What Are Brochettes?
If you've ever been to Kigali, you know the drill: late evening, a charcoal brazier glowing at the roadside, a cook threading chunks of goat onto metal skewers, the smell of char drifting down the street. Brochettes are Rwanda's most universal food — available from five-star hotel restaurants to roadside stalls, eaten by schoolchildren and presidents alike. The word is French (Rwanda was a Belgian colony), and the dish is simple to describe but harder to execute well: meat on a skewer, grilled over charcoal, eaten with fried potatoes and a chilli sauce.
What makes Rwandan brochettes different from a kebab at your local takeaway is threefold: the marinade (onion and garlic rather than spice paste), the charcoal (proper wood charcoal, not gas, not briquettes), and the goat (which in Rwanda is leaner, more flavourful, and cooked to a specific point of char that leaves it juicy within and slightly blackened outside). In Dubai, the best brochettes come closest when restaurants use real charcoal and quality goat.
The Three Types of Brochettes
Goat Brochettes
The classic and most prized. Lean goat meat cut from the leg, threaded with fat pieces for self-basting. Slightly gamey, deeply flavourful, charred exterior.
Beef Brochettes
The approachable option for those new to brochettes. Beef sirloin or shoulder cut into chunks, marinated simply with onion. Milder, juicier than goat.
Chicken Brochettes
The most popular with families and newcomers. Thigh meat gives better flavour than breast. Often marinated slightly longer, sometimes with a touch of tomato.
Brochettes vs. Kebabs: What's the Difference?
The marinade: Rwandan brochettes use a simple onion-garlic-salt marinade, sometimes with a splash of vinegar. No cumin, no coriander, no sumac. The meat flavour is the point — the char is the seasoning. Most Middle Eastern kebabs use complex spice blends that can obscure the meat quality.
The heat source: Traditional brochettes require real wood charcoal at very high temperature — the quick, intense heat chars the outside while leaving the inside moist. Gas grills produce a fundamentally different result. The restaurants on this list that use real charcoal are noted.
The cut: Rwandan brochettes use larger, chunkier pieces than typical kebab restaurant offerings — think 4–5cm cubes rather than thin slices. The size means the interior stays pink and juicy while the exterior chars.
The accompaniments: Brochettes are served with fried potatoes (mandatory) and a piri piri sauce (mandatory). Not flatbread, not hummus, not salad — potatoes and chilli sauce. This is non-negotiable in Rwanda.
Best Brochettes in Dubai: Our Top Picks
Kilimanjaro African Restaurant
The hands-down best brochettes in Dubai. The charcoal grill is positioned at the entrance — you smell it before you see the restaurant — and the goat skewers are threaded generously, charred exactly right (blackened where the fat hits the coal, pink-red within), and served on a wooden board with an exceptional house piri piri sauce and a pile of crispy fried potatoes. The cook has been doing this for fifteen years and it shows. Go for the goat. Order two portions.
East Africa Lounge
Less polished than Kilimanjaro but arguably more authentic — East Africa Lounge serves brochettes the way they're eaten on a Kigali street: no frills, paper plates, a small plastic tub of chilli, potatoes in a separate bowl. The charcoal grill is outside (weather permitting) and the goat quality is excellent. This is community food at its most honest. The price is also significantly lower, making it the best value brochette in Dubai.
Zanzibar Grill
A more upscale East African grill restaurant where the brochettes come as part of a larger mixed grill board — goat, beef, and chicken skewers alongside grilled fish and a separate section of kachumbari (tomato-onion salsa). The charcoal grill is central to the kitchen and the results are consistently good. The setting is the best of our picks — actual décor, proper tables, a drinks menu — making it the choice for a Rwandan food experience in a nicer environment.
Brochettes vs. Similar Dishes in Dubai
| Dish | Origin | Key Difference | Where in Dubai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brochettes | Rwanda/Burundi | Simple onion marinade, high-char charcoal, goat-forward, with fried potatoes | East African restaurants (Deira, Intl City) |
| Mishkaki | East Africa (coastal) | Similar to brochettes but often with coconut/lime influence; smaller pieces | Swahili restaurants, some Kenyan spots |
| Shish Kebab | Middle East/Turkey | Spiced with cumin/sumac/coriander; served with flatbread and salad | Everywhere in Dubai |
| Suya | West Africa (Nigeria) | Ground spice coating (yaji); thinner, crispier; served with onion and tomato | Nigerian restaurants (Deira) |
| Nyama Choma | Kenya/Tanzania | Whole cuts (not skewers), slow-cooked then finished over charcoal; less char | Kenyan restaurants (Intl City) |
What to Drink with Brochettes
In Rwanda, brochettes are washed down with Primus beer (Rwanda's national brew) or Inyange passion fruit juice. In Dubai, the restaurants serving brochettes are typically unlicensed — so you're looking at soft drinks, juices, or water. East Africa Lounge serves a house-made ginger drink that works surprisingly well with the char of the brochettes. Kilimanjaro has a mango lassi-adjacent drink called dawa that provides good contrast to the heat of the piri piri sauce.
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