Praia - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
The restaurant scene in Praia is severely lacking. Not surprisingly, most of the restaurants are Cabo Verdean, Portuguese, or West African. There's one restaurant that serves Mexican-style tacos and one sushi place. No Indian, Korean or Thai. I am not aware of any food delivery services. - Feb 2024
Many options for Cabo Verdean, Portuguese, Italian, and West African (mostly Senegalese) cuisine, with a couple sushi restaurants, a good Chinese noodle place, and one Indian option. - Aug 2023
There are probably a dozen restaurants that are above average in Praia. Portuguese, Italian, and a lot of Cabo Verdean restaurants. - Jan 2023
There are several restaurants that are popular. They serve a variety of chicken, pork, some beef, and seafood options. There is one restaurant where we get takeout almost every day for lunch. It offers grilled chicken, rice, fries, salad, and some other things like ribs and other cuts of pork. For our family of 4, we spend about $13-$15 for the meal. To go out to dinner, we can plan on spending between $20-$40, depending on the place (we also don't drink alcohol). Food delivery has just started up, and most of the good restaurants participate. Trying to explain where you live is fun, as there are no addresses. There are no fast food restaurants in the country. - Sep 2018
Praia has a decent range of restaurants, but no American fast food chains. Lots of grilled fish and seafood (you can get a thick slab of grilled tuna with all the trimmings for about $10). Also good pork and passable steaks/burgers. Portuguese-style bakeries with excellent and cheap bread. There's a new food delivery service in Praia. Very little in terms of ethnic food choices. - Dec 2017
The restaurant scene here is one-note but improving! The standard fare is fresh fish with rice, steamed veggies and french fries, but there's also lots of places where you can get a decent burger or pizza. A favorite thing to do is to go to a local grill and get meat on a stick or charbroiled chicken. No food delivery services, and take-out options - if you want speed and convenience - are limited. - Oct 2016
No fast food. There are several expat friendly restaurants that range from US$10-20 per meal. There are many Portuguese bakeries if you need a quick snack. The food here is good but not great. If you really like grilled seafood you will be in heaven. - May 2014
There are many decent restaurants around town with cuisine that includes churrasco (barbecued chicken and pork skewers), Italian food and pizza, grilled fish, Portuguese food, plus local cuisine in both casual and more formal settings. Also crepes, one delicious Indian restaurant, and a couple of Chinese places. Cost range is from $5 USD per person to $30-40 USD per person for dinner, depending on the restaurant you choose. There are no fast-food chains, and restaurant eating is never really THAT fast, but you can eat out and get decent food for reasonable prices. The options get old after a while, but as the city grows, restaurants do pop up! - Feb 2011
Nothing recognizable to a Westerner. I think this is the last remaining place in the world without a McDonalds. However, junk food is widely available i.e. pizza, burgers, chicken, chips. CV'ers love their ice cream. - Sep 2012
No fast food. Not many choices. People seem to eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are a few decent places, but it gets old after a while. Prices are fairly expensive. - May 2012
Fast food is limited. And Cape Verdeans actually take a very long time to serve food. It is likely that you can wait up to an hour and a half to be served. The cost is similar to that in the US. Vegetables are scarce. Lettuce and carrots are commonly served, but greener veggies are uncommon. The supermarket is very good, but there are produce items that appear and disappear quickly. - Sep 2009
No fast food. There are a couple places that serve reasonably priced Cape Verdean or Portuguese food. Churrasco is usually a good bet. Other than that, the selection is slim. - Feb 2008
