Where can you get jerk chicken in Dar es Salaam?

At all three Caribbean kitchens in the city. Midtown serves jerk chicken with rice and peas at TSH 28,000, plus a jerk chicken and oxtail pizza and a jerk samaki for fish. Kingston 8's Portland jerk chicken comes with rice and peas, plantains and stir-fried vegetables. Velisa's does a classic jerk alongside curry goat and oxtail. Call ahead at the smaller kitchens, because a jerk that is done properly is not a fast dish.

How much does Caribbean food cost in Dar es Salaam?

It sits in the same band as any decent Dar restaurant. On Midtown's board, a jerk chicken with rice and peas is TSH 28,000, escovitch fish is TSH 27,000, oxtails with rice and peas are TSH 30,000, a side of rice and peas is TSH 10,000 and plantains are TSH 5,000. A sharing Caribbean platter is TSH 100,000. Expect a similar range elsewhere, and carry a card as well as cash.

Why does Jamaican food work so well on the Swahili coast?

Because the two kitchens are built from an overlapping pantry. Scotch bonnet and pili pili do the same job, coconut runs through both, plantain is ndizi, cassava is muhogo, and both coasts grill over charcoal and cook rice with beans or coconut. Jerk chicken next to mishkaki on the same table does not read as a fusion experiment here. It reads like two versions of the same idea.

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Jamaican and Caribbean Food in Dar es Salaam: Where to Eat

Jerk chicken, rice and peas, oxtail and rum in Dar es Salaam. The three places actually cooking Caribbean food in this city, what they charge, and why it sits so easily on the Swahili coast.

Dar es Salaam6 min readUpdated 16 September 2026

Jerk chicken with rice and peas, cooked on the Midtown roof in Masaki

Dar es Salaam is a city of Swahili grills, Indian kitchens, Omani-influenced rice and a very good seafood habit. Caribbean food is not an obvious part of that picture, and if you search for it you mostly find directory listings rather than anyone who has actually eaten the food.

So here is the real list. There are three kitchens in this city cooking Jamaican and Caribbean food properly, and one of them is us.

Why it works here

Jamaican cooking arrives on the Swahili coast with most of its pantry already waiting. Scotch bonnet and pili pili are doing the same job at the same heat. Coconut runs through both kitchens, in rice and in stews. Plantain is ndizi, sold on every other corner. Cassava is muhogo, grilled over coals by the roadside from about four in the afternoon. Both coasts cook rice with beans, and both treat charcoal as the default heat rather than a weekend novelty.

Put jerk chicken next to mishkaki and nobody at the table finds it strange. The spicing is different, the technique is close, and the two make obvious sense together.

Jerk chicken with rice and peas, which is the dish most people are looking for.

Midtown, Masaki

Area: Masaki
Type: Rooftop restaurant and lounge
Kitchen: Jamaican and Swahili
Happy Hour: Mon–Thu, 3–7pm

Full disclosure, this is us. Midtown is on the roof of Magesa Ocean View Apartments in Masaki, open to the air on all four sides, and the kitchen runs Jamaican and Swahili together rather than as two separate menus.

From the board: jerk chicken with rice and peas at TSH 28,000, escovitch fish at TSH 27,000, jerk samaki at TSH 27,000, oxtails with rice and peas at TSH 30,000, and mbuzi choma at TSH 20,000 sitting on the same page as all of it. Starters lean the same way, with Caribbean fish cake fritters and a Caribbean surf and turf mishikaki at TSH 18,000 each. Sides are TSH 10,000 for Jamaican rice and peas and TSH 5,000 for plantains.

There is a Louisiana section as well, because the kitchen's third accent is New Orleans: seafood gumbo at TSH 40,000, the Big Boy gumbo at TSH 45,000. For a table, the Caribbean Platter is TSH 100,000.

The bar is rum-led. Jamaican rum punch and a painkiller are both TSH 15,000, and there is rum cake at TSH 20,000 for afterwards. Happy hour runs Monday to Thursday, 3:00 to 7:00pm, with signature cocktails at TSH 10,000.

Escovitch fish, fried whole and dressed with peppers and onions — Escovitch fish: fried, then dressed hot with vinegar, peppers and onion.

Kingston 8, Masaki

Area: Kahama Road, Masaki
Type: Jamaican and Caribbean restaurant
Known_For: Portland jerk chicken
Best: Quiet dinners, small groups

Kingston 8 is named after the Kingston postcode and cooks what it calls a fusion of rum, jerk and coastal cooking. The dish people order and then talk about is the Portland jerk chicken, served with rice and peas, plantains and stir-fried vegetables.

The room is quiet and airy rather than loud, which makes it the better choice of the three for a dinner where you intend to have a conversation, or for a small private function. It has also run a vegetarian and vegan kitchen alongside the main operation, so it is worth asking what is available if you are not eating meat.

It is a small operation, so check the hours before you go.

Velisa's, Kawe Beach

Area: 77 Kawe Beach, off Picollo
Type: Beachfront Jamaican restaurant
Hours: Tue–Sun, 1pm–11pm
Rating: 4.3 on Tripadvisor

Velisa's bills itself as Tanzania's first authentic Jamaican restaurant, and it has the setting to match: a beachfront room at Kawe with island decor and reggae playing, about twenty minutes north of the peninsula. The menu is the full canon — jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail, rice and peas, coconut shrimp, plantains — with tofu and vegetarian dishes as well, which is rarer here than it should be.

Call before you drive out. Velisa's rates well overall, at 4.3 from more than fifty reviews, but a recurring complaint is that the kitchen can be out of stock and service thin on quiet days. It is a twenty-minute drive to be turned away from, so phone ahead and ask what is on.

Where to hear reggae

Venue: Makuti Beach Bar
Area: Coco Beach, Msasani
Hours: About 4pm to midnight
Cost: Free entry

Makuti Beach Bar on Coco Beach is the straightforward answer: a thatched beachfront bar with live acoustic sets and reggae nights, open from late afternoon until around midnight. It is on the public shore rather than behind a hotel gate, which is the point of it. There are reggae bars further north around Ununio Beach too, if you are heading that way.

One warning. O'Donovan's Reggae Bar on Buzwagi Street in Masaki is still listed as open by several websites, and is reported to have closed over a year ago. Dar's directory listings go stale quickly, so call anywhere before you make the trip.

A note on the other listings

Search "Caribbean restaurant Dar es Salaam" and you will also find names like Jerk Station, Mwani Mama, Downhill and Hookah Room Lounge. None of them has a single review, one is tagged as Mexican and American despite a Jamaican name, and we could not confirm that any of them is trading. They may well be real and worth eating at. We have simply not been able to verify them, and this guide only recommends places we can stand behind.

If you know one of them is good, tell us and we will go.

Practical

Book at weekends. All three kitchens are small, and Masaki fills up on Friday and Saturday.
Carry cash as well as a card. Cards work at the bigger places; not everywhere.
Use Bolt. Kawe is a proper drive from Masaki, parking on the peninsula is bad, and the ride is a few dollars.
Give jerk time. Done properly it is slow, so do not arrive starving and in a hurry.
Ask about heat. Kitchens here often dial down the scotch bonnet by default. If you want it hot, say so.

Finish The Day On The Roof

Sunset seating in Masaki, Jamaican and Swahili cooking, and the last of the light over the city. Message or call to book.

Book on WhatsApp Call +255 679 125 231

Common questions

Is there Jamaican food in Dar es Salaam?: Yes, though not much of it. Three places cook it seriously: Midtown on a rooftop in Masaki, Kingston 8 on Kahama Road in Masaki, and Velisa's on the beach at Kawe, which bills itself as Tanzania's first authentic Jamaican restaurant. Between them you can get jerk chicken, rice and peas, oxtail, curry goat, escovitch fish and plantains, and all three are within reach of the Msasani peninsula.
Where can you get jerk chicken in Dar es Salaam?: At all three Caribbean kitchens in the city. Midtown serves jerk chicken with rice and peas at TSH 28,000, plus a jerk chicken and oxtail pizza and a jerk samaki for fish. Kingston 8's Portland jerk chicken comes with rice and peas, plantains and stir-fried vegetables. Velisa's does a classic jerk alongside curry goat and oxtail. Call ahead at the smaller kitchens, because a jerk that is done properly is not a fast dish.
How much does Caribbean food cost in Dar es Salaam?: It sits in the same band as any decent Dar restaurant. On Midtown's board, a jerk chicken with rice and peas is TSH 28,000, escovitch fish is TSH 27,000, oxtails with rice and peas are TSH 30,000, a side of rice and peas is TSH 10,000 and plantains are TSH 5,000. A sharing Caribbean platter is TSH 100,000. Expect a similar range elsewhere, and carry a card as well as cash.
Why does Jamaican food work so well on the Swahili coast?: Because the two kitchens are built from an overlapping pantry. Scotch bonnet and pili pili do the same job, coconut runs through both, plantain is ndizi, cassava is muhogo, and both coasts grill over charcoal and cook rice with beans or coconut. Jerk chicken next to mishkaki on the same table does not read as a fusion experiment here. It reads like two versions of the same idea.
Where can you hear reggae in Dar es Salaam?: Makuti Beach Bar on Coco Beach runs reggae nights and live acoustic sets in a thatched beachfront setting, generally from late afternoon to midnight. There are reggae bars further north around Ununio too. Be careful with online listings: O'Donovan's Reggae Bar in Masaki still appears on several directories but is reported to have closed over a year ago.