Port Harcourt's own culinary tradition belongs to the Niger Delta — a cuisine built around freshwater and saltwater fish, crab, periwinkle, and the distinctive seafood soups of the Ijaw, Ogoni, and Kalabari peoples. The most important dish to seek out is banga soup — a rich, palm-nut broth cooked with catfish or crayfish and seasoned with spices that are unique to delta cooking. It is eaten with starch (a firm cassava pudding) and is quite unlike anything in Yoruba or Igbo cooking.
The best banga soup in Port Harcourt is found not in restaurants but in the small chop houses and buka stalls around the Waterlines area and the older residential streets. Ask locals for their recommendation — every Port Harcourt native has a strong opinion on who makes it best. Other dishes worth trying include ofe akwu (palm nut stew), rivers banga rice, and pepper soup made with fresh fish caught the same day from the Bonny River.