Located in the front of a guest house, the Sundown restaurant benefits from being catty corner to the Frelimo political party headquarters on busy Sommerschield in Maputo.

As a lodger in the guest house, I was happy to eat dinner at the restaurant during my stay. The menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner are displayed conveniently on chalkboards visible from 11 tables — four inside and seven outside under shade and umbrellas on a tiled patio.

For starters, I chose the Sundown salad with grilled halloumi, Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, pepperdews, arugula and a balsamic vinegar dressing.

The waiter told me the salad was big enough for a meal and it was huge. A fellow diner — a South African working for Shell — recommended the pasta so I ordered spaghetti bolognese.

It was enough food for two and excellent value, enhanced by conversation with other guests who were also eating dinner.

The South African told me he’d been staying at the guest house for six months. Another full-time, permanent resident has been there for years and eats dinner at the restaurant every night.

Bosnian-Born Proprieter Denis Dizdarevic has a degree in hospitality and ran restaurants including one for Marriott hotels in Detroit before moving to Mozambique in 2004.

He started the guest house first then added the restaurant in 2012 out of economic necessity when his rent went up, he said.

He serves breakfast and lunch to the public, and dinner mainly to guests who occupy eight rooms at the guest house.

Daytime restaurant customers include office workers from the many commercial buildings in the neighborhood around Sommerschield.

The cooks at Sundown are longtime employees adept at incorporating local produce into the dishes, Dizdarevic said.

Here’s a sampling of what was on the menu for dinner: butternut squash salad with roasted squash, prosciutto, shaved Parmesan, rocket, crushed pepper and balsamic reduction dressing.

The Sundown sandwich had fried halloumi on rye with basil pesto, Kalamata olives and sundried tomato.

Pastas included amatriciana with a tomato-based sauce of blue cheese and bacon.

For main courses, there was Ethiopian beef stew with couscous and grilled chicken breast on a bed of couscous tabbouleh.

The food arrived fast and many of the guests used the Internet, which was fast and free in the restaurant.