← Back to globe
Street Grill · Skewered Marinated Meat

Mishkaki

Mishkaki — street food from Mombasa, Kenya
Photo: Zizounyc / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Vendors marinate the meat for hours in a garlic-ginger-lime paste and fan the charcoal jiko by hand between skewers instead of using a grill grate.

Cubes of beef, goat, or chicken are threaded onto skewers, marinated, and grilled over open charcoal jikos right on the pavement. Vendors along Mombasa's beachfronts and Old Town streets serve the hot skewers with a wedge of lime and kachumbari.

Why it's made this way: Mishkaki reflects the Swahili coast's long history as an Indian Ocean trading hub, where Arab and Indian marinade traditions merged with East African open-fire grilling.
Read it in context →

More from Kenya

🥣 Uji Nyama Choma Mandazi Bhajia Mutura Pweza wa Nazi (Octopus in Coconut Curry)
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.