Mauritian Cuisine

The island's food follows its population: Indian cooking from the indentured labourers, Creole from the enslaved African and Malagasy population, Chinese from the nineteenth-century traders, and French from the colonial period, kept distinct in some dishes and mixed in others. The everyday street item is dholl puri, a thin flatbread rolled around split pea filling with bean curry, tomato rougaille and pickle, sold from stalls and eaten by hand. Gateaux piments, small fried chilli and split pea balls, go with tea. Creole rougaille is a tomato base cooked with fish, sausage or salted snoek. Vindaye is fish or octopus in mustard, turmeric and vinegar. Octopus curry is standard on the coast, and mine frit and boulettes come from the Chinese side.

What you actually see

• Dholl puri - the split pea flatbread sold from street stalls.
• Rougaille and vindaye - the Creole tomato and mustard preparations.
• Octopus curry - the coastal dish, particularly on Rodrigues.
• Boulettes and mine frit - the Sino-Mauritian dumplings and fried noodles.

When to go

Year round. Street stalls work at lunchtime and are best then. Port Louis central market and the Monday market at Mahebourg are the easiest places to eat a range in one go. Chinese new year and Divali bring particular sweets.

Honest expectations

Hotel and resort kitchens serve toned-down international menus, so the real food takes leaving the property. Chilli levels are genuinely high and are not adjusted. Street stall hygiene varies. Dholl puri stalls sell out and close by mid-afternoon.

Nearby

Port Louis market and the town stalls are where to eat.