Where to eat in Accra

How Accra eats

Accra is one of the best-eating cities in West Africa, and the trick to enjoying it is knowing that it works on three levels. At the base are the chop bars and street kitchens — cheap, local and often superb, serving the dishes Ghanaians actually eat every day. In the middle sit the restaurants, concentrated most densely in Osu, spanning Ghanaian, Lebanese, Indian, Chinese and Western food. At the top are the upscale dining rooms of Cantonments and Airport Residential. You can eat brilliantly at any of the three; the mistake is spending upscale money for a mediocre version of home.

This guide is organised the way we point our own guests — by area and by mood rather than a ranked list, because the right table depends on whether you want the real local thing, an easy night out, or somewhere special. For where the evening goes afterwards, pair it with our Accra nightlife guide, and for the dishes themselves, our Ghanaian food guide.

Eat local: chop bars and the classics

The most memorable meals in Accra are often the cheapest. A chop bar — a no-frills local eatery — is where to try jollof rice, banku and tilapia with hot pepper and shito, waakye (rice and beans, the great breakfast), fufu with light soup, and kelewele (spiced fried plantain) from a roadside stand at night. Go where there is a crowd, order what is moving, and eat with your right hand where that is the custom.

Markets like Makola and the streets around them are full of these places, and street food is part of the fun — just apply the usual sense (busy stalls, freshly cooked, bottled or sachet water). Our water guide covers drinking safely, and our health guide the rest.

Osu: the easy night out

If you want one area where you can walk out of your hotel and find something for everyone, it is Osu. The famous Oxford Street and the roads around it hold the highest concentration of restaurants in the city — Ghanaian grills, Lebanese mezze and shawarma, Indian, sushi, pizza, burgers and buzzing bars — across every budget. It is lively, walkable and the safest bet for a mixed group who can't agree.

Osu is also where a meal slides naturally into the evening. It gets busy and late at the weekend, so book ahead for the popular rooms, and keep your phone discreet on the street. It sits within easy reach of most central hotels — see where to stay in Accra — and features in our three days in Accra plan.

Cantonments and the upscale kitchens

When the occasion calls for it, Accra's smartest dining is in Cantonments, Airport Residential and Labone — polished rooms, ambitious Ghanaian and international menus, good wine lists, rooftop bars and hotel restaurants. This is where to take a client, mark a celebration, or simply eat somewhere designed rather than found. Prices climb toward what you would pay in any capital, and these are the places most likely to take cards.

A growing wave of contemporary Ghanaian restaurants here reworks local ingredients into something more refined, which is worth seeking out — it is the most interesting eating in the city right now. For a special trip built around comfort throughout, see our luxury Ghana travel guide.

Seafood, and the practical bits

Accra is a coastal city, and the freshest, most joyful eating is often fish — whole grilled tilapia with banku, or the seafood at the beach bars and lagoon-side spots, especially at the weekend when families come out. Labadi and the coast road are the classic setting for it. It is casual, communal and exactly the kind of meal that ends up being the one you remember.

Turning it into a food trip

A great Accra food day looks like this: waakye or a market breakfast, a chop-bar lunch of jollof or banku and tilapia, a sundowner and dinner along Osu, and grilled fish by the coast at the weekend. Spread across a couple of days it takes in the whole range without repeating yourself, and it costs whatever you want it to. Where you base yourself decides how much of it is walkable — our where to stay and getting around guides help you plan the logistics.

Questions people ask