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Finding Zimbabwean & African Food in Korea
Where to find sadza ingredients, biltong, and a taste of home — community-sourced shop and restaurant list.
Coming soonLast updated April 2026
Where to find sadza ingredients, biltong, and a taste of home — community-sourced shop and restaurant list.
You can absolutely cook Zimbabwean food in Korea — it just takes knowing where to source mealie meal, dried kapenta, suitable beef cuts for biltong, peanut butter that matches the taste of home, and other staples. Itaewon (Seoul) is the centre of the African food scene in Korea, with several Nigerian, Ghanaian, Gambian, and South African restaurants operating, plus a few specialty grocers. We're collecting verified shop names, addresses, and online sources from community members before we publish the full guide. In the meantime, this is what we know.
Braai Republic is a South African restaurant with locations in Itaewon, Pyeongtaek, and Hongdae — closest thing in Korea to Zim braai energy, and they sell some retail items (boerewors, biltong) at their counter. Pie Republic, run by the same team, focuses on South African pies. Happy Home is a Nigerian-owned spot on Itaewon-ro 20-gil serving Nigerian, Liberian, and Ghanaian dishes. JAK serves Gambian and Senegalese cuisine in Itaewon. None of these are exclusively Zimbabwean, but they're the closest cultural touchpoints in Korea and the staff often know where the community sources home ingredients.
A handful of small grocers in Itaewon stock African staples — mealie meal, dried kapenta, palm oil, suitable spices, plantains, and yams. Stock varies week to week and depends on the latest container shipment. The community resource africanfoodinkorea.com aggregates shop names and online sellers; we are verifying current addresses before publishing the full list.
Ansan and Pyeongtaek both have small African community pockets thanks to factory and base populations; both have at least one African grocer each. Suwon's foreigner population is more Southeast Asian, so dedicated African shops are rare — most Suwon-based Zimbabweans drive into Itaewon or order online. Busan has very limited African retail; community-run bulk shipping orders are how most Busan Zimbabweans get mealie meal.
Korean cornmeal (옥수수가루) is finer than mealie meal but works for sadza in a pinch — cook it slightly thicker than the package suggests. Korean-cut beef short rib (LA갈비 cut) and brisket work for biltong, though you'll want to ask the butcher to slice along the grain rather than the cross-cut Korean style. Korean fish markets carry small dried anchovies that some people use as a kapenta-style substitute. Peanut butter from the bigger emart and Costco is Skippy-style and close enough to the Zim brands many people grew up with.
We're gathering verified community-sourced details before publishing this guide. Know something useful? Help us write it.
Contribute to this guideNote: This guide is for community reference only — it is not official guidance from any Korean or Zimbabwean authority. Everything here is drawn from the past experiences of Zimbabweans and other foreigners in Korea, and everyone's situation is different — your visa type, employer, region, branch, and timing can all change how things play out for you. Rules, fees, processes, and contact details can also change at any time without notice. Always confirm the current details with the relevant official source (Immigration, your bank, the carrier, NHIS, ZIMRA, ZEC, your embassy, etc.) before acting on anything you read here. Specifically for this guide: shop addresses, restaurant operating hours, and online seller availability change often. We're publishing what's verified now and updating as community members confirm details. If you spot something out of date or know a great shop we've missed, email zimkoreahub@statotec.com and we'll add it to the next update.