Guinean food at its best is forest food: rich, oily, generously meated, hot with chillies. The two staples to know are rice with sauce gombo (okra) or sauce arachide (peanut), and attieke (fermented cassava couscous, technically Ivorian but eaten everywhere) with grilled fish. Look for these in the "maquis" — open-air neighbourhood eateries — that line the streets of every district. A full plate costs the equivalent of two or three euros.
For sit-down dining, the corniche road in Kaloum has a string of mid-range restaurants serving a mix of Guinean, Lebanese and Continental dishes; Le Damier and Le Petit Bateau are long-running favourites. Lebanese food is good in Conakry — the Lebanese community is old and well-established — and the shawarma stands across the city are reliable for a fast meal.
Vegetarians have a harder time. Most sauces contain meat or fish; ask for "sans viande, sans poisson" and expect partial success. Fresh fruit is excellent — papayas, mangoes (in season, March–May, particularly the small sweet local mango), pineapples and avocados are all cheap and good.