There’s one word almost every Namibian understands: brötchen, the German word for “bread roll”, which has penetrated every linguistic group in the country. Indeed, European visitors will find all sorts of familiar breads and pastries in the bakeries here, from dark, thinly-sliced pumpernickel loaves to apfelstrudel, feather-light Sachertorte, sumptuous Schwarzwaldkirschtorte (Black Forest cherry cake) and many others.
Drinks at sunset at the Namib-Naukluft National Park.
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You’ll find plenty of other German staples on Namibian menus, too, from frankfurters to sauerkraut. Not to mention the beer, of course, which is brewed strictly in accordance with German purity laws.
Seafood in Swakopmund.
Clare Louise Thomas/Apa Publications
When it comes to local produce, carnivores have a field day. All sorts of exotic cuts – oryx (gemsbok), kudu, ostrich, springbok and crocodile – are served as main-course steaks, roasts or stews. And Namibian beef is said to be the tastiest and healthiest in the world, because the cattle are free-ranging.
A tangy type of cured meat made from spiced strips of beef or game, biltong originated as a way of preserving meat in the early days of European settlement, and is now a popular accompaniment to pre-dinner drinks around the braai.
Fish fans can look forward to fresh kabeljou (cob), kingklip and sole, all caught off the Atlantic coast. Oysters farmed at Swakopmund are a much-prized local delicacy, as are the crayfish (rock lobster) fished in the Lüderitz area.
Other local specialities to look out for include the Kalahari truffle (nabas), an indigenous tuber with a slightly nutty flavour. Sliced thinly, it adds a delicious depth to salads, sauces and casseroles.
Also much in demand are the tasty white omajavo mushrooms which sprout on termite hills following the summer rains. They’re delicious either sautéd in garlic butter, or served in soups.
South African influences
The South Africans have exported their national pastime, the braai (barbecue), to Namibia, which means that every weekend in summer, gardens turn blue with smoke as hunks of meat are grilled. Be sure to sample boerewors (“farmer’s sausage”), which is made from beef or game and flavoured with spices and herbs. The pleasures of the palate are usually rounded off with wine from South Africa’s Western Cape region.
On special occasions, Namibians like to prepare a delicious hearty South Africans stew called potjiekos or “small pot food”. This is cooked outdoors in a traditional round, cast-iron cooking pot (the potjie). Into the mix can go anything from chicken, beef, seafood, tomatoes, onions, rice or potatoes, all of which are slow-cooked with a spicy sauce, which often has “secret” ingredients. The pot itself often has to be heated using scanty amounts of wood and charcoal, or even twisted grass or dried dung – it can take anything from three to six hours to cook the stew.
Eating out in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Lüderitz
Namibia’s capital is well-supplied with good cafés and restaurants, catering for most tastes and pockets. The ever-popular Gathemann Restaurant in Independence Avenue (on the first floor of the Gathemann Building) has prime balcony seating and is an excellent place for Namibian specialties. Vegetarians are well catered for, and there’s an extensive wine list.
O Portuga, on Nelson Mandela Avenue, is a good place to sample the distinctively spicy cuisine associated with the former Portuguese colony of Angola, as well as a wide selection of top-quality seafood dishes. Also renowned for its seafood, Luigi & the Fish on Sam Nujoma Drive is a popular place for a lingering dinner.
The Namibian Institute of Culinary Education’s bar and restaurant.
Clare Louise Thomas/Apa Publications
For lunchtime fare, the Mugg & Bean, with its first-floor balcony overlooking Post Street Mall, serves aromatic coffee as well as a wide selection of sandwiches and light meals. Other good options in the café style include the Zoo Café in the central but surprisingly tranquil Zoo Park, the Craft Centre Café in the Namcrafts Centre on Tal Street, and the more out-of-town Jenny’s Place on Sam Nujoma Drive.
Swakopmund is renowned for its fresh seafood. The best place to try it? Look no further than the award-winning restaurant at the Hansa Hotel, which also has an impressive selection of South African wines. Another fine place for seafood is The Tug, with a great setting down on the beachfront, next to an iron jetty (watching the sun dip down into the sea is an added bonus). Then there’s Kücki’s Pub, one of the liveliest and most popular restaurants-cum-bars in Swakopmund. You can sit inside or in a spacious courtyard, but either way, the food (which is traditional German) is very good.
The Village Café in Swakopmund.
Clare Louise Thomas/Apa Publications
Swakopmund is also renowned for its traditional German cafés. The Hotel Schweizerhaus’s Café Anton on Bismarck Street is one of the best places to indulge in calorific cakes and pastries, and there are nice sea views, too.
Food-wise, Lüderitz is as much of a treat as Swakopmund. The speciality here is crayfish, although all the usual meat dishes are also available, too. There’s no better place to try the local seafood than Ritzi’s Seafood Restaurant, which is now situated in the Harbour Square Mall.
Desert Delicacies
Here in this hot and largely arid land, the indigenous peoples have had to adapt their diet to the resources available – which they have done both imaginatively and inventively over the years.
Take the ostrich egg, for example, which is equivalent to some two dozen hen’s eggs. The San (Bushmen) know many ways of preparing it; cooks will make a hole in the upper half of the shell and use a twig as a spoon to mix the yolk and the white. A hollow in the earth is filled with hot coals, the egg is poured in and an omelette produced.
But what would the life of the desert nomad be without the !nara? This nutritious fruit grows on river-banks, its deep roots drawing up water; for the Nama it has become a multi-purpose staple. Pressed, the fruit yields up a sweet, thirst-quenching liquid, while the pulp can be made into cake. Baked into a dry breadstuff, it can keep for up to two years, while its roots are used to make medicine.
Meat is a special treat for desert-dwellers, whose poisoned arrows kill game on contact – even giraffe. Hunters expertly dismember the carcass on the spot; specially marked arrows leave no doubt as to whose property the game is. Some claim the head as their special portion. This is buried in a pit filled with glowing coals and left to cure for a day, after which it is removed and the skull broken open – thus exposed, the brain is the greatest delicacy one can hope for.