Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
they are sometimes tougher than we are used to (free-range meat usually is). In remoter
areas, hotels tend to offer a set menu. This can cost as little as £0.90/€1.10/US$1.30. At
the upper end you can expect to pay around £10/€12/US$15 for that special treat. There is
generally not much variation in price between typical tourist restaurants.
The national dish in Madagascar is
romazava
(pronounced 'roomazav'), a meat and ve-
getable stew, spiced with ginger and containing
brèdes mafana
('bred mafana') - tasty,
tongue-tingling greens. Another good local dish is
ravitoto
('ravtoot'), shredded manioc
leaves with fried beef and coconut . Volker Dorheim adds: 'if you like your food really
spicy ask for
pimente verde;
if this isn't hot enough ask for
pimente malgache
'.
Independent travellers on a tight budget will find Chinese restaurants in nearly every
town; these are almost always good and reasonably priced.
Soupe Chinoise
is available
nearly everywhere, and is filling, tasty and cheap. The Malagasy eat a lot of rice, but most
restaurantscatertoforeigntastesbyprovidingfries.Awayfromthetouristroutes,however,
mostdishesareaccompaniedbyastickymoundofrice(sometimesembellishedwithsmall
stones, so chew with caution!)
Local dishes
For a real Malagasy meal, eat at a
hotely
. These are often open-sided
shacks where the menu is chalked up on a blackboard:
henan-omby
(beef),
henan-borona/
hen'akoho
(chicken),
henan-kisoa
(pork),
trondro
or
henan-drano/hazan-drano
(fish), all
served with
vary
(rice). Other dishes include:
tsaramaso
(rice with beans and pork),
vary
sosoa
(rice pudding/porridge),
mofo boule
or
mofogasy
(doughnut-like bread rolls made
from rice), and
koba
(rice ground with peanuts and banana, wrapped in a banana leaf and
served in slices). For a more detailed rundown of Malagasy cuisine, see the box on
Click
Along with the meat or fish and inevitable mound of rice comes a bowl of stock. This is
spooned over the rice or drunk as a soup.
Thirst is quenched with
ranovola
obtained by boiling water in the pan in which the rice
was cooked. It has a slight flavour of burnt rice, and since it has been boiled for several
minutes it is safe to drink.
Fordo-it-yourself meals thereisagreatvariety offruitandvegetables, eveninthesmal-
lest market. A selection of fruit is served in most restaurants, along with raw vegetables or
crudités
. From June to August the fruit is mostly limited to citrus and bananas, but from
September there are also strawberries, mangoes, lychees, pineapples and loquats. As an
extra special treat you may come across mangosteen (see box on
Click Here
)
. Slices of
coconut are sold everywhere, but especially on the coast where coconut milk is a popular
and safe drink, and toffee-coconut nibbles are sold on the street, often wrapped in paper
from school exercise topics.
