Crunchy calamari salad served at Velisa’s Restaurant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. PHOTO | CAROLINE ULIWA
What you need to know:
Velisa’s Restaurant is located on Mbezi beach in Dar es Salaam. The restaurant is the only one serving Jamaican cuisine in the city.
Velisa’s Restaurant is located on Mbezi beach in Dar es Salaam. It has yellow and green flowers painted on the wall.
The restaurant is named after owner Velisa Delfowse’Ingleton, and is set in the front of her home, overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Velisa’s offers Jamaican cuisine, since Velisa is from Jamaica. She came to Tanzania and opened the restaurant in 2011.
“When president Kikwete came to Jamaica in 2010, he invited Jamaicans to invest in Tanzania,” Velisa said.
She heeded the call and the restaurant is the only one serving Jamaican cuisine in the city.
Its idyllic setting next to the beach is enhanced by wrought iron chairs and mini sculptures. The grey tile slab table mats elegantly fit on the table.
I ordered a mocktail, a blend of fresh carrot, mango and pineapple. The juice did not have added sugar so I could taste the ingredients.
At the beach, the fishermen were pulling in their nets, and children were playing with men on horseback. I ordered some food — a light meal of crunchy calamari salad with house tartar, tamarind sauce and market vegetables, all served on organic lettuce.
The presentation was pleasing to the eye, with the lacy orange carrots against the cream green of the cucumbers cut in the same style. The tastes were vibrant. While crunching the lettuce leaves I could taste some cardamom. The tamarind together with the marinated calamari and octopus rings ensured I enjoyed my meal.
“I actually opened just as a hobby, as a sideline back in Jamaica many years ago. And the restaurant won many awards, I didn’t always know that I could cook. My core business was actually in construction (she’s a qualified civil engineer). Friends had told me that they really liked my food, that it was quite different, and that prompted me to open the restaurant in Jamaica. It was open for three and a half years, then I just got tired and closed it and went into retirement. I went to southeast Asia by myself,” Velisa said.
She returned after four months, and was at the venue where former Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete was prompting Jamaicans to invest in Tanzania.
Velisa moved to Dar es Salaam as she said she had always wanted to come to Africa but hadn’t decided on which country.
The prices at Velisa’s are mid range, as my bill came to Tsh21,000 ($9.4).
