools inside to enjoy intensely spiced chickpea curries and blackened chicken thighs (and the hope of nyama choma on the daily-changing menu).
Muna's Ethiopian Cuisine
8 Gillespie Place
A little slice of Ethiopia where meals are based around injera: the sour, yeasty and delicious pancake-like bread which serves as an edible plate to tear, dip and dunk into deeply flavoured wots (spicy stews). Order a combo platter to try as many as you can.
Phriends Food
16 Morrison Street
It’s not about aesthetics at Phriends: it’s 100% about flavour. If you’ve got cravings that only jollof rice or waakye will satisfy, this is the spot for you. Rich and creamy peanut soup has a chilli kick, softened by a dense ball of fufu and the menu is a lesson in Ghanaian cuisine.
Uwagboe's Kitchen & Grill
250–252 Leith Walk
This restaurant hosts a steady stream of hungry people picking up evening takeaways as well as filling up its comfy seating area, proving its popularity with the Nigerian community. App-based table ordering is a tall order for the uninitiated, so ask the friendly staff for help before tucking into spicy soup or smoky jollof rice.
Picture: Roseanne Tye.
This article is written in partnership with Glenfiddich.