Congolese chefs put high-end spin on traditional cuisine

Yam gratin, safou-fruit butter and caterpillar sauce: in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country not usually associated with high cuisine, a new generation of chefs is putting a gourmet spin on traditional recipes.

Far from the conflicts that plague the vast African country's east and away from the poverty in the slums of Kinshasa, customers clink cocktail glasses in hushed lounges on the top floor of a building in the Congolese capital, with a view over the chaotic megacity of more than 17 million people.

On the menu: ravioli of kilebu, a mushroom- and peanut butter-based Congolese speciality, with ballotine of sole in butter made from safou, a local fruit.

The restaurant, Zaire -- the country's former name -- offers up "Afro-fusion" cuisine to local and international elites, using locally sourced products in high-end dishes inspired by traditional Congolese cooking.

Congolese chef Archi Dimosi plates one of his signature dishes in Kinshasa. By Hardy BOPE (AFP)

"When people say 'DRC' abroad, it's always pejorative. It's all talk about war or how Congolese people love to dance," said the restaurant's owner, Noushka Teixeira, against a background soundtrack of rumba, the country's famed musical style.

Teixeira, a passionate foodie, spent a decade and a half in the DRC's former colonial ruler, Belgium, then decided to return home to put Congolese culinary heritage in the spotlight.

She and her husband opened the restaurant last year.

"We Africans have a tendency to tell ourselves that everything foreign is better, but that's because we've never bothered to truly exalt our own products," said Teixeira, who has both Congolese and Brazilian roots.

In the kitchen, chef Samuel Bobo was simmering mboto, a local freshwater fish, with tomatoes and onions -- a dish "inspired by the one my grandmother used to make for me", he said.

Bobo studied economics at university, but his passion for food prevailed.

He mastered the restaurant trade under Belgian chefs in Kinshasa before striking out to recreate the recipes he learnt growing up.

"There's not really any culinary school in the DRC. A lot of people learn on the job," said Teixeira, who trained most of her team herself.

Shortages

Keeping fresh products in stock is a challenge.

Only a fraction of the sprawling country's arable land is farmed, while decrepit roads make transportation difficult.

The DRC imports most of its food supply.

"We buy our fruits and vegetables at the market, but we have to import our meat from Belgium to be sure of the quality," said Teixeira.

In the capital's outskirts, chef Archi Dimosi has also learnt to make do with shortages.

"You have to be creative to be able to adapt to the unexpected and change your menu at the last minute," said Dimosi, who specialises in blending Congolese flavours and European techniques.

He has developed his own network of suppliers to source fish from Lake Tanganyika or the Atlantic coast, beef from the western province of Kongo-Central and lamb from the eastern city of Goma.

Chef Archi Dimosi blends Congolese flavours with European techniques. By Hardy BOPE (AFP)

In his kitchen, he was putting the finishing touches on a vol-au-vent pastry made of sweet potato dough and garnished with mushroom and "mbinzo" sauce -- a Congolese caterpillar.

Dimosi, 34, learnt by watching online videos on French cuisine.

Last year, he decided to close his newly opened restaurant in central Kinshasa and instead launch a catering business serving gourmet meals.

"All the taxes, rent, bills... I was paying $4,500 a month, I couldn't cope anymore," he said.

"Young chefs in the DRC face a lot of problems, but they deserve a chance," said Dimosi, who teaches young trainees and is also working on a cookbook of Congolese recipes.

Culinary schools "mostly teach how to make Western dishes", he said.

"Congolese cuisine doesn't get taught enough."