Holiday Out – Tasty Tanzanian Food (Not your typical Holiday Inn)

By Mark Wiens 16 Comments

Holiday Out is a local Tanzanian food restaurant in downtown Dar Es Salaam, located on Garden Ave. across from the Southern Sun Hotel (it was formerly the Holiday Inn – but that has since moved to another newer location).

My only wish is that they’d have a Holiday Out to accompany every Holiday Inn around the world!

You can’t book a room at Holiday Out, and I can say with quite certainty, they have absolutely zero affiliation with Holiday Inn.

Probably the only common factor they share with Holiday Inn is the fact that they “serve” people – they’re in the hospitality industry.

Holiday Out is a local Dar Es Salaam dining establishment, kind of like a lunchtime canteen for hungry office workers (and others) searching for tasty Tanzanian food at affordable prices.

We showed up at noon, hoping to beat the main rush, which we did. The restaurant is pretty large, probably housing about 20 or so plastic Coca-Cola tables and a mess of the classic plastic chairs, all sheltered by a mabati (tin) roofed structure.

Lunchtime in Tanzania usually begins at about 1 pm, so we initially beat the rush, but as we were dining, Holiday Out Dar Es Salaam really began to pick up.

To order at Holiday Out you simply walk up to the front of the restaurant, order and pay for what you want from the Mama who controls the cash, and she’ll hand you a little token, indicating that you’ve paid and the order you put in.

Hand the token to a server and he or she will dish out your meal on a giant metal platter.

I was in the mood to eat a popular Tanzanian food known as ndizi na nyama, or plantain bananas mixed with meat.

The plantain bananas are un-sweet, so they actually taste more like a starchy potato than a sweet banana. To make ndizi na nyama, the plantain bananas are are stewed along with chunks of meat, in this case beef.

My plate of ndizi na nyama also came with a side of beans (maharagwe), and a green vegetable, in this case mchicha (a popular staple vegetable that tastes a lot like spinach and is very typical for Tanzanian food).

Price – 2,000 TZS ($1.20)

One of the great things about having a wife, is that I not only get to eat my own meal, but I normally have the pleasure of eating about 1/2 of my wife’s meal as well!

Ying got the wali wa samaki, or rice with fish, and in this case the fish was a small deep fried mackerel. This same kind of mackerel is also an extremely common Thai street food fish – only it would be served with nam prik, and no beans or mchicha.

While my plate of ndizi na nyama was pretty good, and filling, I’ve got to say that the wali wa samaki won the contest. Holiday Out makes a delicious plate of fish and rice.

Along with the big scoop of rice and deep fried mackerel, the plate came along with a side of beans, mchicha, some kind of tomato sauce, a little spicy pickle, and a little side of kachumbari.

Price – 3,000 TZS ($1.80)

Holiday Out serves delicious Tanzanian food in a friendly environment. It’s a great place to experience local cuisine when you’re in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania!

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