As mentioned, we sampled a lot of restaurants during our nearly one week in Tofo. What follows is our rather haphazard guide to dining in Tofo, with a special note that we visited during low season. In most cases, we were the only or some of the only people eating in the restaurant; things might differ (they might not be out of hummus!) during high season.
Mozambeat. We had a delicious prawn curry here, but the best part of our dinner was the atmosphere: relaxing on a couch, listening to great music, and watching the fire flicker. We also had breakfast there, and, while the kitchen was a bit rushed in the morning, the food was delicious: I had a huge bowl of fruit, yogurt, and muesli (so big that I couldn’t finish it), and Marc had a good-looking egg, ham, and cheese sandwich.
Casa Barry. We ate at the restaurant at Casa Barry more often than anywhere else, mainly because of the convenience factor and its view over the water. Favorites included the matapa (a local dish that reminds me of saag paneer, minus the paneer), the piri-piri chicken and prawn combination, and the indulgent chocolate mousse that happened to be one of the week’s specials. (After watching everyone order it literally all day one day, we finally caved and went for it.) I usually had the fruit bowl in the morning; I was disappointed to find that the fruit, muesli, and yogurt were all priced separately, but the fruit was always good.
Dino’s. Our guidebook told us Dino’s, a shot bar festooned with holiday lights at the opposite end of the beach, was one of the most popular places in town, but we were the only people there the night we showed up. (We had to ask them as we climbed the stairs whether they were serving food.) I tried to order a hummus plate, but they were sadly out of hummus. We ordered pizza instead: one vegetarian and one with piri-piri sauce, sausage, and garlic. They hit the spot after a long day in the ocean, but they weren’t outstanding and there are better places to eat pizza in Tofo.
Fatima’s Nest. We set out looking for Blend, a juice bar recommended by our guidebook, but found it closed1, and so we continued on to lunch at Fatima’s Nest, which you may remember as the backpackers where the shuttle dropped us off. We ordered lunch (nicoise salad for me, calamari for Marc) and settled down to a table with a beautiful view. We had plenty of time to enjoy the view, as it took a good hour for our food to appear. (Bonus points for the juice that I tried to order that turned out to be a delicious banana milkshake!)
Casa de Comer. We noticed this charming little place while on our ill-fated walk to Blend, and then realized it was well reviewed in our guidebook and returned for dinner. The menu was written on a chalkboard, which leads me to believe that it changes often, and it was delicious. I had prawns in a green Thai curry, and Marc had Zambezian chicken, both of which came with piles of delicious coconut rice. NB: The restaurant was playing Avril Lavigne’s Let Go album, front to back, which I enjoyed, but your mileage may vary.2
What You Want. We had seen the name of this place on a couple of signs leading into town and on our map, and we weren’t sure what the hell it was until we saw a sign advertising it as an Italian restaurant. It turned out to be a funky little surf shop-slash-Italian restaurant. We ordered a couple of things from the menu labeled “focaccia,” which turned out to be sandwiches made on fresh focaccia bread. They were amazing.
Albatross Lodge. Peri-Peri Divers, the dive outfit we used, was located at Albatross Lodge, and so we ate lunch at the restaurant there in between our pool SCUBA review course and our dive. The menu was limited, but our food was decent and included the best french fries we’ve had in Mozambique to date (although a seemingly prevalent side dish, most that we have been served thus far have been limp and/or oily).
Branko’s. I think this is the name of the place, at least, as evidenced by their menu. Our dive master recommended this little pizza shop (just a couple of tables in front of a bar and a sign that said “pizza”) near the market, and so we gave it a try. The pizza was amazing.3 The crusts were blackened and burnt in all the right places, and the toppings were great. We had one prawn pizza, and one vegetarian one. The place also has something called a “hot rock,” which is where they literally bring you a hot rock to your table, and you cook your own prawns or meat. A man who might have been the owner was using a hot rock at the table next to us and gave us some of his prawns to sample; they were good. As a special bonus, when we finished our dinner, our waitress brought us yummy little fried dough balls.
1 The nice guy we talked to at the scuba shop in the same location told us it was in the process of being converted into a salad bar, which would be cool.
2 Marc’s did.
3 And after five years in New York City, our pizza standards are pretty high.
