Budget
Street Food
Try the street food. all day long - and especially in the morning, and around 3-5pm - you will witness ladies and the occasional gentleman manning grills, coffee shops, and little fire pits with woks full of bubbling oil along the roadside. popular belief has it that this kind of street food is an absolutely foolproof way to come down with one of a variety of truly wretched illnesses, but this is not entirely true. in fact, if you buy your street food from the person actually making it not from one of the folks wandering the street selling it off a platter on their head or a bucket on the ground, where the health concern is much fairer, it is likely to be one of the safest things you can eat, having traveled directly from a pot of boiling oil to your hands so to speak and eaten hot mitigate your risk by getting them in a plastic bag instead of a bowl, or bringing your own. certainly, it isn't as safe as what you'll eat in a tourist or hotel restaurant, but it's a reasonably safe bet, and nigerien street food is actually quite tasty. in particular, try kossai - deep-fried fritters made from black-eyed peas and typically served with a spicy powder. this is a regional specialty from southeastern niger. other deep fried goodies include weyna also called by its zarma name, massa, which are cakes of fermented millet, and fanke, donuts served with sugar or a savory sauce. typically, 200 or 250 francs of any of them will be a perfectly adequate light breakfast or snack. you can also try west african coffee - instant coffee made with sweetened, condensed milk for a tasty morning wakeup, and as you wander, you'll spot other treats slow-roasted chickens, grilled meat skewers coated in peanut resin, and so on that will make your mouth water. some neighborhoods are particularly good for street food: try walking the main street from the market to the high school, visit the truck stop and the tax office on the main street on the south side of town, or go where the peace corps volunteers go, the block between the ministry of youth and culture and the regional hospital.
Roadside Restaurants
Your best option for tasty budget eating in maradi is to look at the selection of unnamed roadside eateries that are essentially street-food vendors upgraded with a roof and a table or two. there is often a crowd out in the morning, where most serve bread and butter, fried egg sandwiches, coffee, and tea, although you can also get hot west african food such as rice and sauce or rice and beans. in the evening, your pickings get more plentiful; depending on the time of year, you might be surprised at what you can found at about 8 or 9 pm on the side of the road. offerings may include roast chicken and mutton, grilled corn on the cob, french fries, and a dozen other options beyond traditional food such as tuwo grain paste served in sauce and rice and beans, which you can wash down with a cold coke or frozen juice drink. in this author's opinion, your absolute best bet in both the morning and evening is to look around the traffic circle near the ministry of youth and culture known locally as the mjc. in the morning, you can find a stall run by a charmingly humorless woman and her legion of employees where you can custom-design a delicious breakfast or early lunch from a dizzying array of bases, meats, and sauces. in the evening, look for the guy with the barbecue grill, or ask for the guy with the "systã¨mes" - monumentally unhealthy but deeply delicious potato-and-egg scrambles unlike any anywhere, where you can also get some of the best salads and potato salads in the city if you want to take the risk. another decent option, especially in the morning, is the main street around the market; this will also allow a visit to maradi's only european-style bakery in the azawad station. their croissants are a little doughy, but the sweet pastries are pretty tasty; your guess is as good as anybody's on the health hazard.
Midrange
Maquis le Resurrection
Occupying a street corner in a quiet part of town behind the regional hospital, 'the ressurection' is a compact and often crowded bar/restaurant with a decent menu and acceptable service. finding a seat can be a bit of a difficult prospect, especially if there's a soccer game on - the place has satellite tv and so the barcalona faithful all seem to go there at game time. like the jardin, the beverage and foodservice sides are two different operations; sometimes you will get table service with the food, other times you have to hunt it down. the bar's refrigerators seem to have bad gaskets, so the beers are often served almost entirely caked in ice - on a hot day, this is actually a rather pleasant experience. the food selections are decent, with a couple of different french-style pounded steaks that are pretty tasty. the place also offers an american-style combination plate, where you get steak, fries, and peas on one plate for one price; if they're offering that, the value is pretty good and the meal is tasty. the kitchen there has a bad habit of being unexpectedly out of key ingredients.
Le Jardin
This bar is located just adjacent to the market and is a local favorite of nigeriens and peace corps volunteers, among others. it is worth a trip for a quintessentially african experience, a casual hours-long dinner in lounge chairs under the stars. it is also a cheap and hearty meal for the budget traveler. the drink ladies will make sure you get your first drink immediately try an ice-cold grand flag; a variety of other local beers and soft drinks are also available, or get a shot of a cheap liquor if you don't mind the consequences in the morning and then will forget about you; if you need them back, call "madame!" as they walk past or do as many nigeriens do and hiss loudly from across the place. the servers are charmingly unprofessional - one might be amusingly catty while the next will spontaneously break out dancing among the tables. food comes from a variety of individual street food sellers that have set up shop at the bar's periphery. there's a couple of guys with a barbecue grill where you can get brochettes, skewers of steak or organ meat that go for 100 cfa get 4 or 5 at least, or grilled chicken and guinea fowl for 2000 or 2500. a small restaurant style place in a building just off the main gate serves a variety of dishes including braised fish or steak which are delicious for 1000 and homemade french fries made from scratch when you order them, a process which takes every bit as long as you might think and is completely worth the wait for 600. try getting a 'steak' and a plate of fries, pouring the one onto the other, and having a wonderful meal. a togolese lady named ramatou makes salad and potato salad hors d'oeuvres, to a nigerien for 500 francs and 600 francs respectively at a table near the main entrance; she speaks serviceable english and is absolutely the most delightful person you will meet for several time zones in either direction. you also can get tuwo, a traditional nigerien grain paste, at a table nearby, if you really want to. it isn't unusual to get pieces of your meal from several places; just remember that you need to pay each individually for what you buy. on your way out, you can peruse a selection of shoes and other consumer goods, shoot a game of pool on the warped pool table the guys who frequent the place seem to know every bump and bulge by heart, so don't get talked into a bet, or try the video poker.
The Airport Bar
The maradi airport may be essentially out of commission, but the airport bar is still a lively place to spend the evening. you can sit inside and listen to the pan-west african music sometimes blasted at ear-splitting volume; add that to the experience of placing an order in a language that's foreign to both you and your server to find out how well your anger management classes are working, or you can sit outside and watch the goats graze on the runway. to eat, you can get the usual fare - steak and heart brochettes the heart meat is actually worth a try, especially if they're out of steak as sometimes happens, fries, and so on. the airport is a bit off the main drags through town, so this would be one of the places worth securing your return transportation for in advance.
Top end
L'Auberge
The auberge is probably the most expensive formal restaurant in town, hypothetically attached to a hotel hypothetically, because the author can find nobody who will testify to having stayed there. the auberge seats in a very agreeable outdoor garden; most of the tables are under well-built shade hangars, which is a plus during rainy season. the exorbitantly priced menu has a very extensive selection of west african and french cooking that is, generally, very well-made and tasty though be prepared for them to be out of your first and second choice. the service is on the weak side; it takes far longer than even the relaxed african pace of dinner which you may come to find quite agreeable to get your meal, and good luck getting that second drink while you're waiting.
The Guest House
+227 20 410 754 - the restaurant at maradi's best hotel has one of the pricier menus, but it is also traveler-friendly with many of your favorites from home served simply but hygienically in a clean, air-conditioned dining room. the pesto sauce and the french-style ham-and-cheese are both pretty good and to this author's knowledge, the guest house serves the only pizza in the city. it is also possibly the only restaurant in the city with a wine list or import beer, brief as the selection may be. the staff are very friendly and speak french fluently; you'll likely enjoy your meal rubbing elbows with ngo workers from around the world.
Le Club Privé
The club, as indicated, is a rec center patronized by foreigners and a few wealthy local families. sit by the pool or up at the bar in a shady and secluded setting and enjoy hausaland's best cheeseburger and a grilled ham-and-cheese that is much more familiar to an american palate than the french version, your only alternative, at the guest house. try the samosas if you want a pleasant surprise; they are surprisingly tasty and the french msf workers seem to plow through them, though be prepared to eat yours with ketchup or mayonnaise. you may have one of the most diverse drink menus here as well; normally, restaurants get their drinks from national bottler, where you can get only coke products, but the club orders from nigeria and so you can often get pepsi and seven-up, as well as some nigerian labels, as well. the price tag is as hefty as anywhere you'll find in town, but to a homesick stomach, it is worth every franc.
Hotel Jangorzo
The jangorzo is supposed to have a restaurant as well.