The first word most people say when you mention food in Maputo is
"prawns", followed quickly by the words "cold beer". South Africans are
especially Pavlovian about this, and for many of us, the two will always
be the signature Mozambican meal: an ice-cold Dois M (pronounced
doish-em) or a Laurentina, both excellent local beers, along with a
great pile of prawns. But while eating prawns remains one of the top
reasons to visit Maputo - and no visit is complete without attempting to
commit prawnicide at least once - there is far more to the food and
flavours of Maputo.
The city's cuisine is a mix of African, Portuguese, Oriental and Arab
flavours: warm spices, piquant piri piri, creamy coconut sauces and
hints of cashews. Think Afro-Mediterranean with an Eastern sidewinder.
Mozambican seafood is famous: camarões (prawns) lagosta (crayfish)
peixe grelhada (grilled catch of the day) as well as lulas (calamari)
and ameijoas (clams). Chicken is also popular, especially galinha a
Zambeziana, which is a chicken dish with a lime, garlic, pepper. coconut milk and
piri-piri sauce.
Look out, too, for the traditional dish of matapa, cassava leaves
cooked in a peanut sauce. Caril (curry) dishes are common, as are
chamusa (samoosas). And meat dishes tend to be good, with most meat
imported from SA.
The city has a surprising diversity of restaurants, bistros, cafés
and street fare. Along Avenida Marginal, the beach road, and downtown,
you can do fine dining, family restaurants, pavement cafés, ambient
bistros. Go Thai, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Mozambican; do Ethiopian,
Moroccan, street food. The Portuguese also ensured a wonderful tradition
of baking, and all across the city you'll find cafés, pastelaria and
salao de cha serving delicious pastries and fresh pão (bread). And
coffee-heads, fear not, Maputo is a deeply coffee-friendly society.
Delicious espressos, cappuccinos, latte and assorted coffee-combo
regmakers wait at every turn.
Since everyone asks, the best prawns to be had in town are at the
Bayview Restaurant at Southern Sun, an elegant North African restaurant
with doors opening out on ocean views, and excellent food and wines
(4016 Avenida Marginal).
The home of the "original LM prawn" is still Costa do Sol (10249
Avenida Marginal), a historic and colourful spot at the northern end of
Avenida Marginal that dates back to colonial times, run by the
Petrakakis family since 1938. They also do a mean line in caipirinhas,
the traditional Maputo cocktail .
For an authentic Portuguese meal, head straight for the convivial
Taverna (995 Avenida Julius Nyerere), which serves cozinha tipica:
typical Portuguese food, seafood, steaks, trinchado, slow-cooked lamb,
skewers of meat. They have the best wine list in Maputo.
Zambi's (8 Avenida 10 de Novembro) is an upbeat meeting-and-eating
spot and has all the right ingredients for a long, decadent lunch or
dinner: waving palm trees and sea views, a convivial dining room and
shaded terrace, all in an unusual building which was designed by
avant-garde Portuguese architect Pancho Guedes in the 1950s. It was once
a pole-dancing club, but is now a salubrious spot. They serve the best
garlic bread in Maputo, but also try their petite gateau dessert. Huge
salads are a meal in themselves. You can take the country's signature
dish to its logical conclusion and have Prawns Laurentina, prawns cooked
in beer, or try clams in white wine sauce.
Marisqueira Sagres (4272 Avenida Marginal) is a busy, family-friendly
Portuguese restaurant on the beachfront, near Southern Sun, decorated
with assorted maritime kitsch. Sagres serves the best salads and huge
crabs. A good idea is to order a whole selection of their starters, like
chorizo, clams, squid heads, chicken livers and garlic prawns. If you
are in a beer-drinking group, try their tower of beer. A great place to
enjoy a caipirinha at sunset. Service can be a bit slow at times.
If it's that iconic grilled chicken you're after, head for the aptly
named Piri Piri (Avenida 24 de Julho), an unpretentious restaurant off
Avenida Julius Nyerere, which has simple metal tables and chairs on the
pavement and a charming atmosphere inside. Or try Escorpião (Recinto de
Feira Popular), a shabby, colourful and charming restaurant inside the
old feira popular (fun fair). Escorpião is one of the oldest restaurants
in the city, and long, lazy, late-night dinners can be rounded off with
some good cheer at one of the local shebeens inside the feira.
HERE FOR THE BEER
Patrice Maurice de Mac-Mahon was the third president of the French
Republic between May 1873 and January 1879. Because he pronounced in
favour of Portugal in its dispute with Britain over ownership of the Bay
of Lourenço Marques, the Portuguese governor was extremely grateful and
named the big square next to the railway station after him. The best
honour to his memory, though, was the beer named after him. Mac-Mahon
(2M - ask for a doish-em). Meanwhile, Laurentina Premium is the first
premium Mozambican beer.
