

Barbecue House, located in the Upanga district, is consistently one of the best restaurants in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
As the name suggests, they specialize in local Tanzanian style barbecued meats on the grill.

The owner, has been operating this fantastic Dar Es Salaam dining establishment for quite a few years now, I think around 20 years or so.
And nearly every time I visit Dar Es Salaam, the first restaurant I eat at is Barbecue House.

During the daytime Barbecue House just looks like a normal home, but at night the grills emerge and the chicken and skewers of meat start to smoke away.

One of the absolute best reasons to eat at Barbecue House is for the sauces, four different bowls of house-made sauce that are so flavorful, you’ll want to drink them.
The green chili sauce, the red chili sauce, and the tamarind sauce are all spectacular, but even the red chili sauce (my second favorite of the choices) is trumped by the coconut chutney, a sauce that’s just as good as Sri Lankan pol sambol.
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To go with the sauces, they first deliver a huge plate of thinly sliced raw cabbage salad. The salad is merely an excuse to sop up as much of the sauces as possible, and you’ll immediately realize just how spectacular all four of them are.

Being one of the best restaurants in Dar Es Salaam, Barbecue House makes no mistakes when it comes to samosas. These little deep fried triangles of goodness, can’t be missed. The meat, chicken, and even vegetarian samosas are all delightful.
And by this point you probably already known, that with some of the sauce added, they’re even better.
Price – 700 TZS ($0.42) each

For barbecue chicken, Barbecue House has the normal version and the “hot” version, and to my liking, it really does have some kick to it.
Tanzanian barbecue chicken is similar to tandoori chicken, but it’s usually grilled instead of roasted in a tandoori oven.
The chicken barbecue is excellent at Barbecue House, always cooked fresh, and packed with flavor.
Price – 5,500 TZS ($3.35)

On my last meal at Barbecue House, I also decided to go for the fish barbecue.
It was a nice sized chunk of fish, I think red snapper. The fish was tender and flaky and marinated in the same red luscious sauce as the chicken. A squeeze of lime, and the fish barbecue was spectacular.
Price – 10,000 TZS ($6.10)

To go with the chicken and fish, there’s basically a choice of chips (fries) or ajam, a thin bread that’s somewhere between a naan, chapati, and a dosa. It’s kind of like a naan that’s cooked like a pancake and then grilled, so it’s sort of soft and spongy. After fried, it’s then grilled to give it a nice smoke flavored exterior.

When you’re in Dar Es Salaam and looking for a great restaurant for dinner, Barbecue House consistently delivers satisfying local food. The sauces alone are worthy of being an entire meal, but add some grilled meat to the table, and things get even tastier!
Barbecue House, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Open hours: From about 6 pm – 10 pm nightly
Prices: You’ll spend about 10,000 TZS () per person, a little more eating fish
Address: Barbecue House is along the small Nkomo Street, just off the main Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road.
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The SEO Buck
2 years ago
Wow. Nice…Keep it up!!
High Rated Gabru
2 years ago
Cool blog post. Keep writing!!
rangga aditya
8 years ago
God! this bring a lot of memories
… i used to lived near there … really convenient to have affordable restaurant near your home when your parents always work and didn’t cook for dinner. Tanzania also the nicest African countries there is… so back in the day, a foreign child like me can safely walk the street, buy food without worries …
Mark Wiens
8 years ago
Hey Gangga, good to hear from you, glad you used to live in the area. This is such a good and consistently delicious restaurant in Dar.
Yasmin
9 years ago
Me too from upanga ! I agree ! Awesome food. But try Mamboz in town and BBQ village as well. Oh and Georgian dragon for some amazing fish and chips and good beer. Good to see tourists enjoying local foods.
Mark Wiens
9 years ago
Thanks Yasmin!
Yash Bhatt
9 years ago
Hey. I’m from Upanga, Dar es salaam. I’ve been there more than a thousand times and i get the same, delicious food almost every time i go there! It’s amazing to see people enjoying the local delicacies!
Mark Wiens
9 years ago
Hey Yash, great to hear from you, and glad you love this spot too!
Salim
10 years ago
Mark, I just want to confirm that the location of this place is correct on google map…
there used to be a BBQ Hut before too..is that changed to BBq House or is this another BBq place in the same vicinity? if ypu know the owner’s name, please share as well
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Salim, I think so. I just ate there about 2 months ago and I think this restaurant has been here for about 20 years. Enjoy!
Kobie Coetzee
10 years ago
Barbeque House is the best! Worked in Dar and went there at least once a week! Good food, great atmosphere and good prices.
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Kobie, awesome to hear you’ve been to Barbecue House as well, the food is awesome!
Eric
10 years ago
Hey Mark, went there with your parents last week while visiting them. I would have to agree with you, great food! My favorite was the meat somosas. Enjoyed reading your review.
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hi Eric, glad to hear you went to Barbecue House and enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!
Heara
10 years ago
dude im pakistani and to pronounce pilao is (pill- ow)and u gotta gimme the receipe for the sauce and fish and octopus curry lol but u gotta get samosa too! and kachori! nd tell me how u ordred in lukmann and dar es salam 🙂
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Heara, great to hear from you. Would love to try the Pakistani version too!
Aaron
10 years ago
Mark,
Wish I would have known about this place when I was in Dar last week working with your dad. He recommended I check out your blog, but I didn’t get a chance until I got back to the states. Ended up going to a nice Indian run English pub and had proper fish and chips, but was really craving local food as the husband of a chef.
Will definitely check this place out next time I find myself in Dar.
_Aaron
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Aaron, great to hear from you, thanks for checking out my blog. Mmm, fish and chips sounds pretty good too, but hope you can try out Barbecue House on your next visit!
Aaron
10 years ago
Mark,
I’m headed back in March to do some video shoots for HOPAC, the missionary school. I’ll be checking out Barbecue House for sure. Is there anywhere else I should go?
_Aaron
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Aaron, great to hear that, enjoy this place. You can also check out Holiday Out http://migrationology.com/2013/10/holiday-out-dar-es-salaam-ndizi-nyama/ and a place called Grace Shop (I’ll post the link as soon as it’s live)
Gabriel
10 years ago
When I went to China a few years ago there was a local BBQ mom and pops place right at the corner of my place and I was there at least 3 times a week. The food was sooo goood and they had sets of chinese dice to lend so that you could play while waiting for your food.
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Great to hear from you Gabriel. Local barbecue in each country is such a wonderful experience.. and delicious food!
Hannah
10 years ago
This definitely got us hungry!! We have been traveling for three months now and most of the time when we order we don’t get what we asked for. Especially because of the language barrier. But yeah, i miss America. Glad i ran into this. it also got me hungry!
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Hey Hannah, thanks for checking this out. Yah it can definitely be a challenge at times to order what you want to order!
Anwesha
10 years ago
The fish looks absolutely stunning.
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Thanks Anwesha, it was tasty!
Maria
10 years ago
I don’t think I’d leave Barbecue House once there. They’d either have to give me a job or work me in as an attraction. Wow!
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Haha, as long as you could eat as much as you wanted with a job there!
Renuka
10 years ago
Deliciousness! It’s truly mouthwatering…sinfully gorgeous….
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Thank you Renuka!
Paul
10 years ago
Grilled meats, fantastic sauce = I need to see a video of you eating this. Then I need to eat some myself. Looks amazing!
Mark Wiens
10 years ago
Thanks Paul, video out now!