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Karambezi Caf�: Dar es Salaam Restaurant Review

Picture this - a lovely evening, the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the smell of salt in the air. Already perfect enough, but then you add in a restaurant serving excellent seafood - meet Karambezi cafe. Located right on the ocean cliff, with a gorgeous view of the ocean and the night sky, they definitely get a 10 on ambience.


We got a wine for the table - a lovely Chardonnay that went well with our selected appetiser, as well as all the seafood we got.

For starters, we all opted for the pull apart garlic bread. As they describe it, "home baked loaf served straight out of the oven covered in cheese and herb & garlic butter". Doesn't that make your mouth water?! The flavour more than lived up to the description - it was so good that we had to order more! It was like a cheesy dream - among the top 10 garlic breads I've had. Not only was it perfectly garlicky, but perfectly cheesy too. Don't be surprised if you find me there eating this as a main meal with some wine. The only thing that we weren't too pleased about was the fact that the home baked loaf wasn't as fresh as we'd have liked. 


For the mains, I got the Karambezi fish and chips - battered fillet of fish with peri peri & coconut served with garlic sauce. My colleagues got the seafood platter - lobster, prawns, calamari, line fish, Baby White Snapper, crab claws and other delicacies served with 3 sauces; the classic fish and chips - battered fillet of fish served with homemade tartar sauce; and the king prawns - grilled King prawns served with spicy cajun.

I really liked my fish and chips - however, the portion was HUGE and I wasn't able to finish. A certain garlic bread may have been to blame. The batter was thick and flavourful, and when it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to finish, I took to eating just the batter with the garlic sauce, and the tarter sauce, which I'd ordered as an extra.

Verdicts from my colleagues - quoted verbatim.

Seafood platter: GOOD. NICE! 

Seafood platter: The prawns were rubbery, but the platter was impressive. I liked the Tilapia best. The crab was perfectly done - however, it would've been nice to get a hammer.

Classic fish and chips: Well, in the end - I got the fish and chips that I wanted. (Strangely poetic, and we've used this to express our satisfaction in multiple other contexts now!) 

King prawns: Portions were too big. Big prawns aren't usually nice prawns. It was meant to be cajun, but just had a little sprinkle of paprika. 

Seafood platter

Karambezi cafe fish and chips
Overall verdict? I loved the place! I'd love to visit in the daytime, as I bet the view is just GORGEOUS. Have you been? What did you think?

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