A note on the words: Akasaka is an office and dining district in central Tokyo. Doro wat is the Ethiopian stew of chicken and eggs in a berbere-spiced sauce, sambusa the fried pastry parcel eaten across East Africa, and moussaka the layered eggplant dish found around the eastern Mediterranean. Ojja is carried here as the shop writes it. Obikwa is a South African wine label. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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SAFARI AFRICAN RESTAURANT BAR on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Well then, this is Hangover Meshi. Back here after a while! SAFARI, the African restaurant in Akasaka.
And this might actually be my first time coming at night. They have a dish called doro wat, an Ethiopian curry, that is amazing! I used to come here a lot for lunch, but realized it had been a while. I had drinks planned around Akasaka, so I took the plunge and made a reservation. The place has not changed a bit! Still just as intimidating to walk into^^
But the staff are so friendly and fun, so go on in without worrying lol
They have all sorts of interesting things on the menu, like ostrich tataki and ostrich steak, but both were sold out that day. I was a little curious to try some ostrich, so that was a shame!
Now then, the evening African menu. Let us order whatever we feel like eating, as much as we like!
First, beer. A perfectly ordinary beer^^
Since it is SAFARI, apparently it has to be Kirin beer lol lol lol
Apparently this is SAFARI’s own original dressing, and it is delicious!
It reminds me a lot of that great dressing you sometimes get at Indian curry restaurants.
Seasoned beef, deep-fried. Apparently an East African dish.
Inside a crispy, spring-roll-like wrapper is spiced beef, and it is delicious!! A perfect drinking snack. There is also apparently a version filled with beans called bean sambusa, so you can pick whichever you prefer, beans or beef^^
This one is Egyptian moussaka.
A vegetable sauce with ground beef, layered with eggplant, topped with cheese and baked in the oven. It has a bit of an Arabian feel to it! Probably because it is so good, it feels like a dish you can find pretty much anywhere across Europe and Africa. Comes with pita bread.
You can stuff it into the pita, or just tear off a piece and dip it in. Either way, delicious.
Time for an African wine^^ A Cabernet Sauvignon from Obikwa, South Africa.
I believe this was around 3,000 yen, give or take. Pretty cheap, really!
Fairly full-bodied, deep in color, with a fruity, distinctive aroma. It was delicious!
I was thinking, well, I just had doro wat recently, and then I spotted something called ojja, a fiery hot soup! I wanted to try that! So I ordered it. Looking at it, it seemed less like a soup and more like a spicier version of doro wat, maybe? The texture practically screamed “loaded with chili powder!” The first bite, and the first thing that hits you is the chili — yes, there is a lot of it in there! Hot! But after that, this wave of umami comes rolling in, and it is delicious. It really is quite spicy, though. The person I was with gave up partway through, saying it might be too hot to finish lol The more you eat, the more this heat and its distinctive umami get their hooks in you and you cannot stop! You start to break a sweat, and if you are not careful, the wine just keeps disappearing too.
So in the end, instead of doro wat, I went with ojja, the extremely spicy option. Ojja turned out to be surprisingly good! I am sure it is a no-go for anyone who really cannot handle spice, but doro wat itself tends to run pretty spicy too, so if you can handle doro wat, I think ojja should be fine as well! Hoping they have ostrich in stock next time I come. It is about to get hot out, so I think I will swing by again for a lunchtime doro wat.
SAFARI AFRICAN RESTAURANT BAR (African food / Akasaka Station, Akasakamitsuke Station, Tameike-sanno Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
