Explosion of Flavours at the Dar Food Fair

Thanks to Southern Sun Hotel Dar Es Salaam and The Tanzanian Chefs Association for staging the spectacular Dar Food Fair this past Saturday at the Botanical Gardens adjacent to the hotel. Over 20 food and drink purveyors including restaurants, food suppliers and premium drink brands showcased the best Dar had to offer. If you love all things food and drink (like I do) this was an opportunity too good to have missed!

My highlights…..

Sweet Rebel Home Bakes had amazing mini quiches such as zucchini and feta cheese; butternut squash with toasted cumin; and bacon, onion and Asiago cheese. The stand also served an outstanding New York lemon cheese cake with blueberry coulis. Their freshly-baked breads made a perfect accompaniment to The Terrace Slipway’s platters of salami, speck, prosciutto and marinated olives served by Chef Eric.

Chef Mark, who recently joined Akemi Restaurant, created an innovative Swahili fusion board of ugali balls flavoured with coriander, cumin and sesame seeds; mini skewers of smoked king fish with butternut squash; plus light goat stew and matembele (sweet potato leaves) all served on top of a banana leaf. Mark also impressed me with his pots of sweet ugali (cooked with milk, butter, sugar and vanilla) and topped with passion fruit coulis. Exciting and delicious cuisine from Akemi’s new chef.

Special events at Southern Sun Hotel would not be complete without Chef Joe’s impressive barbeque stand. The perfectly marinated barbecued beef sliced and served in a bun did not disappoint! Equally impressive were the Alexandria’s beef liver with chilli and garlic, topped with tahini sauce and served in pitta bread from Chef Ayman at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel.

It was a pleasure to taste the offerings of Baobab Restaurant’s  Chef Jeroen. The melt-in-your-mouth oxtail meat (slow cooked for 7 hours) served with potato foam had amazing flavours that will stay with me for a long time. And if that was not enough, he went ‘all out’ and prepared perfectly smoked pieces of tuna fish served on the tastiest citrus couscous you will ever taste in Dar.

Wine suppliers Red n White teamed up with Chocolate Mamas, Tanzania’s only chocolate producer, to offer a new taste experience with their chocolate and wine pairing. The stand-out pairing was the Baston & Guestier Cuvee Speciale Rose wine served with cinnamon flavoured dark chocolate. Foodie heaven!

Various flavours of ice cream from Nelwa’s Gelato, together with a wide selection of cheeses from Brown’s and Njombe Milk Factory added to my foodie delights at the fair.

Look out for my future foodie bites: special blog posts featuring various ingredients, ideas and delicacies from the Fair vendors.