Katutura's Kapana Market, Joe's Beerhouse and Namibian Brewing

Windhoek's food scene tells the story of the city better than any textbook. In the north-western township of Katutura, open-air charcoal grills sizzle with spiced strips of beef shared standing up around a communal board; in the leafy eastern valleys, thatched beer gardens and German bakeries serve game steaks, crispy pork knuckle, biltong and crisp lagers brewed strictly from barley malt, hops and water.

Eating Kapana at Oshetu Community Market (Single Quarters, Katutura)

Created in the late 1950s when apartheid authorities forcibly relocated Black residents from the Old Location (near today's Hochland Park) to a new township north-west of the centre, Katutura takes its Herero name from the phrase meaning The place where people do not want to live. Today, post-independence Katutura is the most energetic, entrepreneurial part of Windhoek, and its culinary heart is the Oshetu Community Market (universally known as Single Quarters).

Visit around midday with a local Katutura community guide. Under the market roof, rows of young grill masters sear thin ribbons of fresh Namibian beef over roaring steel-drum wood fires. This is kapana, Namibia's beloved street food ritual. As the meat cooks, the griller slices off bite-sized pieces with a sharp knife so you can sample them hot off the grate. Once you pick your favourite stall, your beef is chopped onto a board alongside a pile of fiery red kapana spice (chilli, salt and herbs) and a tangy salsa of diced tomatoes, onions and vinegar, scooped up with wedges of freshly baked vetkoek (golden fried bread dough) or roasted mopane worms (omagungu) for the adventurous. Afterwards, drive ten minutes north to the Penduka Village women's cooperative on the shore of Goreangab Dam to browse hand-painted batik textiles.

Joe's Beerhouse, Biltong and Reinheitsgebot Brewing

Back in the eastern suburbs of Eros and Klein Windhoek, evening dining revolves around wood smoke and cold draught beer:

• Joe's Beerhouse: a Windhoek institution set under giant thatched roofs and open courtyards crammed with vintage safari land cruisers, mining relics, Jägermeister bottles and log braai fires. Order a game platter or skewers pairing lean, tender oryx (gemsbok), kudu, springbok and zebra with maize meal pap or spätzle noodles.
• Biltong and Droëwors: before leaving Windhoek in your 4x4, stop at a traditional butchery (Slaghuis) to buy paper bags of air-dried beef, kudu or oryx biltong seasoned with roasted coriander seeds and black pepper, the ultimate desert road-trip snack.
• Windhoek Lager, Tafel and Craft Breweries: Namibia Breweries has brewed Windhoek Lager, Windhoek Draught and Tafel Lager according to the 1516 German Reinheitsgebot (purity law) since 1920, alongside small batch microbreweries pouring artisanal weissbier and pale ales on rooftop terraces.