Chez TonTon Math: African Bar & Resto

Sub-Saharan African cuisine in the heart of Lausanne. Chez TonTon Math is an explosion of flavors we didn’t know we’ve been missing this whole time.

We first discovered Chez TonTon Math through the Instagram of DJ Mathematic— a Lausanne-based DJ and music producer originally from Angola. Friends know him as Esperança Zinga, and now Lausannois can also call him “tonton” thanks to his newest restaurant and bar featuring sub-Saharan African cuisine which opened earlier this month in the center of Lausanne.

Originally in the Rotillon neighborhood, Chez TonTon Math moved just 400 meters to the Escaliers du Grand-Pont where they can not only welcome more diners, but have a fully equipped (and gorgeous bar) for those dinners that linger into cocktail soirées (because who doesn’t love those?).

We stopped by for a lunch and watched passersby from the expansive terrace tucked away along the stairs behind the busy Grand-Pont. The menu can be daunting for those who aren’t familiar with sub-Saharan African cuisine (read: us), but we had fun creating our combinations and were excited to try new flavors. You can create your own meal by first choosing your base (one of us chose the riz rouge cassé attieke and it was so delicious), then you choose your sauce (yas to yassa), your meat or fish and if you’d like, an “extra.”

Our chicken thigh was cooked to perfection, the meat literally falling off the bone and seasoned with a mix of herbs and spices. Topped with caramelized lemony onions with a side of fried plantains, it was an explosion of flavors that we didn’t know we’ve been missing this whole time.

There is still so much of the menu we have yet to explore, but this is a challenge we’re willing to accept. Until the next visit—maybe this time for cocktails too.