The best African restaurants

Thanks to its striking red and black shop front, Côte d’Ivoire restaurant Ohinéné in the 20th arrondissement is pretty unmissable – just like its spice and flavour-packed West African menu, which is full of exciting Ivorian treats....

So many factors combine to make an evening at Senegalese restaurant Le Petit Dakar, nestled down a small street in the Marais, such a memorable one. Whether it’s the delightful Wolof music playing in the background, the colourful art hung from the walls, or the alluring smells wafting out from the kitchen, everything is brilliant...

Standouts from the menu include various sauce-based dishes like the thiebou tienneu (fish in a tomato and carrot sauce, accompanied by wholegrain rice) and the beef mafé, with its unctuous peanut plant sauce served on a generous bed of sticky white rice...

At L’Equateur there’s an incredibly wide range of treats to try from Cameroon, Senegal and also the Caribbean, including classics like mafé (peanut butter stew), yassa (a chicken dish), tiep bou dien (fish and rice), salt cod fritters and stuffed crab...

Not far from central Paris, Rio dos Camaros stands out from the many dodgy outfits one can find in the north of the capital. Set on a quiet street with a wooden deck overlooking the cobbles, it’s an appealing proposition. Once inside, the kitchen is hidden behind a wall of spices and heat, and from it issues forth a stream of maafe (Wolof for 'groundnut stew’)...

With its tiny, jolly, shabby ground floor dining room and basement full of cushioned lounge seats and low tables, Ethiopian restaurant Godjo has the air of a well-kept secret – although the secret has been out for some time, and there are queues down the street on weekend evenings...

If you’re unsure what Eritrean cuisine actually consists of, we say opt for the bebeaynetu, an immense platter that allows customers to sample a little bit of pretty much everything. Luckily for inelegant or reluctant cutlery-wielders, here it’s customary to eat the traditional way, scooping up every dish with the large crispy flat breads that come with every main...

The clutter of big game figurines, tribal wall hangings and piles of biltong on the bar make South African restaurant My Food an unusual escape from the drab Montreuil pavements outside. Genial, bearded, barbecue-savvy owner Kobus Botha serves up huge plates of expertly grilled meat, homemade chips and traditional recipes...

Hipsters, boho-chic types and families are all tumbled in together here – a varied but very Parisian mix. We love the atmosphere of the place and its amazing setting, with its odd assortment of armchairs, affordable cocktails, blues and jazz soundtrack and menu of inexpensive Asian dishes...

Welcome to Waly Fay, where those in the know come to dine on dishes from across West Africa and the Antilles. Regulars navigate the menu of accra, boudin, mafé, thiep, yassa and n’dole cuisines with ease, while newbies are guided along by the helpful staff...

The most striking restaurant in the area may well be Jambo (‘hello’ in Swahili), with its garish yellow façade, orange logo and the various decorative masks and shields inside. With no physical menu to speak of, the staff will recite the day’s offerings on the spot, starting with entrees like a fresh and lemony dish of Zanzibar-style samosas...