Eastern Cape
The charming garden restaurant at the Edge serves French toast with local berries and Hogsback's best coffee for breakfast, recommended wood-fired pizzas…
Must-see restaurants in Africa
Algiers
This classy, intimate and laid-back restaurant is perhaps the best place in Algiers to eat gourmet versions of local classics. It's best known for its…
Réunion
Don't miss this soulful restaurant in the centre of Petite Île – it gets favourable word-of-mouth reviews along with our stamp of approval. The menu…
Malawi
This Italian restaurant offers treats such as homemade pasta made daily, Parmesan flown from Italy and monthly live music on the stoep. Dishes include…
Southern Ethiopia
Many people, apparently decompressing after a long time travelling in the south, rave about this Italian kitchen, and we share their unbridled enthusiasm…
Mukbassa Central – Chez Youssouf
Djibouti City
In business for ages, this Djibouti City icon is famous for one thing and one thing only: poisson yemenite (oven-baked fish). It's served with a chapati…
Malawi
Close to the harbour, with a big upstairs balcony overlooking the main street, Kaya Papaya has an appealing Afro-Asian-fusion chic that's matched by a…
Lesotho
Africa's highest restaurant (3010m) overlooks the slopes at Afriski Mountain Resort and reflects the resort's international sheen with its stylish wood…
eSwatini (Swaziland)
If you need to re-energise after a bout of shopping in the adjoining handicrafts outlets, there's no better place than this delightful cafe. It has a fine…
Watamu
Set on a breezy Swahili-style outdoor terrace looking down on mangrove-strewn Prawn Lake, Pilipan turns up Watamu's chic factor, particularly after sunset…
Lake Naivasha
Camp Carnelley's hip restaurant is popular with NGO workers and other Nairobians at weekends. Grab one of the gorgeous low-slung sofas, or pull up a chair…
Djibouti City
Dining at this upscale gourmet restaurant is a treat. The elegant dining room is decorated with earthy tones and classy furniture, and Café de la Gare is…
Sidi Ifni
The best restaurant in Sidi Ifni serves excellent grills and seafood, often to a soundtrack of Western music – English-speaking owner Abdellah is a big…
Réunion
Brimming with good cheer, this tropical cocoon in a street running parallel to the seafront serves excellent food. A sampling of choices might include a…
Kigali
Sassy Pili-Pili ticks all the right boxes: a vast open-air terrace with superb views, a nifty pool, an enticing ethnic chic two-storey interior and a…
Agadir
By far the best restaurant on the Blvd de 20 Août touristS strip, the Jardin d'Eau slings fragrant, flavoursome tajines, salads and meat-based mains…
Sharm El Sheikh
Always crowded with locals, Fares is a Sharm El Sheikh institution for good-value seafood. Order fish priced by weight or choose from one of the pasta or…
Kenya
Crab samosas, grilled calamari and steamed fish await at the end of a mangrove boardwalk, overlooking Mida Creek. This lovely Giriama-run spot is a…
Malindi
This standout restaurant is not only one of the best on the coast, but in the entire country. Think leafy, intimate setting, makuti roof (thatched roof of…
Réunion
Concealed in a wonderfully overgrown garden, this well-respected restaurant has a great selection of fish and meat dishes, as well as a few Creole…
Marsa Alam
The best Italian food in Marsa Alam, prepared by Mara from Rome. Pizzas are shortcrust, made using extra virgin olive oil, and range from a simple…
Djibouti City
This place has plenty of character and serves up good Ethiopian food as well as pasta and sandwiches at puny prices. It occupies a rooftop, with a moodily…
Khartoum
Everyone loves an insider's tip, and Fish Wok is that easy-to-miss 'secret spot' that locals like to recommend. Hidden behind a row of dull multistorey…
Réunion
A welcoming family-run outfit in a picturesque Creole house complete with a courtyard garden, Chez Moustache serves authentic Creole specialities at…
Nelspruit (Mbombela)
Nelspruit's youth come here to drink draught craft beers in the industrial interiors and on the large open terrace. Music pumps out and there's football…
Sunshine Coast
Most locals recommend vibey Nina's, with its quirky decor of surfboards and coastal scenes around a paper-disc chandelier. Seafood abounds on the wide…
Green Point & Waterfront
Although the menu covers quite a bit of crowd-pleasing culinary ground, it's the Indian dishes that form the bulk and should not be missed – from crispy…
Winelands
The only downside to this fabulous tea garden is that it's only open for half the year. Based on an organic fruit farm, it's a wonderful place to sit…
Erfoud
Authentic wood-fired pizza includes a house special with heart of palm, olives and oregano. For something a bit different, order the stellar madfouna (…
Sea Point to Hout Bay
There's pasta and spuntini (tapas-style small plates) on offer, but the wood-fired thin-crust pizzas are Massimo’s speciality – and very good they are,…
Restaurant Brasserie La Bavaroise
Casablanca
Down a dishevelled street behind the Marché Centrale, La Bavaroise has been serving an ultraloyal local clientele since 1968 and shows no sign of losing…
Rwanda
Four words: not to be missed. On the lakefront road near the DRC border, this wonderful conversion of an impressive mansion now hosts a superb cafe that…
Cape Town
Fish straight from Kalk Bay Harbour is served at this seafood cafe and fishmonger that supports the South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI)…
Winelands
The coffee machine here is manned by Joseph Matheatau, South Africa's first blind barista. The cafe is owned by Kaleidoscope, previously known as the…
Casablanca
Local partygoers of all ages love this hybrid tapas bar-restaurant where meaty dishes are served accompanied by a soundtrack of loud – and often live –…
Ristarante Bellariva Dalla Lina
Cap Bon
Given El Haouaria's proximity to Italy, you might think there would be better food options in town. Although many restaurants have a token Italian option…
Morondava
At Chez Maggies’s thatch-roof restaurant, you can’t fault the service, or the food. House specialities revolve around the grill: be it steak, jumbo shrimp…
Lamu Island
On the premises of Kijani Hotel, this excellent new restaurant has a daily changing menu that combines fresh local ingredients with global influences. Go…
Cape Town
The barn-like contemporary restaurant at Nitida winery is a pleasant spot to enjoy delightful dishes ranging from burgers to pasta, as well as cheese and…
Algiers
A handy place to eat when exploring the Casbah district, this cheap locals favourite serves traditional home cooking that can be hard to find elsewhere…
