Gluten-free in Kigali (updated 17 April 2025)

We don’t need yet another travel blog with the same stories and advice… This article and a few more are my responses to holes in the information super-highway, my attempts to fill those holes in with what I’m learning — sometimes the hard way!

Gluten-free life sucks. There’s no way around it.

My easy nights of pizza and beer are done, and every meal out is a risk and an oddly aggressive conversation. (“What’s in it? No, I’m sorry; I need to know every ingredient.” “Is it gluten-free? Are you sure it’s gluten-free? Can you ask the chef if it’s gluten-free?”)

Thanks to the internet, and great apps like Find Me Gluten Free, travelling gluten-free is certainly easier than it would have been in the past. But there is still a dead zone of information that covers most of the continent of Africa. When I arrived in Kigali, I found some info in blogs and Facebook groups, but there wasn’t nearly enough to help me navigate GF life in the city.

So I’m eager to share with you what I’m learning about being gluten-free — and flexitarian — in Kigali, Rwanda, in the hopes that it can shed light on a small corner of that zone. I will update this info as I learn more!

Request to amplify: If you’re not gluten-free, please share this with someone who is so they can share it with others who may find it useful? And if you’re GF here in Kigali and have some suggestions, please add them in the comments? Thank you!

Local fare

Rwanda has a lot of great local grains and delicious local dishes. The more local the restaurant, the less likely that gluten will be on the menu! And if you’re a meat-eater, you’ll have even more options.

BUT, the harder it will be to explain your situation and dig into the details. Do you speak Kinyarwanda? Do you have a Kinyarwanda gluten-free card? Does anyone? Did you know that chicken-flavored Royco Cubes have dehydrated bread in them??? Did you know that the roughly four types of Maggi bouillon cubes do or do not contain gluten, based on the country in which they’re made?

While some local foods use the dreaded Royco Cubes, or Maggi bouillon cubes, there are cooks who prepare local foods using only salt and a handful of herbs! So there is hope — if you can get through the many questions.

Just be ready to be patient and persistent…

Supermarkets

Flours

The great local grains are available as flours in supermarkets and markets! Sorghum, millet, cassava, corn/maize, and soya flour — even pumpkin flour and peanut flour and plantain flour — it’s all available. Some of these GF flours are milled in the same mill with gluten flours, so try at your own risk. When I cook or bake with these flours, I have either no reaction or a slight head buzz. So my guess is that they’re milled on separate machinery but may suffer from the slightest of cross-contamination?

But, as far as my brain and body are aware, the Kinazi brand cassava flour is milled in a cassava-specific plant. It’s also readily available, cheap, and a near-1-to-1 substitle, so it’s my go-to for all baking.

What I haven’t yet found is xanthan gum or psyllium husk, so what I can do with these flours is a little limited. That said, sorghum flour seems to be more versatile for baking, without a distinct flavor and possibly a bit lighter than the other flours. (I’m convinced that everything is lighter than millet flour!)

I’ve developed two go-to recipes for baked goods here:

• Banana Bread with Oil — using 4 ripe bananas and, when on hand, a pinch of xanthum gum
• Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Flour — no substitutions, and seems to work well with the easily available non-chunky local peanut butter!

Snacks

While there are plenty of biscuits, cookies, crackers, cakes, and what looks like amazing pastries and fresh breads, there are also enough snacks around to keep your munchies satisfied.

My favorites include sesame balls, potato chips/crisps (Winnaz original, Lays, and the Kenyan original corn tortilla chips), and spicy peanuts.

Update, 17 April 2025: I don’t eat Kenyan Chevda anymore. Either the recipe or my body has changed, because it makes me a little sick… All flavors of the Kenyan Chevda and all Indian-inspired GF snacks I’ve found in Kigali are now, sadly, off limits.

There are also plenty of fruits and some great local gouda, that make for good snacks. If you’re going on a road trip, consider stopping by Patel’s in Kimihurura or the unassuming but amazing Sharma Supermarket in Gishushu to stock up on imported nuts and dried fruits — expensive but very convenient. And stock up on cheap and soft dates at Simba supermarkets for that fibrous, energy-boosting pocket snack. There are also cans of hummus that sometimes hide at Patel’s or Simba’s, which have true potential for long road-trip protein sources!

Other

I haven’t found many GF replacement products for breads or sauces, but I have found GF pasta pretty consistently at the small-but-mighty Sawa City Supermarket in Remera and at Simba Supermarket in Kigali Heights. In both places, the pasta has been surprisingly reasonably priced!

I’ve also started using rice cakes as a substitute for toast; slather on peanut butter and honey, or avocadoes and eggs, whatever you’d like. There are a few brands of rice cakes in various supermarkets.

AND if you go to BK Arena for a concert, look for the popcorn stand! They have many flavors, which I’ve avoided, but they also have a plain popcorn that’s deliciously salty, crunchy, and did not make me sick. You have exactly one option, which is one option more than many other venues. :)

Restaurants I’ve tried

Indian restaurants

Lucky for us, many northern Indian dishes are gluten free. I’ve had success, and no side effects, at quite a few Indian restaurants in Kigali: Kurry Kingdom, Red Handi, and Namaste Kigali — which doesn’t deliver but is super cheap! The famous Khana Kazana restaurant does not get my vote for gluten-free-friendly, unfortunately; having “the discussion” was simply too difficult and frustrating.

I have actively avoided dishes that might not be GF: anything fried, any type of dumpling, etc. Instead, I’ve stuck with the north Indian classics like paneer lababdar and palak paneer.

YO ki GA li

I am biased, as the calm b&b, yoga studio, and cafe haven of YO ki GA li in Kacyiru is run by a beautiful person. But also, the coffee is good and they have gluten-free (and vegetarian) food! There are some delicious GF bowls, some with egg or cheese, and all with amazing sauces. They also have some healthy but indulgent-feeling sweets that are often gluten-free, too. I’ve tasted almost everything on the menu I could have, all with good results.

Come for coffee, a little work, and a view? Stay for lunch, a yoga session, and a post-yoga glass of wine…

Indabo Cafe

Indabo has a nice ambiance and a pretty good menu, with some gluten-free options. I get the veggie grain bowl, with sorghum instead of couscous, and have not had side effects.

In my experience, the waitstaff is not knowledgeable about Celiac’s/NCGS, but they will (begrudgingly?) ask about ingredients for you.

Soy Asian Table

The experience at Soy Asian Table is the opposite of Indabo — very few clearly GF options, but a waitstaff that is on your team! The last time I went, the waiter actually said, “Ma’am, I understand. I’m on your team.”

I got the green curry, which was delicious and gluten-free; they even prepared my tofu in a separate pan.

Inzora Café

Inzora is a delightful bookstore coffee shop. Their coffee is great, and their tiny pastry/dessert case often has a little gluten-free option. The GF options are not covered in the case, and may not be baked separately, so be ready for some cross-contamination?

Kweza Craft Brewery

I was excited to read that Kweza’s beers are sorghum based, but bummed when they told me that they have a “small percentage of malted barley”. That said, their ginger beer, which is delightfully alcoholic, is gluten free! It’s made on the same equipment that handles the sorghum/barley beers, so there’s at least minimal cross-contamination, but I haven’t had a reaction yet. And it’s delicious!

Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant

Habesha was a pleasant surprise! I’ve visited so many Ethiopian restaurants in other cities, and learned that most cut their teff (gluten-free grain) with wheat flour so the injera is not GF. But Habesha is different! They use different flours to make their injera, but none of them have gluten — which the waitstaff will let you know clearly and confidently. Go and enjoy a delicious beyayentu?

Sole Luna

When I wrote to Sole Luna, this delightful Italian place responded that they have gluten-free pizza, both at the restaurant and for delivery. They also mentioned having a special protocol to limit cross-contamination, so they request a bit of patience for the process of preparing a GF pizza.

I tried their GF pizza as a Vuba Vuba delivery. It took a little longer, cost a little more (5k?), and wasn’t an amazing pizza — but it was good enough to be called a pizza and it didn’t make me sick!

I’ve also had their caprese salad in the restaurant, and it also passed the test. So I’ll be back!

Did you know that Italy is a very gluten-free-friendly and Celiac-aware country? I recently learned that and it blew my mind.

Restaurants I have yet to try — but are promising…

Juvelle

Jinad, who lives in Kigali, read this blog and suggested Juvelle in Biryogo, for its “pocket-friendly gluten-free snacks, cookies, bread and meals”. And their online menu looks lovely! I’ll check it out soon. Thanks, Jinad!

Meza Malonga

Update, 19 September 2025: Meza Malonga has moved out of Kigali to Musanze. Their new dining experience seems lovely — … and 4 times more expensive. Maybe I’ll make it out there some day…

*Meza Malonga, the most upscale and innovative dining experience in the country, requires advance reservations, but they say that most things on their menu rely on local grains that are gluten free, and that they can substitute for any gluten.*

Juvelle

Jinad, who lives in Kigali, read this blog and suggested Juvelle in Biryogo, for its “pocket-friendly gluten-free snacks, cookies, bread and meals”. And their online menu looks lovely! I’ll check it out soon. Thanks, Jinad!

Turambe Shoppe? Or not?

Update, 17 April 2025: Turambe is closed and in the process of moving somewhere else…

*Turambe responded to my request on Facebook for GF bread, saying that they have GF bread options for their sandwiches, and I can order bread loves in advance for takeaway. The noted that they don’t bake their regular bread onsite so there is limited contamination, but they DO make their chapati in-house so cross-contamination is still a possibility.*

While I’ve tried multiple times to pre-order GF bread and to order it as part of a meal at the restaurant, each time they either say they ran out or they have no idea what I’m talking about…

A final note about ordering in…

Ordering on Vuba Vuba

There is a place to note a “gluten intolerant” allergy on the food delivery app Vuba Vuba. I don’t know the extent to which people pay attention to this, but one restaurant that used to send some wrapped bread with my meal stopped this once I used the allergy note function. So someone might be reading these!