Eating in Harare: 18 Places Worth Your Time (An Honest Guide)
Harare has a way of surprising people. Not in the dramatic, postcard sense that other African capitals lean into, but quietly. In the way the jacaranda trees line the roads in violent purple each November, or the way a suburb gives way to a kopje, or the way someone's garden has been converted into one of the best restaurants you will eat at all year. It is a city that rewards the curious and frustrates anyone arriving with assumptions. This is my honest review of eighteen places I ate at during my most recent visit, with enough detail to help you decide where your time and money are best spent, whether you are returning home for the first time in years, or arriving with no context at all and an appetite.
I grew up here, left, and have been returning ever since, each time through the lens of someone who thinks about food constantly. Nearly ten years of food blogging will do that to you. And what I can tell you is that the food scene in Harare is not what most people expect. It is not trying to be Lagos or Johannesburg. It is doing something quieter and, in many ways, more interesting, leaning into the quality of what the land actually produces. The meat is grass-fed. The fruits and vegetables carry real flavour. The grain is good. That foundation matters more than any concept or décor, and the best restaurants here know it.
What you find here is pockets of almost everything. Spacious family restaurants and suburban homes with gardens converted into dining rooms. Spots tucked deep into the CBD. Places to eat inside golf courses, which makes more sense than it sounds. There are long-standing local institutions and newer arrivals, many with roots in South Africa, bringing a different energy and occasionally a different standard. The people are warm and industrious, and the sense of community across the suburbs and townships is something you feel almost immediately. Your experience of the city will depend enormously on what you are there for, where you are staying, and who you are with.
Three Monkeys — Greendale
Three Monkeys has a reputation for burgers, pizzas, and cocktails, and it earns that reputation under the right conditions. The outdoor space does a lot of the work: open, scenic, a water feature that softens the noise. The catch is that the crowd shifts dramatically depending on when you turn up. Midweek it is relaxed. Weekend nights are a different restaurant entirely.
The surprise here was the poke bowl. I ordered it with crusted prawns, mostly out of curiosity, and it arrived fresh, properly sauced, and generous in a way that suggested somebody in that kitchen actually cares about it. Poke is not what I came to Greendale expecting to be impressed by, but here we are. Before that, an Aperol Spritz, a strawberry mojito, and veggie spring rolls that did their job without demanding much attention.
The chocolate brûlée was closer to a pot de crème, which is fine, though it came topped with ice cream. This seems to be a thing in Harare, and I have not made peace with it. Satisfying enough, but I would have preferred to taste the custard on its own terms. If you want the place at its best, go midweek.
La Parada — Chisipite
La Parada is where the who's who of the city goes, and it knows it. The original is South African and the Harare outpost has imported the same energy wholesale: a beautiful garden, tapestry strung across the ceiling, a bar that anchors the whole room, and a cocktail list long enough to be a menu in its own right. On a Friday or Saturday night there is a DJ and the place transforms. On a Tuesday it is an entirely different restaurant. Both are worth seeing if you want the full picture.
The food is where I have reservations. It is fine, but the menu is sprawling and global in a way that works against the Spanish identity the name implies. My favourite thing I ate there was the pork belly bao buns, which are Chinese. Make of that what you will.
Service was inconsistent the night we went, which takes some of the shine off. I would still go back without hesitation, because what La Parada is actually selling is atmosphere and it delivers that reliably. Just do not come expecting to keep the bill down.
Mozambik — Chisipite, Multiple Locations
If you are already at La Parada, walk next door. Mozambik is a beautiful house converted into a restaurant with a pool sitting in the middle of it, and the atmosphere is one of my favourites in the entire city. Where La Parada is selling a scene, this is selling a long, easy meal with people you actually like.
The kitchen delivers on what Portuguese-African promises, which is bold and fresh. They bring out a little cigar of nuts while you wait, a small touch that tells you somebody thought about the experience. We drank Portuguese Vinho Verde and rosé, started with the squid heads, and I went for the shrimp and rib platter with a Greek salad. That platter was one of the best things I ate on the entire trip. The seafood is clearly where their attention goes and you can taste it. I took a bottle of their OG peri-peri sauce home and it is still in my fridge.
Dessert was malva pudding, and it was good, though I will tell you later in this post where I had one that edged it out. There are four locations across the city, so you are likely to find one near wherever you are staying.
H-Town Gelato — Greendale, Multiple Locations
H-Town Gelato is that stranger you meet at a party, have the most interesting conversation of the night with, and then they leave early. That was genuinely my experience.
This is an artisan operation built on fresh local ingredients, and you can taste the difference in the flavours. The Biscoff was phenomenal. They also do a malva pudding flavour that I never got to try, and I am not fully over it. I found them at their van in Greendale, which is as picture perfect as it sounds, though locations are popping up around the city now. My only real complaint is structural: if they ever introduced flights so you could sample properly, I would be a permanent fixture.
Pizza Inn — Borrowdale, Nationwide
There is bias here and I will name it upfront. Pizza Inn was my introduction to pizza as a child, every Friday night, alternating with Chinese and Nando's. That was just how it was.
My palate has moved a long way in almost ten years of food blogging. I understand wood-fired Neapolitan now, why fermentation matters, how a properly thin and flavourful dough changes everything. None of that is the point here. Eating at Pizza Inn in Harare is a rite of passage in the same way Chicken Inn and Nando's are, part of the Innscor empire and woven into the fabric of how the country actually eats. If you are visiting and want to understand something about daily life here, this is more useful than another fine dining reservation.
Service at the Borrowdale location was not great on this visit, though that varies, so check recent reviews before you go. And for the record: Hawaiian, always.
Tongfu — Belgravia
Bad Chinese food has left enough of a mark on me that I approach it with caution now. Tongfu is the opposite of every bad experience I have had, and it corrected something I did not realise I had stopped expecting.
One piece of advice: go with a group. The more people at the table, the more plates you can order, and you want to try as much of this as possible. They start you with tea, then an egg drop style soup with a rich broth, tofu, chicken, and vegetables, and then the mains begin arriving in earnest.
The duck was glorious. Perfectly seared, crispy skinned, and they bring the bones too, which turns out to be strangely addictive. The Sichuan chicken is the one I still think about: breaded fried chicken, crunchy groundnuts, chilli peppers, and mouth-numbing peppercorns, genuinely spicy in a way that most kitchens outside China hedge on. It was one of the most memorable things I ate all year. And order the sea bass. It is a masterpiece, and I do not say that to be generous.
Upstate and Denga — Highlands Park
Highlands Park houses both Upstate and Denga, run by the Pariah State group, and conceptually I love what they have built: a proper dinner and a proper place to go afterwards, twenty feet apart, so the night does not have to end when the plates are cleared.
Denga is the lounge. Small, dark, strong cocktails, and a playlist that someone clearly cares about. We had the Watermelon Gin Fizz and The Godfather, a smoked bourbon and amaretto build that lingered. Both worth ordering.
Upstate is the white-tablecloth side. The duck on pumpkin mash was refined enough that I started mentally working out how to recreate it at home. Read the menu carefully, though: my friend's Moroccan lamb skewers arrived underseasoned relative to what the description promised. The evening got off to a slow start, which is worth flagging, but on the right night this is a genuinely classy way to spend one.
Bishop's Mistress — Borrowdale
Bishop's Mistress is worth considering if you want a quiet, unhurried lunch. We had come for the nighttime version, which apparently leans into a British gastropub feel, and never got there, so I cannot speak to it. What we got instead was a slow afternoon, which turned out to suit the place.
The cocktails are where the kitchen's ambition shows. The Gin Kick has actual chilli seeds in it and works. The Pope's Martini is a Pornstar Martini with a considerably better name. Both delicious. The food was patchier. Several items were out of stock, and the Maine-style crayfish roll arrived wanting more butter, which I say as someone who has eaten the original in Maine and therefore came in with expectations. Not bad, just not the thing it was reaching for. The steak and chips with eggs was hearty and did precisely what it set out to do.
If you sit outside, go inside at some point and look at the décor. It really does give Bishop's Mistress, and you will know exactly what I mean the moment you are in there. Check the food trucks in the car park too. I finished with a matcha gelato from The Milk Lab that I had not planned on and did not regret.
Luna's — Highlands
Luna's is where you go for a relaxed daytime meal without having to think too hard about it. It sits in a small shopping centre alongside an art gallery, a boutique, a food market, and a gym, and the cluster gives the whole corner a curated, neighbourhood feel.
The menu is large, global classics built around whatever is seasonally available, and the portions match. Very family-friendly. I started with a cold green juice, which I was glad to find at all. Harare needs more fast-casual places doing this kind of food, the green bowls and smoothies and proper salads, and there is a real gap in the market waiting for someone to fill it.
My main was the Buddha bowl: kale, cauliflower, beetroot hummus, fried avocado, kimchi, butternut, quinoa, and an Asian dressing. Visually striking, and every individual element was good, though it did not quite cohere as one dish. The sticky toffee pudding was a strong close and made up for it. It is hard to go badly wrong here, which is precisely the point of a place like this.
Amanzi — Drew Road
If you grew up in Harare you have probably been to Amanzi, or at minimum driven past the original Enterprise Road location enough times to feel like you have. The Drew Road lodge is the more intimate of the two, closer to an art gallery and sculpture garden that happens to serve dinner, and it draws expats and people marking an occasion.
The artwork is not decoration here, it changes how the room feels. I drank a classic Manhattan, which was the right register for the place. Ask for the amuse-bouche when you sit down: focaccia with butter and tomato essence, which I can only describe as tomato nectar, and which is a genuinely beautiful way to open a meal.
We ordered across the table: lamb shank in wine sauce, Bengal fish curry, pork chops with caramelised pears, prawn tempura with wasabi mayo, and Naija pepper soup with chicken dumplings. A serious spread, and the range of it tells you something about the ambition of the kitchen. For dessert, ask for the chocolate bomb. It is borrowed from a London original, it is interactive in a way that could easily be gimmicky and somehow is not, and it tastes as good as it looks.
Cafe Nush — Avondale, Multiple Locations
If you need somewhere reliable for a meeting, a few hours of work, or just to sit with a coffee before the day starts properly, Cafe Nush is one of your safest bets. Harare's coffee culture has grown a lot and there are smaller independents doing more interesting things, but Nush has consistency and reach, which is a different kind of useful.
Good pastries, decent pies, a solid enough coffee list. The Avondale branch is my comfort zone, and I order the same thing every time: chocolate milkshake, chicken mayo sandwich, side salad with avocado. They are the only ones who get it exactly right, which is either about that kitchen or about me having eaten it there too many times to accept a variation.
There are Nush2Go kiosks in service stations and smaller outposts including Borrowdale Village and the airport, so you can find one at almost any point in a trip, including the last twenty minutes of it.
Kelly's Kuttings — Domboshawa
This was my favourite excursion of the entire trip, and I do not say that lightly.
Kelly's Kuttings is a working flower farm a few minutes past Borrowdale Brooke where you eat, drink, and then go and cut your own flowers. Wildflowers, nurtured on site, and they last weeks if you look after them. We sat outside in the sun with the views and I ordered a French 75, which is one of my favourite classic cocktails and one of the first properly made ones I have had in Harare. That alone would have justified the drive.
Lunch was carrot risotto with shrimp, which I had never eaten before and which turned out to be a genuinely clever use of the vegetable, sweet enough to carry the dish without needing much help. Then carrot cake and an affogato before the picking started.
The picking is the part I keep describing to people. Rows of different varieties, ducks wandering through, hills behind and cattle somewhere in the distance, and at one point I caught myself feeling like I was walking through a royal garden. They trim and wrap everything for you at the end, so you leave with a bouquet you assembled yourself. If you only have a few days in Harare, this should still make the list.
The Kitchen — Town
For refined dining in the heart of the central business district, The Kitchen is worth the trip into town. It sits inside the Hyatt Regency, formerly The Meikles, which will mean something to anyone who grew up here. I had heard good things, but what actually interested me was the concept: global classics threaded with Zimbabwean ingredients and flavours. That is a harder balance than it sounds, and it lands on the right side of intentional rather than gimmicky.
The room is clean and modern. We started with cocktails, and mine was a gin build infused with moringa, which I had never seen in a glass before and appreciated more than I expected to. Fresh pita and caponata arrive at the table while you wait. My main was the oxtail pasta, rich and comforting and closer to a saucy stew served over pasta than a pasta dish proper. I liked both the idea and the execution, though I would have pushed for fattier cuts to get more depth out of it. We also had the tilapia and the ribs, both solid.
Dessert was a baobab crème brûlée, which had my attention immediately because baobab is so badly underused in Zimbabwean desserts. It was slightly heavy and a touch large for the format, and the ice cream on top was not doing it any favours, but the idea is genuinely exciting. With a little refinement that dish could be the thing people come for. They also do weekend brunch and there is pool access, so ask what is on before you book.
Gava’s — Belgravia
Gava's sits at Belgravia Sports Club in an open outdoor setting, and it does traditional Zimbabwean food: sadza, greens, beans, braaied meats, stews. You know exactly what you are getting, and that predictability is most of the appeal.
The waiters come round with a jug and bowl for handwashing before you eat, which is customary and also practical, because you will be eating with your hands. I was there with my mum. I had guinea fowl stew with sorghum sadza, greens, and sugar beans. She had the same and added maguru, cow stomach lining, served with peanut butter rice. Both are classics that you either grew up on or are brave enough to try for the first time, and there is no shame in either position.
On weekends there is live music and the place fills out. If you are visiting and want a real entry point into traditional Zimbabwean food, this is not a bad place to start, though it is worth knowing there are more authentic spots if you want to go deeper. And if you are hosting people, or feeding family, it does that job better than almost anywhere.
Brahman's — Borrowdale
Brahman's sits inside Sam Levy's Village, an open-air shopping centre in Borrowdale, and it is a lively gastropub that somehow manages not to be overwhelming, which is a harder balance than most places manage. We went twice, once during the day and once at night, and the energy shifts noticeably between the two. Daytime is laid-back. Evenings get social. I prefer the outdoor section when the weather cooperates, which in Harare is most of the time.
The menu is short and solid. Start with the char-grilled chicken wings, smoky and rich, served with a lemon and herb dip. The pulled lamb meatballs with red wine gravy and mash are generous and comforting in the way you want that dish to be. My main was the dry-aged sirloin with onion rings, orange roasted pumpkin, mushrooms, and a thyme sauce, and the pumpkin was the smart addition, that sweetness cutting against the beef. The wine list is decent too.
Practically speaking, this is a good place to catch up with someone properly, or to stop and reset in the middle of a shopping afternoon at the Village.
Wine Bar — Newlands
This was the stop I was most looking forward to, and it is the one I can tell you to go to without a single qualification.
Wine Bar is an extension of Victoria 22, one of the most respected fine dining restaurants in the city, opened in 2020 by Lucas and Matthias, the sons of the family who have run Victoria 22 since the nineties. I checked in with the executive chef personally to secure our table. Victoria 22 sets a high bar, so I arrived expecting a lot. The menu is modern European with global fusion touches and rotates seasonally, so ask your waiter what is actually on that night rather than planning around anything you read online. The cocktail list is short and genuinely impressive. We had the lychee rosemary margarita, which was outstanding, and a citrus red sangria before moving onto wine.
The approach to the food is simple: order many small plates and share all of it. Wasabi tempura prawns with sweet chilli. Pork belly and cucumber salad with ponzu. Lamb quesadillas that were not on the menu at all and arrived with tzatziki and were somehow one of the best things on the table. Then the potato fondant with duck breast and a blueberry red wine sauce, which is the dish I have been telling people about since. World-class, and I do not use that phrase loosely.
We also had the jerk chicken with apple slaw, and closed on the chocolate Amarula malva pudding, which is the one I mentioned earlier that edged out Mozambik's. This is a place I would book every single time I am in Harare, without thinking about it.
Plato — Chisipite, Multiple Locations
Plato is a South African chain doing well in Harare, and its arrival says something useful about where the city's coffee culture is heading. I stopped in for a latte and it was exactly what it needed to be. The space is clean, modern, and comfortable, the kind of room that works equally for a meeting or an hour of quiet work.
There are pastries, baked goods, and sandwiches, plus a few drinks that play with local flavours like rooibos. Some are named after Greek philosophers, which gives the menu more personality than it strictly needs. And yes, they write your name on the cup, which I first encountered at Starbucks in the States and have appreciated ever since.
Not a destination, but a genuinely useful thing to know about when you need one.
Surrey Pies — Multiple Locations
Zimbabwe does not lack for meat pies. There is Bakers Inn, Cafe Nush, the refrigerated section of any grocery store. But Surrey Group's pies are widely held to be the gold standard, and I wanted to test that properly rather than take it on faith. You can buy them fresh or frozen, the selection shifts by location, and steak and chicken are the main proteins.
Here is what you actually need to know: pepper steak is the order. The pastry is buttery and properly flaky, the meat-to-pastry ratio is correct, and the filling is well-seasoned steak in a gravy rich enough to justify itself. I could eat them all day and have come close.
We stopped at the production site outside the city, past Ruwa on the Harare-Mutare Road toward Marondera, on the way back from Imire Conservation Park. Pepper steak, peri peri chicken, gango, and a bag of fresh buns. There is a butchery on site too, with biltong, fresh cuts, fish, and grocery staples.
If Pizza Inn is one Zimbabwean rite of passage, this is the other. Eat one warm, ideally in the car, and you will understand why nobody here needs it explained to them.
Eighteen places over a few weeks is not a survey of a city, but it is enough to notice what is shifting. The coffee culture has arrived properly. New concepts are opening with actual points of view rather than borrowed ones. And there are chefs here doing something genuinely interesting with local ingredients, treating the quality of Zimbabwean produce as an asset rather than a constraint to work around.
What has not changed is the foundation. The meat is still better than it has any right to be. The produce still tastes like it was grown rather than manufactured. And the best meals I had were not necessarily the most expensive ones, which is usually a sign that a food scene is healthy rather than performing.
If you are only here briefly, book Wine Bar for one evening and give Kelly's Kuttings a whole afternoon. Go to Mozambik for the seafood and bring people to Tongfu. Buy a pepper steak pie from Surrey and eat it warm.
And if you grew up here and have been away, the thing worth knowing is that the city has not been waiting for you to come back. It has been getting on with it. That is a better outcome than nostalgia.