3 Best Restaurants in Mozambique

Widely considered the best in Vilankulo, this simple and authentic Mediterranean-feel restaurant with wooden tables and chairs, wrought-iron lamps, and tiled floors, overlooks a pool, lush gardens, and the beach and sea beyond. They have a good wine list; try the Portuguese white Vinho Verde (young wine) and local beers. The seafood is superb: crayfish, line fish, prawns. Or tuck into the spicy peri peri chicken. Little dishes of local delicacies and freshly baked bread are gratis with every meal. The menu is local Portuguese/Mozambique. The chef will also whip up a vegetarian meal for you on request.

The style may be retro-seafood shack, but that's just another sign that this pleasant beachfront restaurant has its priorities in the right place: the food. Just ask the exuberant group of locals and visitors who flock here to relax on the beachside terrace and consume gargantuan seafood platters, jumbo shrimp, juicy fried scallops, squid, and seafood kebabs all washed down with an ice-cold beer or crisp Portuguese wine. Kid-friendly menus and yummy desserts are a nice bonus.

Casbah Beach Bar is the quintessential beach shack. At high tide, you'll sit with feet in the sand with the waves lapping less than a meter away. If the Indian Ocean breezes are too strong, head inside under the thatch roof. Informal hardly describes it: wear your flip-flops and shorts at any time of day, and mix with the local ex-pats who make this their favorite hangout. Line fish of the day is one of the best choices, or a seafood platter, but a good steak is available if you're craving meat. Wash it all down with local beer or Vinho Verde (Portuguese young wine).