Grand Ecuyer is a French restaurant in Accra that serves banku, a popular dish in Ghana made from corn meal. Try it with a whole fried tilapia fish, served with a mixture of vegetables on top, which will cost you about GH¢ 10.
Banku is served in a ball alongside your meat or fish, and pieces are pinched off with your right hand. Pinch a bit of fish or veggies along with it. Some people knead the banku a bit. Depending on what you're eating with it, you may want to make a dent in the ball of banku in your hand to scoop up sauce.
The taste is pretty bland, along the lines of bread dough - like rice or cous cous it's meant to be eaten as a side dish or base for other foods. A lunch of banku and fried fish will carry you through the day.
Frankie's restaurant on Oxford Street in Osu offers roasted chicken, french fries, and sandwiches, and ice cream is one if it's most popular items. If you're looking for local flavor this isn't really the place to find it in terms of food, though you will find a lot of Ghanaians at Frankie's on their lunch breaks.
Across the street from Frankie's is a very good chop bar known to locals as the TZ Joint. Chop bars are not quite restaurants, and are about the equivalent of food trucks in the US - with really good food. This particular chop bar serves TZ, another Ghanaian staple. TZ is also made from corn flour, but has a softer texture than banku. It's served something like chicken and dumplings - softish balls of flour and water, cooked in a flavorful stew with fish and/or meat. TZ is eaten in a similar manner as banku, pinching pieces and using it as a scoop for meat, fish and stew.
Order each piece of TZ, meat, and fish separately, up to the amount you want to spend. At the time of this writing, each piece of TZ costs 10 Gp, the beef 20 Gp each, and the fish 20 Gp each. With three of each, you end up with a substantial meal for GH¢ 1.50. You can get more or less of each item as it suits you.
Kakum National Park
Hans Cottage is an excellent place to stop for lunch after your visit to Kakum National Park. Dine in the stilted restaurant over a serene lake, and catch a glimpse of one of the crocodiles that call Hans Cottage home. This is also an excellent place for bird watching, and you will hear the constant twittering of dozens of birds singing as you enjoy your meal. Hans Cottage has great fried plantains and fish, and Coke or Fanta in old fashioned bottles.
Kumasi
Mr. Biggs is an American-ish fast food restaurant in Kumasi similar to Frankie's in Accra. If you're looking for mildly seasoned chicken legs, fried rice or french fries, this is the place to be.
Eastern Region
Bonsu Junction is arguably one of the best places to eat in Ghana. It's a mere rest stop, but has a couple of local specialties that will knock your socks off.
Waakye is a platter of beans and rice with spaghetti (yes spaghetti), a boiled egg, and fried fish. Very filling and very good. Bonsu Junction also has Grasscutter Soup with fufu. Fufu is another starchy side dish, this time made from boiled pounded cassava that is sometimes mixed with boiled plantains. Fufu is often served in the bottom of a soup bowl as it is in this case, with the soup on top. Grasscutter is a relative of the porcupine and guinea pig, and considered a delicacy in Ghana.
Video: Pounding Fufu in Accra. Click the Play button.
On the Road
There are many vendors along the road in Ghana. Being stuck in deadlocked traffic is almost as good as a drive-through mall, with vendors selling everything and anything you could want. Food is no exception.
In addition to sachet water, biscuits and nuts, you can also pick up a loaf of butter bread, a slightly sweet, soft white bread. If you come across a produce stand, you may be able to pick up small finger bananas, which taste like sweet tangerines - nothing like the larger version sold in the States. In the more thickly forested areas, you may find freshly fallen cocoa pods a few yards from the road. Fresh coconuts are also common; the salesman will lop off the top so that you can drink the slightly sweet water and eat the flesh, which taste only somewhat like the dried coconuts sold in the US.
