The dish that makes the best use of local groundnuts, or peanuts, mafé (also spelled maffé) combines meat, typically beef or mutton, and a peanut sauce that incorporates tomatoes, served with rice. Several West African countries (Mali, Gambia, Sierra Leone; see groundnut soup) have a version of peanut sauce, making the origins of mafé hard to pinpoint, but there is compelling evidence that mafé began here in Senegal. Peanuts were brought here by the Portuguese in the 17th century (and later also on U.S. slave ships), and a dish called bassi guerté from the Serer tribe, which was also made with peanut butter and tomato (but served instead with millet couscous), was likely a precursor to mafé.
Lest you confuse mafé in your mind with a smooth Indonesian satay sauce, this peanut sauce tends to be much thicker and oilier, imparting a richer flavor. It’s delicious and very filling.
Where: Our favorite of the mafes we tried came from Restaurant Le Djembe (33-82106-66; 56 Rue Docteur Theze), an oasis of bright tangerine walls in the midst of downtown. *Sadly this restaurant is now closed; please see some alternative picks below.
Order: The maffe viande, made with lamb, was deliciously rich here, very thick and a little spicy with a good but not excessive amount of groundnut oil scattered around the plate. Even with white rice to soak up the sauce, this was the kind of meal that’s hard to finish in one sitting, though we really, really wanted to. It felt akin to eating half a jar of peanut butter in one go—tempting but a little too much at the end of the day.
Alternatively: This dish is standard enough to be found at most Senegalese restaurants and rice shacks, so you shouldn’t have to look too far. Downtown you might also try no-frills Touba Restaurant (95 Rue Joseph Gomis, map), which offers a nice range of dishes at great prices (around 1,000 CFA) during lunch. For more atmosphere there’s guidebook favorite Chez Loutcha (221-821-0302; 101 Rue Moussé Diop, map), which does a lot of Cape Verdean specials along Senegalese classics. Up in N’Gor, we also tried this dish at the USAID Rice Shack (map), where it was tasty but a bit oilier than we like.
Last updated: June 3, 2024. A previous edition mistakenly noted that mafé originated in Mali, where a peanut butter stew called tigadegena originated, which is typically eaten with fufu.
