N’Djaména offers a fair selection of restaurants serving mainly French and African food. Standard European-style service is normal. Outside the capital, restaurants tend to be cheap and cheerful and there is an acute shortage of some foods. Visitors should exercise caution with street market food.

National specialities:
• Peanut sauce over rice, often eaten in Southern Chad.

National drinks:
• Chad’s excellent beer, Gala, is brewed in Moundou and is widely available in the non-Muslim parts of the capital.
• Karkanji, a drink made from Hibiscus flowers.

Tipping: 10% is normal for most services (US Dollars are the preferred currency).

Lively dancing and music is to be found in the capital, where there is an increasing number of nightclubs. Pari-matches take place on most Saturdays and Sundays in N’Djaména (non-Muslim areas): groups of women hire bars and sell drinks all day. Outside N’Djaména, nightlife is limited, although bars and open-air dancing can generally be found.

Chad has an excellent crafts industry. Items include camel-hair carpets, all kinds of leatherware, embroidered cotton cloths, decorated calabashes, knives, weapons, pottery and brass animals.

Shopping hours: Tues-Sat 0900-1200 and 1600-1930. Food shops open Sunday morning. The market in the capital is open from 0730 until dusk.