Gaborone - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
Food delivery is common since the pandemic. Most places do not have website so you have to complete the transaction on the phone and the delivery person brings a point of sale machine to you to swipe your credit card. There are no fine dining restaurants in Gaborone. Table 52 tries to be find dining, but the food is not very good. People go for the view. The Daily Grind and TwoSixSeven are owned by the same family and serve good quality Western cafe food. There are several decent Indian restaurants and then outlets of South African fast food chains. There are a few small businesses making their names as cake and coffee shops. - Dec 2023
When I first got there the only pizza place was Debonnaire's (which was not great). In 2017 they opened up several Pizza Huts. Delivery always took awhile as did service at a regular restaurant, but it was great having Pizza Hut pizza. There was an Indian restaurant named Embassy at the mall that was good. Caravella's was a good Portuguese restaurant in a house that had live music on the weekend. Main Deck on the old main street area had some good bar food. The Daily Grind and Sanitas were my favorite places. They were the best restaurants in the city. Basilicos was expensive, but had some good Italian food. Eastern Crescent had great, really authentic, inexpensive Chinese food and is another of the best restaurants in the city. There were another 5-10 decent restaurants in the city as well. - Jul 2019
The only food delivery I am aware of is a pizza chain called "Debonair." I thought their Pizza was OK, but I think most Americans did not think it was good.
There were quite a few fast food places that offered take-out. If you are into Fried Chicken then this is your post. There seems to be two or three fried chicken places in every mall. There is also a popular Thai fast food chain that opened a few years back (2 locations). Fast-food hamburgers are in very short supply in Gabs. A South African chain called Steers has one location in Gabs. There burgers are pretty good, but they seem always very crowded, and service is slow. - Apr 2017
There are several good restaurants in Gabs, and we go to the same ones often. Chinese, Indian, Italian. However there are no "great" restaurants. There just isn't the market. The great chefs are all up in the safari camps in the Delta. Fly to Cape Town (often) if you're a foodie. - Jul 2016
Moderate selection - we have several South African chains, like Nando's, Bimbo's, and Spur. We just got a Mexican restaurant that is decent and a Simply Asia noodle place. As one person said, "they scratch the itch," but don't really satisfy. - Mar 2015
There is Nandos, a SA chain. Restaurants are few and some of them are not as good. It's better to cook at home. - Oct 2014
Food is decent. There are a wide variety of restaurants. Fast food is mostly limited to chicken. You will be hard-up to find good seafood, as Botswana is landlocked. After a time of eating Chicken Lickin, KFC, Hungry Lion and Nandos, you will be excited to see McDonald's in Rustenburg, South Africa (3 hour drive). More and more restaurants are popping up however. - Nov 2013
Very limited. There is no McDonald's in Botswana, if that says anything. The only American chain, and only restaurant with a drive-through, is the KFC. There are a few burger places, Wimpy's, for example, but all are located in malls. It is hard to find a quick meal anywhere. There are a few good Portuguese, Chinese and Indian sit-down restaurants. There are also a few new restaurants that have opened in new malls/hotels. Food is expensive here, around US$25 a plate at a sit-down place. Local fare is bland (grits, beef, goat, chicken, squash). Not a country known for its cuisine, e.g. cooked caterpillars are popular when in season (Google image "mopane worms" at your own risk). - Jul 2013
Lots of South Africa chain (Nandos!). Not a huge range of restaurants, but great beef - really good. In the last year, due to the relocation of De Beers to Gaborone, it seemed to be changing with more diversity in offerings. - Apr 2013
Gaborone has little fast food, and most outlets are South African rather than American. We do have a KFC.The most popular fast-food option is probably Nando's, a very good chain that offers Portuguese-style grilled chicken and sides. We also have Wimpy's (a South African hamburger joint) and some additional fast-food restaurants at the malls. There are good restaurants in Gaborone for steak, Portuguese food, Indian, Chinese, and pizza/italian. Unfortunately, while the range and quality is decent, the market is a bit small and after a year here, we have hit all the establishments that there are. Restaurant costs are similar to the US/Europe. - Jun 2010
