Mahébourg is not a restaurant town in the sense of fancy dining rooms, but it is a good place to eat authentic Mauritian food at local prices. Creole cooking dominates — rice-based dishes with rougaille (tomato and spice sauce), dholl puri (split pea flatbread), and fresh seafood. Street food vendors around the market sell samossas, gateaux piment (chilli cakes), and mine frite (fried noodles) — the common daily breakfast and snack of working Mauritians.
Several simple restaurants along the waterfront and main road serve fresh fish and grilled octopus. For a more substantial sit-down meal, look for family-run tables d'hôte in the surrounding villages, where Creole home cooking is served at set hours and prices are very reasonable. The area around Blue Bay has more tourist-oriented restaurants with European menus, but for the real thing, stay in Mahébourg.