Food (Mauritius)

Since, Mauritius is mixture of various cultures it mirrors in the local cuisine. Mauritian food has a mix of Indian, Creole, Arabic and French flavours blending smoothly to form the essence of Mauritian cuisine. There is no dearth of options in vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian food. Culturally, Mauritian people prefer take outs or eating out rather than cooking all meals at home. Therefore, there are plenty of small food outlets called Chez. These places serve flavourful local meals, snacks and drinks. Mostly, menu is in transparent glass rack for you to choose from. Since these cater to daily local customers, the price of the food items are fair.

If you choose to stay in homestays, you will most probably have a kitchen to cook for yourself. If you feel like cooking your own meals, you may go grocery shopping in any of the many supermarkets or even local vendors. All kinds of vegetables and fruits are available in Mauritius. We also cooked some of our meals in our homestays. First in all our trips till date. It was a satisfying experience. For the rest of the trip, we ate out of chez. The food was always delicious and affordable. We suggest you to eat local and enjoy the actual spirit of Mauritius through its delectable dishes.

One thing we can vouch for is that Indians would not miss home food in Mauritius. Following are some of the popular food items on our trip to Mauritius:

Gateau Piments

These are popular street snacks in Mauritius. They are found, well, almost everywhere. These are fried chilli cakes made from a batter of split peas, green chillies and some flour. They are round in shape. You can say that these are little savoury bombs. The texture is crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. In India, we have something similar called bada. They serve as a perfect snack especially if you are shopping and have no time to sit and eat. They come at a price of 5MUR/ piece at almost all places.

Dholl Puri

This is the iconic street food of Mauritius. It makes for a very healthy and filling breakfast option. This is why you will find Dholl Puri vendors mostly during the morning to noon time. The Doll Puri are chapatis filled with ground and spiced split peas mixture and then baked on stove. You get curry (vegetarian or non-vegetarian) or an accompaniment, mostly chutney with it. The price is mostly at 15-20 MUR.

Farata

Faratas are nothing but the Indian parathas that immigrated to Mauritius. They are easily available anywhere in Mauritius. They are served with any kind of curry. Mostly, they serve as an option to Dholl Puri. Although they are slightly pricier than Dholl Puri, they are equally popular.

Panini

Panini is flat white Italian breads’ grill sandwich. They come with all sorts of filling ranging from vegetarian, meat and seafood. There are a lot of vegetables as well like onions, cucumber, tomato and lettuce. They are one of the best options as any meal any time of the day.

Kebab

When we first saw the word kebab, we thought that these are the kebabs as found in the Indian subcontinent. But, the kebabs sold in Mauritius are more of the Turkish version. Meat is grilled, chopped and filled in a baguette bread or a shawarma wrap along with other veggies and sauces. The choice of bread or wrap is yours. However, most of the times it is the baguette bread. It reminded us of the Banh Mi we had in Vietnam. It is almost the same dish.

Samosa

Samosa are small conical spring rolls with a variety of stuffing. But, the most common stuffing is the flavoured potato. Just like the Indian Samosa. It is another go to snack in Mauritius. It forms a popular street food, however they also come as appetizers in some trendy restaurants as well.

Biryani

Yes, the Biryani from the Indian sub-continent travelled to Mauritius and took a local twist. The preparation is the same with rice and meat cooked together in the aroma of various spices. But, the flavours are definitely different. We tried at several places and each time there was a slight difference in flavour. Although, it does not taste like the Indian Biryani, they are outstanding nevertheless. Absolutely try it at least once. You will not regret.

Rougaille

Rougaille is a creole style tomato and onion based sauce often served with fish or chicken. The creole curry is very similar to the coconut curries of the Southern part of India. It is prepared with onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, turmeric, tomatoes, coconut milk and a dash of lime juice. It is aromatic, flavourful and tasty. In this base you get to choose from multiple options but the chicken or prawn curry is the most outstanding. This mouth-watering curry is along with a bowl of rice and some salad on the side is a comfort food.

Seafood

There are many fishing villages in Mauritius where you get fresh sea food from the ocean. On some beaches you will see vendors selling fresh sea food, which you may buy and get them grilled right on the beach barbeque stalls. Such a delight to eat fresh sea food. If you are not up for it, you may try some prawn curry, grilled lobsters, octopus or crab soup/curry. Other than these there are a variety of fishes to choose from.

Indian Food Items

There are a few restaurants chains that serve all Indian food items from parathas to curries. Their menu includes North Indian as well as South Indian dishes. You can find this restaurant in all major cities. They stay open from early morning to late at night till1-1:30 AM. Many other restaurants also serve Indian dishes at a reasonable cost.