Sometimes you don’t want fancy. Sometimes you just want to throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt, feel the wind ruffle your hair, watch the silky waves swell against the bay and knock back a cold Mozambican beer. Centenario (on the Avenida Marginal just down from the Clube Naval sports and swimming club) is famous for that, and for its potent maracuja (passionfruit) caiprinhas, best drunk under the wooden awnings with MTV (or soccer) on the small screen and dhows in the ocean beyond.
Join the NGO worker crowd for sundowners on a Friday afternoon, or come for snacks (there is basic fare such as samosas) and cold bottles of Laurentina or 2M – Mozambique’s most popular brands of beer. Prices are affordable and Centenario is a hit with everyone; you’ll see suit jackets slung on the backs of bar stools, kids gliding down the slides in the adjacent play area, expats chatting over caipirinhas and groups of friends ordering shots as the night wears on. Laid-back, easy, and completely free of pretensions, Centenario is a Maputo institution.
Centenario does have a kitchen that’s usually open until 9 p.m. for food. Frankly, there are much better places to eat in Maputo, but if you’re here and you’re hungry, the grilled calamari, shrimp, or fish platters go down fine. Most dishes are in the region of 250 Mets. The dessert list just covers the basics.
The only downside of Centenario is that it usually shuts up shop relatively early, closing its doors at around 10pm on weekdays. On weekends, the last customer generally decides, although we have arrived at midnight on Saturday nights and found it closed. Yup, this is an early spot, best as a sundowner setting or a pre-dinner drinking den.
Expert Review
Sometimes you don't want fancy. Sometimes you just want to throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt, feel...
Sometimes you don’t want fancy. Sometimes you just want to throw on a pair of shorts and a shirt, feel the wind ruffle your hair, watch the silky waves swell against the bay and knock back a cold Mozambican beer. Centenario (on the Avenida Marginal just down from the Clube Naval sports and swimming club) is famous for that, and for its potent maracuja (passionfruit) caiprinhas, best drunk under the wooden awnings with MTV (or soccer) on the small screen and dhows in the ocean beyond.
Join the NGO worker crowd for sundowners on a Friday afternoon, or come for snacks (there is basic fare such as samosas) and cold bottles of Laurentina or 2M – Mozambique’s most popular brands of beer. Prices are affordable and Centenario is a hit with everyone; you’ll see suit jackets slung on the backs of bar stools, kids gliding down the slides in the adjacent play area, expats chatting over caipirinhas and groups of friends ordering shots as the night wears on. Laid-back, easy, and completely free of pretensions, Centenario is a Maputo institution.
Centenario does have a kitchen that’s usually open until 9 p.m. for food. Frankly, there are much better places to eat in Maputo, but if you’re here and you’re hungry, the grilled calamari, shrimp, or fish platters go down fine. Most dishes are in the region of 250 Mets. The dessert list just covers the basics.
The only downside of Centenario is that it usually shuts up shop relatively early, closing its doors at around 10pm on weekdays. On weekends, the last customer generally decides, although we have arrived at midnight on Saturday nights and found it closed. Yup, this is an early spot, best as a sundowner setting or a pre-dinner drinking den.