Praia's food is Cape Verdean first and foremost, with strong echoes of Portuguese cuisine and West African cooking. The staple is cachupa — a hearty stew of hominy corn, beans, and whatever meat or fish is available. The rich version (cachupa rica) adds smoked sausage, meat, and vegetables; the poor version (cachupa pobre) is just corn and beans, seasoned with salt and oil. Either way it is the dish you will eat most.
Fresh fish is excellent: grilled tuna (atum), grouper (garoupa), and moray eel (moreia) are all common. The harbour market in the lower city is the place to buy fish in the morning, and the small restaurants around the Platô prepare it simply and well. For cachupa and a cold beer in a non-tourist setting, any of the small restaurants on the back streets of the Platô will do the job.