La Fourchette

La Fourchette is widely considered Dakar's best fine-dining restaurant, and a meal here is a proper occasion. The kitchen works in a modern Senegalese-French register — pan-seared grouper with yassa sauce, slow-braised lamb with millet, and a soufflé au chocolat that regulars talk about for years — with vegetarian options on the menu too. The setting is a converted villa in the Almadies, quiet and refined, the sort of room made for an anniversary or a long, unhurried dinner. At around £55 a head it's at the top of the city's price range, but for the cooking, the service and the atmosphere it earns it. Tables are limited and demand is high, so book at least a couple of days ahead, and longer at weekends. For a special night out in Dakar, it's the first name most people mention.