Staff Writer 
EASTER, the most important event in the Christian calendar, has almost arrived, and the faithful among us, who have been fasting, praying and giving alms for the last forty days, will finally be able to relax, and resume enjoying that nightly glass of Shiraz, a slab of Cadbury’s chocolate, a juicy pork chop or a pan-seared sirloin steak, cooked to medium rare.
Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, saw countrywide processions of the faithful, waving palm branches and commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. It was also time to visit my favourite haunts at Highland Park, and check out who would be open over the Easter Weekend, should that invitation from family or friends to Easter Sunday lunch not materialise. Or, heaven forbid, a power cut might hijack a meticulously prepared lamb roast, halfway through cooking time.
Seated in dappled sunshine at an outside table at Cafe de Paris, we saw shoppers passing by, still carrying the palm branches and fronds recently received at an Easter service. Almost every table was taken, and customers were either having a late breakfast, or enjoying a mid-morning coffee with an eclair or an almond croissant. While a typical breakfast in France might feature a large cup of hot, milky coffee served with a pastry, the menu at Cafe de Paris offers stylishly prepared Eggs Benedict, poached egg and avo on toast, beef sausage, scrambled egg and macon, or crispy waffles with fresh fruit.
Later in the day, the dilemma facing every customer arriving for elevenses, is how to make a choice from the freshly-baked array of pastries and patisserie. I spent some minutes admiring the crisp choux pastry with softly-whipped cream of a mini Paris Brest, a tantalising millefeuille with its layers of light-as-air puff pastry and pastry cream, and a buttery, flaky almond croissant filled with almond cream and topped with flaked almonds.
The debate was over the moment I noticed a classic French strawberry cake, known as a fraisier, at the back of the display cabinet. This showstopper is made with layers of genoise sponge, a creme mousseline, and fresh strawberries. A thin layer of almond paste on the top creates yet another level of flavour. While George munched a plain croissant, I savoured every mouthful of the fraisier, and was unable to make any sort of conversation until it was finished.
Photograph: Kb Mpofu/Reuters
While Cafe de Paris at Highland Park will be open over Easter, the Churchill Road branch will be closed for renovations over the holiday.
A few metres away from Cafe de Paris and open over the Easter holidays, is the wildly popular HTown Gelato, selling homemade Italian style ice cream in a variety of flavours. Discover blueberry and white chocolate flavours, spiced vanilla with chocolate chunks and raisins, and the Easter special, a chocolate egg stuffed with creamy gelato and drizzled with salted caramel sauce.
If you’re celebrating Easter at home with family and friends, you’ve probably ordered a leg of lamb to roast, and could be trying to decide on side dishes to accompany it. You may even have grandiose schemes for a starter and for a dessert. Social media is awash right now with foodies’ preferred marinades for roasting lamb. My personal favourite, gleaned from The Art of French Cookery Volume 1, is a mixture of French mustard, soya sauce, mashed garlic, ground rosemary, powdered ginger and olive oil. The lamb becomes a beautiful brown as it roasts, and doesn’t need to be seared beforehand. Serve with green beans, broccoli and a potato casserole, for a memorable Easter feast.
Traditional Easter foods vary across the globe; in America a glazed ham is often the centrepiece at the Easter table. Ethiopians break their fifty six day fast with many spicy dishes, such as doro wat (chicken stew), tibs (sautéed meat) and lamb and goat stews. Spicy, fruity hot cross buns, marked on the top with a cross, are a traditional Easter dish, and popular in many countries.
I caught up recently with globe trotting foodie, Farah Chimba, former president of HAZ (Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe). He kickstarted his career as F&B manager at Meikles Hotel twenty six years ago, and confirmed that the field of food and drinks ‘continues to be a primary passion’ and that ‘constant global travel offers the experience of different cultural cuisines’. Now involved in a tourism investment advisory company, he is based in Delhi. He continued, saying that developing a taste for new herbs and spices and vegetarian dishes in India ‘has exposed me to creatively-made healthy dishes that take you away from our nyama biased meals, without blinking an eyelid’. On his return to Delhi and his family later this week, Farai is looking forward to an Easter Sunday lunch of dal Makhani ( a traditional lentil dish made with butter and cream), biriyani (a fragrant rice dish) and chicken momos (chicken dumplings).
The Lenten season of fasting and penitence is over for another year, and I wish you a blessed Easter Sunday, whether you decide to eat out, or to cook up a storm in your own kitchen.
