3 meals in Sierra Leone

Lynn Morris picks her 3 favourite places to eat in Sierra Leone.

Bliss Bakery

For breakfast the best place in Freetown is Bliss on Wilkinson Road. This bakery does the most delicious croissants and cakes in West Africa and good coffee to go with them. It is a convenient location in a residential area near a couple of Freetown’s major supermarkets. And is a favourite place for people to meet for brunch, cool off in the air conditioning and discuss the previous night’s party over chocolate croissants. It also has free WiFi should you be interested in seeing if incriminating photos from the night before have made it onto Facebook.

River Number 2 Beach

For lunch, try the restaurant on River Number 2 beach. This tropical paradise is slightly less than a hour’s drive down bumpy Beach Road along the Peninsular. The shack on the beach serves very simple fresh fish and rice to people sitting around plastic tables with umbrellas. Service is unlikely to be snappy but that is because sometimes they have to catch the fish for your order, or at any rate retrieve lobsters from an underwater keep. The cooking is done with primitive facilities over a charcoal fire. I recommend the barracuda but all the fish is fresh and delicious. When it arrives the food tastes fantastic and you can’t quibble with the dirt cheap prices. The only drinks are fizzy drinks from glass bottles. In my book there is no better way to spend a Sunday than a quick dip in the Atlantic then a fish kebab on the beach.

Franco’s

+232 (0)76 642 003/ (0)76 744 406

For more lobster than you could shake a stick at and the most romantic setting in Sierra Leone, it has to be Franco’s. This Italian restaurant is on Sussex Beach about 30 minutes down Beach Road from Freetown. It makes the perfect stop off on the way back to the city after a day sunning yourself on River Number 2 beach.

The dinning room is right on the beach, with open sides so you get the benefit of any breeze and the view over a lagoon to the Atlantic. Try and arrive before dusk to enjoy the sunset. You can move the tables onto the beach and dine by candlelight under the stars. The food is Italian with a seafood focus. For my money the best things on the menu are the fish capaccio and the lobster pasta in a creamy sauce. But the grilled lobster is also amazing. There is incredibly, a well-stocked wine cellar which is both a rarity in West Africa and a joy.

There is also an on site guesthouse so if you fancy drinking too much wine to drive back to the city you could stay the night.

Lynn Morris is Director of Atlantic Rising