New shipment at Dior Diarama!

Layal coffee in Dakar

We went on a breakfast date, but didn’t exactly find what I expected. I’d heard good things about Café Layal and thought it sounded like a good place to grab an omelette and coffee.

Apparently though, there’s Café Layal as in the place where coffee is roasted and sold, there’s the boulangerie Layal where the best pita bread in town comes from, and then there’s also Le Layal, their restaurant which Jenn reviewed here. So we were standing in front of Café Layal, expecting omelettes but only seeing large containers of freshly roasted coffee.

Photo from Layal’s Facebook page

When you’re us, coming across freshly roasted coffee is never a bad thing. So we went in and started talking with the woman behind the counter.

An hour later we walked out after having sampled beans from every single roast, buying five kilos of our favorites and enjoying a complimentary espresso from the Mexican roast that the woman thought we’d under-appreciated. (She was right! Next time…) We were thrilled to find coffee we loved at a reasonable price, plus supporting local businesses is always our preference.

Here’s what you should know:

- Café Layal roasts coffees every Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

- If something’s not fresh, they won’t sell it to you.

- They love coffee and spilling the stories behind their beans.

- Current stock includes Guatemalan (our favorite!), Mexican, Guinean, Ethiopian, Brazilian, Vietnamese…

- You can also find their coffees at Cafés du Monde downtown and in some grocery stores around Dakar, like Hoballah’s (Le Parcours / the French Fry store) on the Corniche.

- They are the exclusive Dakar distributors of Lino’spresso dosettes, which are compatible with Nespresso machines, but much less expensive.

Café Layal
44 rue Paul Holle, near Lamine Guèye

They do not offer delivery service, but for orders over five kilos, they’d consider it. But half the fun is going down there and talking coffee! The other half, I’m enjoying right now.

Today at CityDia

CityDia is having a ten-day sale on many popular items. They will be open the mornings of April 1st (Easter Monday) and April 4th (National Holiday). Here’s what caught my eye at their Mermoz location…

Yellow lemons! Also in their produce section, they have nice ‘long’ celery and a selection of grapes (seedless even) on sale for 2,800cfa/kilo.

I haven’t yet tried this Tunisian sauce that looks like a mayo/ketchup cross, but I hear it tastes just like hot wing sauce. So pick up a bottle and call Poulet Express!

Also, Calvé mayonnaise (my favorite) is marked down about 500cfa for the medium sized jar.

Local organic strawberries are cheaper than the fruit stand!

Chicken: delivered.

Last week my friend took me to Poulet Express, a small shop tucked away on a side street near Sandaga. I was just tagging along, but when she said their chicken breasts were only 5,500cfa/kilo, I couldn’t pass that up.

When they brought out my kilo of chicken breasts, I recognized the label as one I’d bought before and really liked. Good price and good quality? Score.

But then it got better. The kind woman behind the counter said something I love to hear. “We deliver.”

I don’t mean to sound jaded, but sometimes ‘delivery’ in Dakar isn’t exactly what we’re used to coming from the land of ‘under-thirty-minutes-or-it’s-free’. So I decided to test it out.

11:28 am
Call Poulet Express. Place order with a very nice man who spoke clearly and politely. Give directions to the delivery guy, who was also friendly. Was told to expect delivery in 30 minutes. No mention of it being free if not

12:05pm
Hmm…

12:15pm
My phone rings. It’s the driver asking for a clarification on the entrance. I hung up, wondering if he had even left Poulet Express yet.

12:16pm
Ding-dong! Apparently he’d been calling from right outside. Delivery in 45 minutes? I’ll take it!

Poulet Express
33 842 9686 or 33 821 5888

Whole chickens: 2,000cfa/kilo
Chicken breasts: 5,500cfa/kilo
Legs: 2,200cfa/kilo
Wings: 1,700cfa/kilo

Delivery fee: 1,000cfa

(At times they also have turkey and fresh eggs. Just ask!)

Guest post: I have a new go-to grocery store!

Dakar Eats readers often come to me with ideas or topic suggestions for this blog. On some occasions, they are so happy with a store or product that they want to write a post for the blog. Even more rare and more awesome are the times someone is just so thrilled that they go ahead and write a post with lots of exclamation marks and pop it over to me in an email. I love these occasions!

Do you get as excited as I do when you have a new go-to place? I can’t resist sharing with everyone. Well, I have a new go-to grocery store! One of the challenges of life outside the US is that you have to go to multiple stores to get all your groceries. We used to make trips to Hypermarché, occasionally Casino, CityDia, the neighborhood boutiques. We will always make last minute dashes to the boutiques, but over the last few months, CityDia has become our go-to!

All the things you need at reasonable prices – fruits and veggies, even apricots, raisins, and dates, American toothpaste and shampoo (including baby products), good quality cleaning supplies, baby products, a decent little soft drink, juice, wine and beer selection (and try the non-alcoholic raspberry malt – yum!), bread, snacks (including Pringles, potato chips, and sometimes tortilla chips), condiments (including the more exotic – pesto!), a good selection of canned goods, especially of beans and lentils, rice, spices, dairy including my favorite lait caille (Ardo!) and sometimes even non-UHT milk and cream, eggs, a good cheese selection (Cheddar! – usually), teas, and (I wouldn’t know but I’ve been told), the best reasonably priced Fair Trade coffee in Dakar.

But my favorite is the freezers – baggies of frozen potato goodies, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, zucchini, chopped onions and shallots, easy meal veggie mixes, and frozen fish filets, smoked salmon, escargots, seafood mix, chicken nuggets and fishsticks, and even a few TV dinners. But my favorite is the ice cream freezer – in the last two weeks I have sampled their delectable stracciatella and tiramisu ice cream – for under 2,000 cfa per liter – oh my gosh!!

All this in three aisles, which means you can be in and out with all your groceries in 15 minutes – and the staff are friendly and competent. Since I don’t have time to write up a full store inventory, I’ve obviously left things off the list. So if you don’t see something on my list, go have a look for yourself!

Thanks for the guest post, Julie! Anyone else want to contribute? Just email us.

Fortunately for us all, CityDia stores seem to be popping up all over Dakar. First Hann Maristes, then Liberté 6, Mermoz, Point E and, most recently, downtown.

Find them on the Dakar Eats Google Map.

Turkeys are here!

Casino is now taking turkey orders! Whole birds, four to five kilos, will be available for 4,700cfa/kilo.

Thanks for the info, Maria!

Today at Hypermarché

Today at Hypermarché Exclusif on the VDN, I found American yellow mustard (not French’s brand, but still made in the US) for under 1,000cfa. Another good find was a wide selection of Ragu and other good pasta sauces, as well as Ocean Spray cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving!

Ready, set… give thanks!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Well, not really. But when you live in Dakar, it never hurts to start planning and gathering early. Think of it as harvesting American ingredients!

Not all table spreads will feature the same menu or recipes, but here’s a general checklist to be sure you’ve got your bases covered in time. Please comment below if you have anything to add!

Turkey and gravy
Hold on to your Pilgrim hats! I have a lead on some frozen Butterball turkeys headed this way from the US at a very reasonable price. Stay tuned…

Last year Hypermarché sold turkeys, but I don’t know how much they cost or how far in advance you had to order. Does anyone know? Are there other places that sell turkeys?

Dressing/Stuffing
Between tapalapa bread and cornbread, I think most recipes should work here.

However you may want to consider hunting down celery at the veggie stands and freezing some to have on hand.

Sweet potatoes
Local sweet potatoes (patates douces) are white on the inside and aren’t quite right in terms of texture and taste. But carrots work surprisingly well for casseroles and soufflés. (I usually use 4 carrots to every 1 local sweet potato in my recipes. And I’m not above adding a little red/yellow food coloring to make it look right!)

Mashed potatoes
No probs.

Green bean casserole
Dior Diarama often carries cream of mushrooms soup, and so does Hypermarché Exclusif. You can also buy the Knorr soup mix. Or make a white sauce, add frozen mushrooms and cube of beef bouillon.

Good news on the crunchy onions front! The oignons croustillants available in the apéritifs section at Casino and Hypermarché work great.

Cranberry sauce
I think we’re counting on Dior Diarama for this one, unless someone knows of another place to buy them.

Deviled eggs
Local buutik eggs + cornichons + mayonnaise + paprika (anyone seen it here?). You’re all set.

Rolls
All ingredients available here, even whole wheat flour if you’re going healthier this year.

Pecan pie
As far as I know, pecans and Caro syrup are not available in Dakar. Does anyone know differently? Has anyone petitioned Dior Diarama for them? Does Hypermarché sell a UK equivalent to Caro under another name?

Frozen pastry crusts are available at most grocery store chains.

Pumpkin pie
Again, carrots save the day! Seriously. Try it. You’ll be amazed. You can also use local potiron, but I prefer carrots.

I’m sure Dior Diarama will carry canned pumpkin though… right?

All the spices are available individually at Hypermarché, with the exception of perhaps ground cloves.

Frozen pastry crusts are available at most grocery store chains.

As they say in America… bon appétit!

NEW! Supermarché Exclusif in Point E

You know Hypermarché Exclusif on the VDN? Well, tucked away in Point E is it’s new little sister. The Supermarché Exclusif is run by the same owners and features the same food brands – just a smaller selection. It’s great for picking up a few things or doing a grocery run. But for big stocking up trips, you’ll still want to go to the VDN.

Find it on the Dakar Eats Google Map.

(And yes – they do have Dr Pepper at the Point E location!)

This week at Dior Diarama

New sign!

Just in case you were considering a visit to Dior Diarama on the VDN, here are some photos from this past week.

Several people have asked the difference between the two Dior Diarama locations. Well, I got the scoop. Both locations carry US foods, but the ‘main’ location near the Shell station and across from the Foire is larger and carries more food stock, as well as toiletries and clothing.

Find Dior Diarama on the Dakar Eats Google Map.