Grilled skewers · Night-market staple

Brochettes

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

In Kinshasa, brochettes are a standard companion to cold beer at ngandas, the city's open-air bars, where grill vendors often set up right outside.

Brochettes are skewers of beef, goat, or offal seasoned with onion, chili and crushed bouillon cubes and grilled over charcoal or wood fires. Vendors set up metal grills on street corners in neighborhoods like Matonge and Bandalungwa every evening, selling them straight off the stick, sometimes with grilled plantain or bread on the side.

Why it's made this way: Bouillon cubes became a pantry staple across Central Africa in the 20th century, and Kinshasa's grill cooks use them alongside chili and onion to season cheap cuts that sell by the stick.