Port Louis Chinatown

Chinatown occupies a handful of streets in northern Port Louis marked at each end by ceremonial gates, and it dates to the arrival of Chinese traders, mostly Hakka from Guangdong and later Cantonese, in the nineteenth century. The buildings are two-storey shophouses with balconies and shutters, many now faded, housing grocers, hardware shops, herbalists, gambling halls and small restaurants. The Kwan Tee pagoda, one of the oldest Chinese temples in the western Indian Ocean, stands on the edge of the quarter. Food is the reason most people come: boulettes, noodles, fried rice and dim sum from counters and small dining rooms, some of them long-established. The Chinatown food and cultural festival each year fills the streets.

What you actually see

• The shophouse streets - the old two-storey commercial buildings.
• The friendship gates - the ceremonial arches at either end of the quarter.
• Kwan Tee pagoda - the early Chinese temple on the edge of the district.
• Food counters - boulettes, noodles and dim sum in small dining rooms.

When to go

May to December for cooler walking. Weekday lunchtimes are when the food shops are busiest and best. Chinese new year in January or February brings dragon dances and street celebration.

Honest expectations

Much of the quarter is run down and shops close early in the afternoon. It is a working commercial district, not a restored heritage zone. The area empties and is best avoided after dark. Traffic and parking in central Port Louis are difficult.

Nearby

The central market lies south; the Jummah Mosque is on the edge of the quarter.