Best restaurants in Zimbabwe

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Harare

Don some nice threads as Amanzi is a class act and still the special night out. In a stunning colonial house with African decor, local art (for sale) and an amazing garden, it serves delicious international fusion dishes with a great vibe. The outdoor patio is ridiculously atmospheric with a nearby garden waterfall and crackling fire brazier. Bookings essential.

Restaurants in Bulawayo

Chandeliers, silverware, marble pillars and gleaming hardwood floors might have you thinking you need to dust off your blazer. Not to worry chaps: the Bulawayo Club's dining-room surrounds may be decked out for Rhodesian high society, but these days it's welcoming to all. Its retro menu card offers old-world dishes such as pie with gravy, chips and peas, or pavlova for dessert.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Victoria Falls (town)

Enjoy a taste of Africa at this buffet restaurant set under a massive thatched roof. Here you can dine on smoked crocodile tail, BBQ warthog, guinea fowl stew and wood-fired spit roasts; and the more adventurous can try a mopane worm (you'll get a certificate from the chef for your efforts). There's also traditional dancing (8pm), interactive drumming (8.45pm) and fortune telling by a witch doctor. Bookings essential.

Restaurants in Harare

With a Thai owner and chef team, it’s no wonder this place has locals salivating – and perspiring – at the mention of its name. This is the real deal, with green, red and massaman curries all made from scratch with fresh ingredients; it's some of the most authentic Thai food you’ll find outside Bangkok.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Victoria Falls (town)

Run by welcoming host Lola from Barcelona, this popular eatery combines a menu of Mediterranean cuisine with local game meats. The result is anything from crocodile ravioli to paella with kudu. Other items include zebra burgers, impala meatballs, and more traditional tapas dishes. There's also a full spread of all-you-can-eat game meat for US$30.

Restaurants in Harare

This atmospheric seafood restaurant in a converted house with a Mediterranean-inspired decor is very popular with locals. The weekly specials are always worth a look, but otherwise expect the likes of grilled Kariba bream, Cajun blackened calamari or good ol' fish and chips, to enjoy indoors or on garden tables. Most of the seafood is imported from nearby Mozambique.

Restaurants in Harare

Highly recommended by locals, this restaurant has traditional Zimbabwean cuisine served under a thatched roof around a large roaring fire. Lunch draws a busy crowd filling up on sadza (maize-meal porridge) and other dishes, including goat and guinea fowl. Vegetarians are catered for with tasty leaf-vegetable dishes. It's about a US$5 cab ride from town.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Masvingo

A genuine reason to stop by Masvingo is this attractive little cafe that does 10 different kinds of burgers (including some good gourmet varieties), steak rolls and toasted sarnies. They do good coffee from the Eastern Highlands and you can BYO beer. There are picnic tables at the front or try the smart cafe decorated with retro movie posters.

Restaurants in Bulawayo

Within the National Art Gallery is this quality little cafe doing homemade cakes, burgers and inventive mains such as crocodile-and-eggplant laksa. Otherwise come by purely for its excellent coffee to enjoy on its outdoor terrace next to the artist studios.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Victoria Falls (town)

A stunning location overlooking Batoka Gorge. Enjoy views of the bridge and the Zambezi river while tucking into a burger or crocodile kebab, or a cold drink on its open-air deck or grassy lawn terrace. It's operated by Wild Horizons, so you'll get the added entertainment of watching daredevils take the plunge or soar across the gorge.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Bulawayo

Housed in a colonial building with sprawling lawns and a big patio, this casual fine-dining restaurant is one of Bulawayo's best. Its menu changes seasonally, and well-trained chefs cook up the likes of regional Nyanga trout, game venison pie or Zimbabwe dry-aged beef. Its thin-crust pizzas are very popular too, and its cocktail bar makes for a lively drinking spot.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Mutare

Given this old-school club was set up for the local Portuguese/Mozambique community (with an honor board dating to the 1950s), it's not surprising the peri peri chicken here is as good as you'll get anywhere. It has an atmospheric front bar, and busy dining area around the back with gingham tablecloths. It's down an industrial street off Simon Mazorodze Rd.

Restaurants in Victoria Falls (town)

This appealing outdoor cafe does the best coffee in Victoria Falls, made by expert baristas using beans sourced from Zimbabwe's eastern highlands. There's plenty of seating scattered about to enjoy big breakfasts, burgers, vegetarian dishes and desserts such as its signature baobab-powder cheese cake. There's a bar, too.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Harare

An attractive house-turned-restaurant with a relaxed garden setting, 40 Cork serves quality breakfasts and lunches, and does one of the best coffees in Harare. Also here is its Tutti Gelati, serving excellent homemade gelato (US$2 a scoop), and the quality KwaMambo craft shop.

Restaurants in Harare

In a land of carnivores, this vegetarian cafe is a welcome peculiarity. It's moved from its original Doon Estate locale to set up shop within Amanzi restaurant. It remains as popular as ever for its lunchtime buffets.

Restaurants in Harare

There's no shortage of authentic Portuguese restaurants in Harare, but the Pointe is one of the very best for peri peri charcoal meats. It's in a ramshackle, character-filled building busy with regulars tucking into classic Portuguese dishes. Friday nights (from 9pm) is karaoke time.

Restaurants in Harare

One of Harare's best downtown eats is this authentic Portuguese restaurant that's a perennial local favourite for its saliva-inducing plates of spicy charcoal chicken.

Restaurants in Victoria Falls (town)

A glitzy cafe seems a bit incongruous along Victoria Fall's sleepy main strip, but it's proven a hit with tourists wanting a chic European-style atmosphere to sip their lattes streetside. During the heat of the day most head indoors to its swanky air-conditioned interior. The food is good quality, with eggy breakfasts, grilled Mozambique tiger prawn dishes, Zimbabwean steaks, sandwiches and a good burger and pizza selection.

Restaurants in Harare

Harare's best restaurant for fine dining, Victoria 22 is a fairly formal affair with crisp linen and silverware, making it a favourite for well-heeled locals. Set in a colonial house with a classy interior, its outdoor terrace overlooks a swimming pool and manicured lawn. The menu is predominantly Italian, including such local variations as ostrich carpaccio. Reservations recommended.

Restaurants in Harare

Your typical relaxed Harare cafe, where you can enjoy a good choice of breakfasts, toasties and burgers, or heartier mains such as steaks and curries. Its handmade Belgian chocolates are the real attraction, however. It's opposite Arundel Shopping Centre, which is home to a specialised Veldemeers chocolatier store.