Chef Dieuveil Malonga puts on a show at Meza Malonga.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
Chef Dieuveil Malonga puts on a show at Meza Malonga.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
KIGALI, Rwanda — Chef Dieuveil Malonga gives off a Willy Wonka vibe. Her infectious smile seems mischievous and mischievous.
At his restaurant Meza Malonga in Kigali, Rwanda, there is no river of chocolate, but there is an entire wall filled with seeds, spices and fruits fermented in wide-mouthed glass jars. Malonga calls this his laboratory. It is full of elements ripe for experimentation. Baobab from Tanzania. Black lemon from Egypt. “The basis of cooking,” says Malonga.
He grabs a jar and removes the lid. It’s full of a spice called pébé. A spice that, when fermented, gives off an aroma of onions and garlic sizzling on a stovetop.
Every pot is like that. A sensory memory. Vibrant and specific.
He takes a jar full of peppercorns from the shelf. They come from Cameroon, and he thinks these the peppercorns are the best on the continent. “Only the scent – it’s not too aggressive,” he says. “A little fruity, a little smoky.” The restaurant integrates these peppercorns into desserts, playing up the smoky side of pineapple, mango or fruit of passion.
Meza Malonga specializes in Afro fusion cuisine.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
Meza Malonga specializes in Afro fusion cuisine.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
Malonga was born in Congo-Brazzaville, where his grandmother, who raised him from the age of three, owned a restaurant. He says his love for food and cooking started there. He spent his adolescence in Germany and began his career working in the best European restaurants.
In 2015 he competed at the French Championships Excellent chef TV show – he says he was the first black chef to do it. When it came time to open his own restaurant, he took a two-year tour of the African continent, looking for inspiration.
He opened Meza Malonga in 2020, at the height of pandemic dining restrictions. Restrictions that he says allowed the staff to innovate and refine the restaurant’s mission.
“We have a dual mission,” he says. “Our first mission is to promote the incredible ingredients and cuisines of Africa.” The other, he says, is transmission: “That’s why we focus more on teaching and training.”
Standing in his lab, it’s full of what looks like collective work. No one shouts, “Yes boss!” » and Malonga clearly refers to “OUR restaurant … OUR menu… OUR project.” Its longest-serving employee is Frank Buhigiro, who says “the way we work is like we’re like family. You know, we don’t have pressure because we have time to think and create.”
It’s teamwork at Meza Malonga.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
It’s teamwork at Meza Malonga.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
The restaurant is only open eight months a year. For the other four months, Malonga and his team travel across the continent. Their goal is to discover different African cuisines and find unique ingredients. But it’s more motivated, more intense than simple sourcing. Malonga has visited 48 African countries and traveled the entire continent.
“That’s why we travel,” says Malonga. “Because there’s certain knowledge that you can just acquire, like… you can read a book but you don’t understand very well.” Traveling and eating locally is becoming an antidote to globalization. He cites the Congo, where “you cannot eat a mango if it is not mango season”.
Back in Kigali, he brings back new flavors as souvenirs. He describes new tastes as a shiny new toy. “Right now, I’m eating cassava leaves, I love them!” But that may change as he discovers a new flavor. He feels like a man on a quest to taste and document what he calls “the immense diversity we have on the continent.” Malonga says he not only thinks about what ingredients to use, but also which country he should “put on the map.”
Malonga wants to carve out a place for African cuisine on the global gastronomic scene. He says something is increasingly possible depending on how people travel. Today, he says, people book trips not based on where they sleep, but based on where they eat.
The main mission of Meza Malonga is to promote African ingredients and cuisines.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
“People are now open-minded and travel from Copenhagen to Brazil, from London to Nigeria, just to eat,” he says, adding that “it is time for us as Africans to promote this incredible cuisine and our heritage.
Yet there is not a single Michelin-starred restaurant on the African continent – Michelin does not cover Africa. It’s not these kinds of distinctions that motivate him. What’s important, he says, is creating a sustainable ecosystem: “I want the business to run well so I can pay my employees, I can pay my farmer. So I cook that to create an ecosystem.”
If recognition follows, it’s a seasonal and locally sourced icing on the cake. “If a Michelin star comes along, wow, that’s great,” he says.
The Meza Malonga team spends months each year traveling across Africa and finding new flavors and foods.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
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Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
The Meza Malonga team spends months each year traveling across Africa and finding new flavors and foods.
Jacques Nkinzingabo for NPR
An hour before dinner service, Meze Malonga is a hive of activity. All restaurant employees are dressed in black T-shirts and blue aprons. Their movements are precise, using tongs to garnish food on small round plates.
Dinners at Meza Malonga do not have a menu – the meal changes depending on what seasonal ingredients are available and what Malonga is passionate about at the moment. The multi-course dinner is served in a laboratory/dining room. Giant windows open onto the hills of Kigali. The chefs present each dish: Cauliflower with a bright peanut sauce. Tree tomato sorbet cooled with liquid nitrogen.
“This one is beef tenderloin,” a member of the kitchen staff tells us. “Plus we have garlic cream and Nigerian spices.” Spices that we see filling the jars hanging on the wall in front of us. Spices that will be replenished during Malonga’s next trip across the continent.
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