Eat & drink · Budget eats
Forodhani Gardens Night Market
Opening hours
- Monday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Tuesday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Wednesday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Saturday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: 6:00 – 10:30 PM
Images provided by Google Places
An open-air night market on the waterfront where dozens of vendors set up grills under lanterns.
- Signature
- Zanzibar Pizza (a thin dough filled with minced meat, egg, cheese, and mayo)
Reviews from Google
⭐ 𝟓/𝟓 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬: 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞! 🌙 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐙𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐫! 🤩 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 – 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 (𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐙𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐩𝐢𝐳𝐳𝐚! 🍕). 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 🤸♂️ 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐙𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐚! 𝐀 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞. 💯
A wonderful atmosphere at sunset: you can watch the crazy divers making their jumps or get delicious food for a small price. A little tip: avoid stalls selling lots of raw meat or fish. You'll get what you pay for twice! :-(( The Urojo stall behind the fountain on the right and the friendly Zanzibar pizza vendor immediately to the left are highly recommended. The best way to keep overly pushy vendors at bay is with a friendly 'niko poa'.
Go for the experience, not the food (at least with a “Western / tourist stomach”). Lively place were lots of locals go to eat street food. Pretty sure there is a separate tourist menu / pricing. Next to the waterfront, lots of cats around. You get chatted up by “cooks” / food vendors A LOT, “just to show you something” - we avoided getting dragged into the shenanigans too much by politely declining. Tried the Zanzibar Pizza (veg only, was ok food wise but a fun experience), but stayed away from all meat / non-bottled drinks. A day later our local guide told us to better not eat there as a non-local due to highly potential stomach issues…
It’s a crazy atmosphere but definitely worth the visit. I recommend going with a local to have a nice experience and get to taste for free and find good prices. I do the free walking tour and we end in here. Was the best option, I get to try the sugar cane juice from Zanzibar with Lemon juice and ginger. And I feel safe trying the Zanzibar pizza. They had a price list and the pizza was made in front of me.
The Zanzibar pizza and shawarma are 100% recommended! Definitely try them here — the prices are clearly written, so you pay the same as the locals. For the rest, the experience was not great. Many sellers are very pushy, trying to explain the same skewers over and over. We tried samosas and a falafel at one stall, but they were disappointing and overpriced (no prices displayed, so it feels like they charge whatever they want). At that stall, we even had a bad experience: they tried to serve us food we hadn’t ordered, and after agreeing on a price of 9k, they suddenly asked us to pay 14k. After some discussion, they accepted the 9k — but when we paid with a 10k bill, they refused to give us the 1k change, claiming it was “for them.” We also noticed sugar cane juice being quoted at 4k, even though many reviews say it should be 1k. Conclusion: Go for the Zanzibar pizza and shawarma — they’re cheap, delicious, and transparent in pricing. I’d suggest skipping the other stalls to avoid frustration.