Freetown's restaurant scene clusters in Aberdeen and Lumley, where the Lebanese-Sierra Leonean community runs much of the better mid-range and upmarket cooking. Closer to the centre, options are simpler: chop-bar plates of cassava leaf or groundnut stew with rice, or grilled fish at the beach shacks behind Aberdeen Bridge.
The local cuisine is hot and oily, with peppers, palm oil, and seafood as the main building blocks. Try cassava leaf (pounded greens with smoked fish and palm oil), groundnut stew, jollof rice, plasas, and the universal Star beer.