Dakar eats what the Atlantic delivers each afternoon: thiof grilled over charcoal, thiéboudienne built on broken rice and fermented yet, bissap and baobab juice on every corner. Three days from Kermel's iron market hall to the fish shacks of Ngor.
Dakar's 1860 colonial iron-and-glass hall, rebuilt after the 1993 fire: the floor is fish, mango and hibiscus for bissap, the outer ring sells nététou fermented locust bean and yeet sea snail. Open 07:00–19:00 daily.
Cape Verdean–Senegalese canteen on Rue Moussé Diop, open since the 1980s, serving a rotating daily plat: yassa poulet, mafé in groundnut sauce, cachupa on Saturdays. Portions land on shared platters with a jug of iced bissap.
The Medina's everyday market on Avenue Blaise Diagne, where Dakar households buy diaxatou bitter aubergine, dried guedj fish, kani chilli and the yet paste that gives thiéboudienne its funk. Spice sellers grind rof stuffing to order.
Pirogues beach their catch at Soumbédioune from about 16:00, and the grill huts behind the sand cook thiof, capitaine and sole over charcoal with onion-yassa sauce and attiéké. You pick the fish, it is weighed, then it hits the grate.
The Plateau branch of Dakar's long-running French bakery chain turns out croissants beside Senegalese pastels and nems, while the corner carts pour café Touba — coffee ground with djar pepper and cloves, served scalding and sweet.
Rue Vincens dining room built around Senegalese classics: thiéboudienne rouge on broken rice, thiou stew, and caldou fish in a lime-and-onion broth. Finish with sombi, the coconut-milk rice pudding. Lunch service from 12:30.
Sicap's sprawling produce and spice market: sacks of niébé cowpeas, baobab pods for bouye juice, dried hibiscus for bissap, kinkeliba leaf tea and slabs of orange palm oil. Butchers at the rear cut lamb shoulder for dibi.
Boat-shaped seafood house on stilts over the Petite Corniche Est, in business since the early 1970s, with a wooden pier, oyster platters, langouste and whole thiof grilled to order. Mains run roughly 12 000–25 000 FCFA.
Breakfast Dakar-style at the Ngor jetty stalls: bean-and-egg tapalapa sandwiches with fried onion and chilli, then a five-minute pirogue crossing to Île de Ngor for grilled prawns and cold bouye juice at the beach shacks.
Ouakam's dibiteries fire their wood ovens by late morning: lamb shoulder roasted whole, chopped on a block, dusted with kani chilli and mustard-onion, then handed over on brown paper with tapalapa bread. Eaten standing, no cutlery.
The grill tables strung along the Almadies point, the westernmost land in continental Africa, cook whatever the morning pirogues brought in — sole, thiof, gambas — with attiéké and a sharp citrus-onion sauce, served on the rocks.
Ngor beach shack turned sunset bar: cold Gazelle lager brewed in Dakar, fresh ginger juice, and punch coco, served with grilled prawns as the last pirogues come in. The terrace faces the island and fills up after 18:00.