Our final night in Tofo we decided to take a break from our usual attempt to find Africa-specific culinary experiences and headed to a highly touted (although still very cheaply priced- I think we spent 8 dollars a person for food and drink) Italian restaurant. The menu was full of pastas and pizzas, but in typical Mozambique fashion roughly half the menu was unavailable on any given night. On this particular occasion pasta was out and pizza was in. At first we were a little disappointed, but the group of five found some energy by ordering 5 pizzas, tasting them all and then having a pizza draft. Here is the order in which pizza slices ran out during the draft:
1. The hottest commodity was the shrimp and green onion. This one didn't have a ton of flavor for my liking, but Mozambique shrimp are a force to be reckoned with. They are brought in fresh each day, have super soft flesh closer to a lobster than a shrimp, and almost taste buttery without butter. Ok, this pizza was pretty good, I just didn't have the top of the draft picks to get it on my plate.
2. Banana, ham, and sauteed sweet onion pizza was the talk of the table. Cooked bananas! On a pizza! We couldn't resist it during the tasting. If anything it was a bit of a surprise that this didn't get the top spot. It was good, but perhaps not perfectly balanced as the bananas and onions doubled down to create a very sweet pizza.
3. Capers and eggplant was a salty and delicious pizza that held its own in the middle of the pack. The capers were the fun big ones more the size of olives than their frequently cited Spanish cousins.
4. The two mushroom and spinach pizza didn't fly off the table despite one of our British friend's dedication to funghi. These mushrooms were smaller, one perhaps a cremini, and sauteed in a thin brown sauce.
5. Salami and tomato finished up the rear. Pretty much all tubed meats in Mozambique have conjured the American hotdog. Sausage, salami, and chorizo all disappointingly end with a textureless meat substitute. This pizza was no different.
2. Banana, ham, and sauteed sweet onion pizza was the talk of the table. Cooked bananas! On a pizza! We couldn't resist it during the tasting. If anything it was a bit of a surprise that this didn't get the top spot. It was good, but perhaps not perfectly balanced as the bananas and onions doubled down to create a very sweet pizza.
3. Capers and eggplant was a salty and delicious pizza that held its own in the middle of the pack. The capers were the fun big ones more the size of olives than their frequently cited Spanish cousins.
4. The two mushroom and spinach pizza didn't fly off the table despite one of our British friend's dedication to funghi. These mushrooms were smaller, one perhaps a cremini, and sauteed in a thin brown sauce.
5. Salami and tomato finished up the rear. Pretty much all tubed meats in Mozambique have conjured the American hotdog. Sausage, salami, and chorizo all disappointingly end with a textureless meat substitute. This pizza was no different.
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