There are plenty of food options in Victoria Falls, even though the city feels more like a small town than a city, but not necessarily good food options. If you want to find those little-known, non-commercialized places with spectacular food and low prices, not to mention Zimbabwe’s famous meat pies, check out the list below.
Haefeli Swiss Bakery
Zimbabwe’s Famous Meat Pies
Next to the Chicken Inn is a little bakery with absolutely sumptuous take-out food. Try the big beef croissant pies that melt in your mouth for $1 each, and they are large. These are Zimbabwe’s incredible meat pies. The butter in the pastry and the saltiness in the beef and gravy are just a perfect match. You may swoon as they literally melt in your mouth. One meat pie is a fairly filling meal on it’s own.
Their huge freshly-made doughnuts for less than 50c each are fresh as could possibly be. Grab a few for dessert. They also have bacon & eggs if you’re looking for a low-price delicious breakfast.
Really, this is a truly a great place to grab a quick breakfast or an afternoon/evening snack. There is a central sit-down area for all the restaurants in this little strip mall, 103 Fife St. You’ll go back again, and again.
Little Monkey Restaurant
Two doors down from the Haefeli Swiss Bakery, this tiny restaurant is a truly a hidden gem. They have delicious food with huge portions at one-quarter of the price of the well-known 3 Monkeys Restaurant, who, interestingly, actually own it.
I had a bacon and egg sandwich so big that I could not eat it all. T had the salmon cream cheese wrap which was also huge. They offer extra-large burgers, footlong hotdogs, wraps, smoothies and huge chocolate muffins as well. Prices are $2-6 U.S. There are no tables, but there is a little stand-up bar on one side where you can eat your food. You just can’t go wrong when the food is delicious and the price is amazingly reasonable.
Nam Took Restaurant
At the Elephant’s Walk Art Centre, just a short walk from the N1 Hotel, this little upstairs Asian Restaurant has good food and a nice view with reasonable prices. It’s a little nicer for a night out rather than fast food, however excellent the fast food is. We had calamari salad, pork pad thai, and a spicy pork thai dish, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed.
3 Monkeys Restaurant
Although pricy, this restaurant has amazing Peri Peri Chicken Livers! Honestly, if you hate chicken livers, you will change your mind after one scrumptious creamy bite of Peri Peri Chicken Livers. According to the chef, the recipe is peri-peri powder to which they add oil, water and cream. Then they reduce it to sauce consistency and add the grilled liver. It is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Of course, there is peri-peri chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables and so on. You could put that sauce on dessert and it would taste delicious!
The poor smoked salmon on a bun though (“Where’s the salmon?”), is not recommended because it’s all bun. The 3 sliders – one beef, one impala and one crododile, look appetizing and were okay, but loaded with mayo and sauces.
I was so in love with the Peri Peri Chicken Livers, I went back twice just to have them again.
River Brewery & Bar
This bar and restaurant is across the street from N1 Hotel. The fish was inedible, the burgers were very sweet (who knows why), the fries were okay, but the peri-peri chicken, beer and mojitos were excellent. 
Pizza Inn & Chicken Inn
You can order fast food at the N1Hotel front desk. They will even call for you to get delivery from the Chicken Inn or Pizza Inn which are really one and the same. They have pizza, chicken, wings, coleslaw and so on. The food is decent enough when it’s pouring rain, or you just don’t feel like going out.
Tami Walker Fine Art Gallery
There is a lovely little coffee shop/art gallery on the corner Livingstone Way and Adam Stander Road just down the street from the Three Monkeys Restaurant. They have gorgeous wall art, furniture, and cushions at a gorgeously huge price. If you take your fancy ice coffee or ice latte tea outside to sit in the treed area at a nice little cafe table, it is lovely and cool. Although the drinks are not cheap, you can sit there for hours relaxing in the cool shade on a sweltering hot day.
Food Not Recommended in Victoria Falls
Local food shop across the street from the N1 Hotel is not recommended. The hotel staff said we should definitely not eat there, shaking their heads vigorously and looking alarmed.
Innuvu Bar
This restaurant downtown also has local food prepared by local women, but you have to go behind the building to the yard at the back. Only $2 US per plate but unfortunately not worth even that much. All they had left was dried out chicken (2 small pieces), tasteless maize porridge, and a bit of plain boiled cabbage.
Still, it was beautiful warm early evening and quite pleasant to sit outside in the big open area to eat our meagre meal at a picnic table, which probably would be a very fine meal to most locals, among the poorest people in the world.
Top Choices
Peri-Peri Chicken Livers at Three Monkeys Cafe would make lovers out of haters. They are just that delicious.
The Zimbabwe Meat Pies may be available at other shops or restaurants, but above all don’t forget to try the Zimbabwe Meat Pies at the Haefeli Swiss Bakery with their mouth-watering filling and croissant crust. In a word, sumptuous.
