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Why Quatre Bornes Market Is Worth a Morning

Quatre Bornes sits up on the central plateau between Port Louis and Curepipe, and it is one of the few places on the island where you can watch ordinary Mauritian life at full volume. The town's covered market — the Bazar Central — is a working market rather than a tourist attraction. Downstairs and around the edges you will find stalls selling vegetables, spices, cheap cotton shirts and mobile phone cases, but the real draw for anyone with an appetite is the food section: a hot, noisy, wonderfully fragrant warren of vendors frying, ladling and pouring from early morning until the food runs out.

Come before 9am if you can. The dholl puri stalls are at their best when the queue is long and the flatbreads are coming off the tawa in a steady rhythm, and the market is cooler and calmer. By early afternoon many cooks have packed up, and the atmosphere is more shopping than snacking. Wednesday and Saturday are typically the busiest market days, so if you want the full spectacle, aim for those.

Dholl Puri: The One Thing You Must Order

If you try only one thing in Quatre Bornes, make it a dholl puri. It is the island's great street-food staple: a soft, thin flatbread made from yellow split peas, cooked to order and wrapped around a spoonful of bean curry, a smear of rougaille, a dab of chilli paste and a scatter of pickled vegetables and fresh coriander. The whole thing costs a few rupees, arrives wrapped in greaseproof paper, and is eaten standing up with one hand.

Two or three make a proper breakfast. Ask for piment à part if you want the chilli on the side, or sans piment if you would rather skip it altogether — the paste is genuinely hot, and a little goes a long way. Vegetarians are well looked after here, as the standard version contains no meat at all.

Gateaux Piments and Other Snacks to Try

Gateaux piments are small, dark, deeply savoury fritters made from split peas, chilli, spring onion and herbs, dropped into hot oil and lifted out crisp. They are the snack you will smell before you see it. Most stalls sell them by the piece, often tucked into a split roll with butter or chilli sauce — a combination locals call pain gateaux piment.

While you are at it, keep an eye out for:

• Samosas and boulettes — fried triangles and steamed dumplings, usually vegetarian and very cheap.
• Farata — a flaky, oiled flatbread, excellent torn and dipped into curry.
• Mine frites — stir-fried noodles, sold from woks and best eaten hot with a squeeze of lime.
• Achards — the sharp, crunchy pickles of green mango, cucumber or cabbage that cut through all the fried food.

Buy from the stalls where the oil is clean, the food is going out as fast as it is being cooked, and there is a queue of local people. High turnover is the best hygiene guide you will get.

Alouda, the Market's Favourite Cooler

Once the chilli kicks in, you will want an alouda. It is a sweet, milky iced drink made with basil seeds and cubes of jelly, flavoured with vanilla or rose syrup, and served in a tall glass from a vendor who has been stirring the same enormous bowl all morning. The basil seeds swell into tiny pearls and slide up the straw in a way that is oddly addictive. It is cold, cheap and precisely what you need in the middle of a humid market hall.

Ask for alouda glacé if you want it extra cold, and don't be shy about asking for less syrup if you find it too sweet — most vendors will happily adjust it.

Ordering and Eating Without Causing Offence

Mauritian market manners are relaxed, but a few small habits will make you a welcome customer:

• Greet first. A cheerful bonjour before you order goes a long way; French works almost everywhere, and a smile covers the rest.
• Use your right hand for eating, handing over money and passing anything to another person. The left hand is considered impolite for these things.
• Wait your turn. Queues form loosely but fairly, and pushing in is noticed.
• Don't loiter on a stool once you've finished — seating is scarce and someone else is waiting.
• Say thank you — merci or the Creole mersi — as you take your food.
• Bin your paper and banana leaf rather than leaving it on the counter, and carry a small bag for your own rubbish if you can't see a bin.

Practical Pointers for British Visitors

Carry cash in small denominations. Vendors work at speed and rarely have change for a large note, so keep a pocket of 25, 50 and 100 rupee notes ready. Even a generous grazing session — three dholl puris, a bag of gateaux piments, a couple of samosas and an alouda each — will come to well under the price of a round of coffees in London.

Dress for heat and for standing: light clothes, comfortable shoes, and a hat. Bring hand sanitiser and a few tissues, as not every stall has a washbasin within reach. If you have a sensitive stomach, stick to food that is cooked fresh in front of you and served piping hot, and go easy on the chilli for the first day or two. Finally, give yourself more time than you think you need. The pleasure of Quatre Bornes is not ticking off snacks but standing at a counter, watching a cook flip a flatbread, and eating it while it is still too hot to hold properly.