This Hammamet restaurant guide gives a brief rundown of the locall dining scene, as well as listing some great Hammamet restaurants. Information about traditional Tunisian cuisine can be found on our Tunisian restaurant guide. On your way to that perfect little restaurant, why not do a bit of shopping in Hammamet.

Food & Cuisine in Hammamet

Small Hammamet restaurants and roadside cafeterias serve a huge variety of food ranging from pizza to fish and chips. You must definitely try out the very spicy yet tasty local food. The specialities are couscous, made of steamed semolina grains cooked with meat, chicken, fish or vegetables. Then, there is the chorba, which is a nice, thick creamy tomato soup. Makroudh is a syrup soaked honey cake filled with dates.

Tourists in general love the local food. A typical ingredient is called harissa, a kind of red pepper mixed in with butter to create a sauce. There are two kinds of restaurants in Hammamet - the tourist ones where you can find alcoholic drinks and local ones without alcohol. The local kind are much cheaper, but either way there is plenty of restaurants in Hammamet and Nabeul. The national plate is couscous, and typical dish is the brick.

Tunisian Cuisine

You can find anything that you are in a mood to eat while you are in Hammamet. The local cuisine comprises items similar to the good old pizza and snacks, mostly served in cafes and bars in the city centre of Hammamet. There are also the more stylish, upmarket restaurants in Hammamet serving Tunisian food bearing a whiff of French flavours.

Just like every region in Tunisia, Hammamet too has a characteristic cuisine of its own. A very interesting thing to do would be to go to a nearby bakery, buy the fresh, unleavened country bread baked in the ‘tabouna' or clay domed oven. You can have this with fresh yoghurt or cheese. Or lunch like the natives. Have shorba frik, a lamb soup with tomato and parsley flavouring, served with lemon wedges. You should also try the fiery Slata mechouia, a preparation of grilled green peppers and tomatoes. This can be had with tuna fish salad.

Dinners in summer are light with salads made of sliced scarlet radishes or tomatoes with grilled fish. Stews are popular and made of roasted lamb, fish, veal or tajine, an omelette made of chopped meat, vegetables and cheese.

A variety of seafood ranging from shrimp to sardines is used in the local cuisine. There are many Hammamet restaurants specialising in fish and offering a huge spread of delicacies made from fish apart from the Tunisian couscous, chorba, salads, makroudh and some dishes from global cuisine. You can find these restaurants on the seafront and on the Avenue de la République.

Many of the city's restaurants are located in the Hammamet hotels. At the end of a day filled with sight-seeing and shopping expeditions, go to one of many bars or restaurants and relax with some Tunisian wine. The best wines are made in the Cap Bon area. A red Mornag named Blanc de Blanc of the Grombalia area and Muscat of the Kelibia are some ethnic wines you must definitely sample here.