Kinshasa - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
There is a good variety of restaurants and many offer takeout or delivery. They are more expensive than in the US. - Sep 2024
There's a couple places in town that people would eat at, I personally got sick every time I ate at the local restaurants. Eating out was rare for us because of how expensive it is and not very good quality. For the two of us to go out and share 1 appetizer, two entrees, two drinks, and share a desert would be over $100! We also got tired of dealing with all the attitude the locals will give you, customer service does not exist here. - May 2024
Restaurants here are hit or miss. There a couple of decent Italian restaurants, (stay away from the river prawns and fish offered...), a couple of horrible Chinese Restaurants, a decent Lebanese restaurant and places where you will wait for hours end to receive your food after you have ordered it. Customer Service is an unknown concept in this country. Leave your expectations back home. - Aug 2022
There's a large Lebanese community here so it's easy to find good falafel, hummus, and other Middle Eastern foods. Expat favorites include an old Greek restaurant (next to an ancient-looking Greek Orthodox church), a few Italian restaurants, a few Indian restaurants, and a few Chinese restaurants. There are a handful of popular local Congolese restaurants. - May 2022
Awesome Lebanese and African, great Chinese and Indian, very good but sparse sushi, and pizza everywhere. Delivery is here! Once your number is in their WhatsApp, they don't even ask who you are or where you live. - Aug 2019
There are a number of good restaurants covering almost all major international cuisines, but I did get bored with almost everything after two years. Expat-favored restaurants tend to be pricy (usually $100+ for two people), but you get used to it. Delivery and take out options are growing, though ordering delivery is often a bit of an adventure since Kinshasa does not have standardized addresses. It's much easier if you're comfortable giving directions in French. - Apr 2019
There are nice restaurants with pretty much every type of cuisine (Chinese, Indian, Italian, Burger place, Greek, Portuguese,Lebanese, etc.) though it is pretty expensive. We were pleasantly surprised with the restaurant scene. There a few easy to navigate veggie stands and you can also easily have someone deliver veggies to your house. I recently heard of grocery delivery as well though haven't tried it personally. Pizza delivery is available! No American chains. - Dec 2017
I do not know as I am unable to afford to go to these places locally. I tried once and was floored when I recieved my first bill so I never went back - Dec 2017
Greek food is easy to get and great. Good restaurants are here but all are pricey. Lots of vegetarian options. Pizza, Indian, and Thai food are available via delivery. A large pizza from O'Poeta (decent) will cost you $25-$30 and it is more akin to a thin crust medium in the US. - Mar 2017
Congolese food is really bland compared to much of the local food in the rest of Africa, and the best options are grilled chicken/fish with plantains or fries. For international food, pizza is always a popular option, and there are various European restaurants running the gamut from Spanish to Portuguese to Belgian to French (all expensive). Chinese/Indian are also good options. A couple of Western restaurants have a supplementary sushi menu that varies in quality, but you won't find much in the way of other international food. - Jan 2017
There are a lot of good options and innovative new restaurants were opening when I left. Belgian bakeries were the best, but the Portuguese bread from the grocery stores, and Portuguese pizza places were excellent, too. But pricy! For beer and pizza, my family of four dropped US$100. - Sep 2016
There is no such thing as "fast" food. There are some restaurants that are faster than others, but there is no such thing as a "drive through," nor are you just going to "pop" in somewhere and get take-out in 10 minutes or less. There is a burger place called Hungabusta that is close to the US Embassy, as well as a fried chicken place called CFC - the food isn't too bad. The most popular "faster" place is a Lebanese restaurant called Al Dar - which is good and pretty cheap. There are actually quite a few pretty nice restaurants here - a couple of good Italian, Greek, Indian, Thai, Chinese etc...there is even good sushi! BUT - cost is high. A sushi meal for 2 is going to set you back at least US$100-$150. Most dinners at good restaurants are going to be close to US$50/person. You can order in pizza (pretty good pizza) for about US$25 for a large pizza and a drink. There are LOTS of good patisseries - and bread is very cheap and good. - Apr 2016
No U.S.-brand fast food restaurants but plenty of fried chicken or schwarma options. Everything is expensive with a cheap, greasy lunch easily running US$10. Plenty of fine dining options with Indian, Chinese, French, and much more cuisines. Lunch will run US$25 for cheapest options and dinner quickly mount to US$50/person without wine. - Jan 2014
No US fast food, but there are fast food joints (Nando's, Hunga Busta, Hector's Chicken, Al-Dhar, Aladin). Prices are higher than in the US, but not impossible. Good pizza for some reason is much more expensive, though it is available for delivery ($20 per pizza). - Nov 2012
Not much. Food bad and expensive. Pizzas are US$20-30. - May 2012
There are two places I can think of: Nandos and Hector Chicken. Nandos is international and it is a little ways outside of the downtown area. Hector Chicken is local. - Feb 2012
There are many good restaurants, but they are very pricey. Fast food is very limited. - Nov 2011
There are a few decent restaurants (Italian, French, Belgian, Indian, international) but do expect to pay (a 3-course dinner would easily set you off 50 USD) - Aug 2011
No fast food like America. But, there are places on the street to get a quick bite. Lots of good places to eat. Pizza is everywhere. Cost varies from very reasonable to high end ($100/person). - Jan 2011
Dinner is $25-60 per person, or thereabouts and depending on where and what. Lunch is $15-25 or thereabouts per person. This, of course, is for those who want to eat food for westerners. Those who wish to go the local route would get by at much less expense. There are plenty of restaurants. - Oct 2010
No American fast food places, but there are places where one can buy a schwarma & fries; fried chicken (not very good) and pizza and it's very expensive - the cheapest I've heard about is at O Poeta, and that's US$17 for a medium-sized just-cheese pizza. - Jan 2009
