Sadza, Gochi-Gochi Braais and Avondale Craft Markets

Harare's dining scene bridges cozy suburban garden cafés serving single-origin Eastern Highlands coffee and lively open-air braai venues where charcoal smoke rises under the msasa trees. Pair a traditional lunch with an afternoon browsing the capital's craft markets and creative hubs.

What to eat in Harare: sadza, nyama, dovi and kapenta

To taste authentic Zimbabwean Highveld cooking, seek out a dedicated traditional kitchen (such as Gava's in Belgravia or Mereki and Pahukama for open-air grilling) and order a shared platter built around six local staples:

• Sadza (white maize and red zviyo): the cornerstone of every Zimbabwean meal. Ground white maize meal (upfu) is stirred over heat into a smooth, firm mound eaten with the right hand after washing at a table basin. Ask for sadza rezviyo (made from roasted finger millet), which has a deep russet colour and a rich, nutty flavour.
• Nyama and Gochi-Gochi (open-air charcoal braai): flame-grilled beef T-bone, pork ribs, spicy boerewors sausage and slow-simmered oxtail, roadrunner village chicken (huku) or goat stew (mbudzi). Weekend afternoons revolve around gochi-gochi spots where you choose fresh cuts from a butchery counter to be grilled to order over coals and served with sadza and fiery tomato-and-onion chakalaka relish.
• Muriwo unedovi (greens in peanut butter sauce): tender pumpkin leaves (muboora), rape or covo greens simmered with home-ground roasted peanut butter (dovi) and tomatoes.
• Kapenta and Kariba bream: tiny sun-dried tanganyika sardines harvested from Lake Kariba and fried crisp with onions and tomatoes, alongside whole pan-fried Kariba tilapia bream.
• Madora (mopane worms) and Mazoe Orange Crush: protein-rich dried mopane caterpillars braised with chilli, washed down with a tall glass of diluted Mazoe Orange Crush cordial or a cold Zambezi Lager.

Where to shop for crafts: Avondale Flea Market, Doon Estate and B2C

For smaller stone carvings, basketry and textiles that fit easily in a suitcase, start on King George Road at Avondale Flea Market behind Avondale Shopping Centre. Stalls here stock square-bottomed Tonga winnowing baskets woven from ilala palm and wild grasses in Binga, soapstone and serpentine Zimbabwe birds, beaded wire work and batik fabrics; polite, smiling bargaining with small cash notes is expected. For fixed-price, designer-quality homewares, woven leather goods and ethical textiles, visit the boutique studios at Doon Estate in Msasa or the leafy courtyard shops around Arundel Village and Highland Park.