Photo: Suesen, CC BY-SA 3.0 Guide · Cheap eats
Cheap eats in Harare: good meals under $10
Flame-grilled chicken, burgers, pizza and doughnuts for under $10 a head in the city centre and the suburbs
Eating well in Harare for under $10 a head mostly means chicken. Portuguese-style flame-grilled chicken with peri-peri and chips is the city's default cheap meal, sold from counters in the city centre and the suburban shopping centres, and the home-grown fried-chicken chains compete on price with the international ones. Around that sit the burger drive-thrus, the pizza counters, a doughnut shop or two and a handful of small cafes that keep their prices low without cutting corners.
The city centre is where the choice is widest. Samora Machel Avenue and Joina City between them hold most of the chains, which is why the lunchtime queues on weekdays are long, so go before half past twelve or after two if you want a table. The suburbs are quieter: Newlands, Greendale and Westgate each have a shopping centre with a couple of cheap counters and parking outside, and Msasa has a drive-thru on the Mutare road that keeps very long hours.
How to choose depends on whether you are sitting or carrying. Most of these places do the bulk of their trade as takeaways, and a few are set up purely for food on the move. If you want to sit down, the doughnut and coffee shops and the small garden cafes are the better bet, and the pizzeria in Greendale has indoor and outdoor tables. Most of the chains now take orders online for delivery or collection, which is worth knowing when the queue is out of the door.
Prices are what they say: single meals come in under $10, combos from a few dollars, and only the family boxes and sharing platters climb past that. Cards are widely accepted at the chain counters, but carry some cash for the smaller outlets. Parking is easy at the shopping centres and inside Joina City, and on the street downtown, so keep an eye on the car.
The list starts with the sit-down options and works through the counters.
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Elephant & Pineapple
A small bohemian coffee shop with a health-focused kitchen on York Avenue in Newlands, serving all-natural and largely organic food with plenty of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, fresh-pressed juices, kombucha and kefir. Seating is in the garden or on a quiet verandah, children are welcome and prices come in under $10 a head.
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Pogo's Great Pizza and Chicken
Pizza and chicken to take away, in Greendale.
A fast-casual pizzeria and grill at Kamfinsa Shopping Centre in Greendale, with a second branch in Msasa, serving flame-grilled chicken, thin-crust pizzas, burgers, wraps and rice bowls. Indoor and outdoor seating, Wi-Fi and a loyalty scheme, with meals under $10 a head. Works as a cheap lunch or an easy family takeaway.
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7 Rings Cafe
Doughnuts, coffee and smoothies at Fife Avenue Mall, with a second branch in Highlands Park.
A small doughnut and coffee shop at Fife Avenue Mall in the Avenues, with a couple of dozen doughnut varieties plus waffles, smoothies and milkshakes, most items priced between two and five dollars. Halaal certified, open seven days and delivering through its own online ordering, with other branches at Highland Park, Greenfields and Arundel Village.
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Nando's Samora Machel
Nando's peri-peri chicken on Samora Machel Avenue.
One of the busier Nando's branches in Harare thanks to its spot on a main city-centre thoroughfare, serving the chain's flame-grilled peri-peri chicken with chips, sides and wraps. Meals come in under $10 a head, which makes it a dependable cheap lunch for anyone working downtown, eating in or taking back to the office.
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Chicken Hut
Portuguese-style barbecued chicken to take away.
A Portuguese-style barbecue chicken takeaway with a branch in Joina City in the city centre, focused on flame-grilled chicken with chips and sides and mostly taken away rather than eaten in. Meals under $10 a head make it one of the cheaper options downtown, and orders can be placed online for courier delivery.
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Chicken Slice Samora Machel
Chicken Slice on Samora Machel Avenue, the local fried-chicken chain.
One of the busiest branches of the home-grown Zimbabwean fried-chicken chain, on Samora Machel Avenue in the city centre, with grilled quarters, burgers, wraps, pizza and chips. Combo meals start at a few dollars, most people order at the counter and take it away, and the chain promises delivery within thirty minutes.
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KFC Joina City
The city-centre KFC inside Joina City; one of several branches around Harare.
The city-centre KFC inside Joina City at the corner of Jason Moyo Avenue and Julius Nyerere Way, with the familiar buckets, box meals, burgers, twisters and loaded fries at roughly $3 to $20 depending on the meal. Shopping-centre parking, other shops close by, and delivery or pick-up ordering through the KFC Zimbabwe website.
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Pizza Inn AMC
Pizza Inn on Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, one of the Simbisa chain's many branches.
The Simbisa group's pizza counter on Kwame Nkrumah Avenue in the city centre, often trading alongside its sister brands under one roof, with counter service and food to take away. Most meals come in under $10 a head, and the weekday lunchtime crowd is busy, so time your visit around it.
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Hotdog Factory Westgate
Hotdogs, burgers, tacos, breakfasts and platters at Westgate.
A casual outlet next to Pick n Pay at Westgate Shopping Centre built around loaded hot dogs, with burgers, tacos, breakfasts and sharing platters alongside, and a second branch at Joina City. Weekday deals such as tacos and chips on Tuesdays and weekend platter specials keep it cheap, and the mall has plenty of parking.
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Steers Redan Msasa Drive Thru
Steers burgers with a drive-thru, at the Redan service station.
A flame-grilled burger drive-thru at the Redan service station on Samora Machel Avenue in Msasa, part of the Simbisa-run chain. Open 7am to 10pm Monday to Thursday, until midnight on Friday and around the clock at weekends, so it covers late-night and early-morning trips along the Mutare road. Meals under $10; delivery by phone or online.
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Steers Newlands
Steers burgers in Newlands.
The Newlands Shopping Centre branch on Enterprise Road, serving the chain's flame-grilled burgers, chips and sides as a takeaway from 9am to 9pm daily. A cheap, quick lunch stop for people working or shopping in Newlands, with parking at the centre and a wheelchair-accessible entrance and toilets.
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Slushie's
Hamburgers and hot dogs in the city centre.
A hamburger and hot dog outlet inside Joina City in the heart of the city centre that pitches itself as fast food with a healthier slant, in a bright, well-laid-out shopping-centre setting. Food to eat in or take away, suited to a quick, inexpensive lunch downtown, with Joina City's own parking below.
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