You can’t visit Mozambique without trying two of its most tasty dishes: grilled chicken or prawns flavoured with piri piri – a hot, spicy sauce made with chillies, garlic and vinegar. The place to try them is undoubtedly Maputo’s unpretentious institution, the aptly named Piri Piri.

The piri piri-laced chicken is the dish to eat here – and almost everyone is tucking into the succulent pieces of spiced meat, with sides of chips. Other simple but tasty dishes that have gained loyal local followings over the years include rissois (deep-fried crumbed prawns and creamy white sauce), which are some of the best I’ve had in Mozambique, and matapa – the national dish of coconut, peanuts, ground cassava leaves and crab – which is made in the traditional way and is a must-try. Also popular are prawn samosas, prawn curry and on the meat side, bife filete Recheado (stuffed fillet steak). Portions are generous, so make sure you’ve worked up a significant appetite before ordering. To wash down all that spicy food, choose from a surprisingly decent selection of South African and Portuguese wines

You definitely don’t come here for the ambience: strip lighting, TVs screening sports and hospital-yellow walls are more canteen than cosy restaurant. Nevertheless Piri Piri is packed every day of the week, its red-and-white-checked tables and plastic-covered chairs full of businessmen, couples, families and friends, served quickly by an efficinet bunch of waiters.