Senegalese Dish of the Day in Dakar: 5,500 F With Drink and Attaya

From Tuesday to Friday, at lunch, Ge'eza serves a Senegalese dish of the day: mafé on Tuesday, thiéboudienne on Wednesday, supou kanja on Thursday and chicken yassa on Friday. The price is 5,500 F per person, with water or a local juice and attaya included. The cooking is market cooking, different each day, made with the morning's fresh produce. The restaurant is at 656 avenue Birago Diop in Point E, Dakar.

The principle

Even in an Ethiopian restaurant, the Senegalese table has its place. Each weekday the menu offers a single Senegalese dish, in market-cooking style: you cook what is fresh, and the menu changes from one day to the next. The price is fixed, 5,500 F per person, and it covers the dish, a water or local juice, then attaya, the tea taken after the meal.

The service runs Tuesday to Friday, at lunch. On Monday the house is closed. At the weekend, the focus turns to the Ethiopian menu and its dishes to share.

The calendar, day by day

Tuesday: mafé. A stew simmered in peanut sauce, rich, silky and comforting, which the menu describes as one of Senegal's most iconic dishes. Mafé is made with a thick, fragrant sauce that pairs with rice. It is a family dish for sharing, found all over West Africa.

Wednesday: thiéboudienne. Senegal's national dish, according to the menu: rice cooked in a fragrant tomato sauce, served with fresh fish and market vegetables. Thiéboudienne day is often the most awaited of the week.

Thursday: supou kanja. A thick okra soup, slowly simmered with fish and local spices. The menu speaks of a unique texture and a deep flavour. It is the most distinctive dish on the calendar, worth trying if you like okra.

Friday: chicken yassa. Chicken marinated in lemon and caramelised onions, tangy and fragrant. Yassa is a classic of end-of-week lunches.

What the 5,500 F covers

• The Senegalese dish of the day.
• A water or a local juice. The drinks menu lists homemade juices: bissap (hibiscus), ginger juice and bouye (baobab fruit), each 1,500 F when ordered separately. For the choice of the day, ask the team.
• Attaya, tea served the Senegalese way, which closes the meal.

For comparison, an Ethiopian dish like shiro wot is 5,500 F without a drink. The Senegalese dish of the day includes the drink and the tea: it is the most complete lunch formula.

A weekday lunch in Point E

The dish of the day suits several uses.

For a working lunch, the formula is predictable: one price, simple service, and attaya to prolong the conversation. The setting is a villa in Point E, with a terrace under the trees, a gallery lounge and a glass-roofed room.

For a first visit to the house, it is also the most economical way to sit down, and then come back another day for the Ethiopian menu. If you want to compare afterwards, the restaurant page presents all the dishes.

For a lunch with several people, the advantage is that one guest can have the dish of the day while another chooses a beyaynetu, from 7,000 F, or an Ethiopian dish: everyone finds something at the same table.

Attaya, a moment of its own

Attaya is Senegalese tea served in small glasses, prepared and poured slowly, with a foam on top. The time it takes is part of the meal: you do not drink it in a hurry. The ritual has an Ethiopian parallel in the coffee ceremony, with its three rounds. The two traditions share the habit of turning a drink into a shared moment. Ge'eza also offers the full ceremony at 5,000 F per person, for about 45 minutes. For detail, see attaya, Senegalese tea.

How to book

The dish of the day is market cooking, served at lunch. To be sure of a table, especially in a group, book online or write on WhatsApp at +221 78 660 07 07. The restaurant is open 8am to 10pm Tuesday to Sunday, but the Senegalese dish of the day is served only Tuesday to Friday, at lunch.

Market cooking

The menu speaks of market cooking, prepared with the morning's fresh produce. That is why there is only one Senegalese dish each day: one recipe is cooked, with what is fresh, rather than a long list on display. In the same spirit, the vegetables on the Ethiopian menu, such as gomen, are also bought fresh in Dakar.

For the guest, this changes how you choose. The dish of the day is not interchangeable: you come for Tuesday's mafé, Wednesday's thiéboudienne or Friday's yassa. If you have a favourite, note its day in your diary. If you do not eat fish, Friday's chicken yassa is the clearest choice on the calendar, since the thiéboudienne and the supou kanja are served with fish. For the other days, ask the team.

Combining it with the rest of the house

A weekday lunch does not have to stop at the plate. After the attaya, you can walk through the gallery lounge and look at the works on show, or stay on the terrace for an Ethiopian macchiato at 2,500 F.