Journal in the sunshine city: Places we love in Harare, Zimbabwe

Written by Beth

Harare is known as Zimbabwe’s sunshine city, with over 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. We visited in the month of August – the end of Zimbabwe’s winter – and yet it was so pleasant that we wore sunglasses and flip-flops every day.

Harare has such a good-natured buzz to it – just sit in any one of the locations below for five minutes and you’ll see smiling, well-dressed urbanites greeting each other with heartfelt handshakes and excited hugs.

This Harare visit was part of our 20-day Cape Town and Zimbabwe holiday, which we self-booked and self-drove. You can read an overview of how we planned the entire 20-day trip here. Also check out my Harare travel guide and Best places to visit in Harare.

Eating out in Harare is such a delight. Many restaurant are located in specially renovated suburban houses with their own private gardens. Tables are dotted on the lawns under whispering trees. The food is fresh and varied, the staff are professional yet funny (you’ll want to stop and chat to them for hours), and there’s parking galore.

Here are some of the places we visited during our time there. I’ve added links to the Google Maps locations below – be sure to add them to your favourites!

Top tip: If you’re visiting these restaurants for dinner or with a large party, contact them on Facebook or Whatsapp to book ahead. We usually went during the day when it was less busy.

Mozambik Restaurant

One thing you need to know about my husband and I: we LOVE prawns cooked on a braai or grill. Not the tiny shelled ones you get in the UK, but the real-deal big boys. Which is why Mozambik Restaurant Chisipite was one of the first places we went in Harare. Mozambique-style prawns with Portuguese and Zimbabwean specialties all combined in one great menu. We actually visited twice: the first was as a date night, and the second was a family gathering of all ages to mark our last night in Zimbabwe.

Apart from the seafood dishes on the menu, there’s also the Zimbabwe staple of sadza (mealie meal), Portuguese chicken, plus drinks like Katemba (cola and red wine) and creme soda (the green drink above) and malva pudding for dessert. There’s also a massive play area for the kids, with staff to watch them while you sit down for five minutes.

Oak Tree Restaurant

This has changed names over the years, and I still think of it as Willowmead, but the Oak Tree in Rolf Valley remains one of the most peaceful spots to have brunch in Harare. The menu ranges from classic bacon and egg to healthier alternatives, plus my kids’ favourite – pancakes. Either sit in a wooden decked open-air section, or in the garden under the tall trees. We always choose the latter, especially as it’s close to – you guessed it – a kids play area.

While you’re at the Oak Tree, have a nose around Kava Market next door – it’s like a wonderland for foodies, with quail eggs, fresh produce, biltong, and small-batch bakes.

Three Monkeys Harare

First seen in Victoria Falls, Three Monkeys Restaurant has been hugely successful in Zim, and they now have a beautiful spot in Harare’s Honeydew Centre, too. Overlooking invitingly green lawns and a small lake, it’s one of the top spots for the movers and shakers of Harare. If you have very small children, the lake is a little nerve-wracking, so take note. I’d say it’s better suited for kids over 4 years old. There’s a whole separate kids play area, again with staff to oversee, but I am paranoid about swings hitting small children, hence the ‘over-4’ advisory from me.

I can attest that their milkshakes are the real deal – thick with real ice cream, served in their signature tumblers.

We caught up with family here, including the beautiful inside-and-out Ruth (@RuthEveryday) – definitely someone to follow for insider tips on Harare lifestyle. Do you remember her post Roadtripping from Harare to Victoria Falls?

Aroma Caffe

Aroma Caffe on the Enterprise Road is located in a large garden, and it prides itself in Italian cuisine. I bucked the theme and had a beef wrap for my lunch with girl friends.

This place is more for grownup gatherings, as it doesn’t have the tailor-made kids play areas that other eateries do. There are some indie art and decor shops on site which are fun to visit, too.

Tamba Tamba

This kids soft play is also featured in my article Great Places to go with younger kids in Harare, and we definitely had to visit again. The kids were happy exploring the large play area, and we could talk to friends without too much interruption. Tamba Tamba in Highlands is under a roof but the sides are open, which means you don’t get the sanity-splitting noise that you do at enclosed indoor soft plays. There’s plenty of seating for grown ups, with a cafe too, and a separate section for very young kids to play safely.

Had a coffee and a catchup here with Gemma from The Studio17a – another brilliant event venue in Mount Pleasant.

Shops: Caterwise, Kava, Food Lovers, Pick n’ Pay

If you need imported goods such as nappies (like we did) head to Caterwise Turura on the Enterprise Road. It’s not pretty, but it stocks groceries from South Africa and further afield in bulk (prices for imported goods in Zimbabwe are generally high; we payed US15 for a pack of 42 Pampers nappies).

Food Lovers’ Markets and Pick n’ Pay are good for getting regular groceries. The fruit sections are heavenly, and their freshly baked goods are hugely tempting every time I walk past. I also mentioned Kava Market above for foodie delights.

I bought some sugarcane bites – freshly cut sugarcane, peeled and chopped into chunks.

You chew on it and get an explosion of sugar in your mouth! The only downside is that it’s very fibrous, so you need to spit out the fibres afterwards. Apart from food, I’d love to see sugarcane fibre also used as food skewers, compostable plates or even bio fuel in Zim! Have you tried it before?

A note on prices in Harare

We paid using international debit cards and cash. Prices are sometimes displayed in Zimbabwe dollar Zigs, and sometimes in US Dollars. You can pay with US Dollars. Ask your accommodation for the current exchange rate and don’t swap money with street sellers. The price of eating out in Harare (and Zimbabwe) is more expensive than in South Africa – probably twice as high. This was evident when we compared the cost of the same meal at Mozambik in Cape Town vs the one in Harare. Double the price in Harare (August 2024).

Reality check: Visiting these restaurants in Harare can feel like such a juxtaposition when you eat top-quality ingredients in a dreamy atmosphere, then drive back into the main road and are confronted with trucks piled dangerously high, bicycles veering along the side of the road, and cars overtaking along the frayed tarmac. Then you’ll be cocooned back into your accommodation and greeted with a warm smile that makes everything else fade away.

Such is the reality of Zimbabwe. One thing is for sure: the warm sun will be shining down these contrasts, engulfing them all in her embrace.

We self-drove around Harare, borrowing a car from relatives. See my post Driving in Zimbabwe for general info on that.

Other articles in the Cape Town Zimbabwe Diary series

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