Private dining at Golden Peacock Villa Hotel

Golden Peacock Villa Hotel…the place to be

GIVEN a choice, the majority of Zimbabweans would opt for a plate of freshly made sadza, over a bowl of fragrant stir-fried noodles.

But the times they are a’changing, and as President Xi Jinping’s global trade strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative linking China to Europe and Africa through land and sea routes, eats up the miles, a fusion of many cuisines is inevitable.
Chinese restaurants in Harare open and close, and like most other restaurants, their popularity waxes and wanes. My all time favourite, some thirteen years ago, was the original China Garden in Rowland Square, run by the genial Mr Li and talented Chef Yang.
Intoxicated by the chillis and Szechuan pepper in a kung pao chicken dish like you’ve never tasted before, and mesmerised by numbingly addictive ma po do and white rice, we found an excuse to visit China Garden whenever possible.
While China’s economy was growing at a breath-taking rate in 2005, an economic crisis in Zimbabwe caused the inflation rate to rise above 1 000 percent. Yang and Li packed their bags and went to Maputo to start a toilet paper factory. As time went by, new Chinese restaurants opened; after our introduction to spicy Szechuan food, we hoped to find examples of the remaining seven regional cuisines of China.
Last Sunday, during a weekend of non-stop rain, we visited the restaurant at the Golden Peacock Villa Hotel in Borrowdale.
The hotel was built by Segocoa, a construction company based in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui province in central China. Anhui cuisine is one of the eight famous regional cuisines of China. A poorer inland province west of Shanghai, the food is said to be basically a hearty mountain peasant food, incorporating wild ingredients from the local mountains. Hui chefs are also known for using more oil than is common in other
regions.
I booked a table for two, and on arrival at 1.15 pm, George and I were directed to a small, brightly coloured private room, with a table set for two people. The communal area where we had expected to sit operated strictly between 1 and 2 pm, offering a limited buffet costing $10. As a friendly waiter led us to our private room, we passed several other small rooms where groups of diners were finishing off their lunch.
Seated in our intimate dining space, we studied the extensive a la carte menu, peeping occasionally at the chandelier-type light fitting set into the ceiling, the warm, orange walls, and a painting
of balancing rocks, while admiring a
large glass lazy susan in the middle of the table.
The menu has numerous choices for non-meat-eaters — sauteed potato with green pepper and egg plant, fried spinach with garlic, leek and tofu, celery and cashew nuts. Priced between $5 and $6, these won’t break the bank.
There’s also a wide selection of seafood, and for the adventurous eater, a dish called XO sauce fish head, $22. Spicy pig intestines, $22, would attract lovers of offal and I can think of several people whose first choice would be spicy chicken feet pot, $16.
We were fairly conservative in our choices — stir-fried noodles with vegetables $6, and Kung Pao chicken, $8, for George. I chose vinegar-soaked seaweed $5 and fried celery with cashew nuts, $6, and we both agreed on finely sliced marinated beef garnished with crisply fried garlic, $6. George was pleased with the Kung Pao and happy with the noodle dish, but the fried celery, although crisp and beautifully sliced, was too oily for my taste. The seaweed was quite underwhelming.
I hoped to save the day with a dessert of pumpkin pie or glutinous rice balls, but our waitress said that the ‘kitchen boy’ had gone for lunch and the kitchen was effectively closed. Bottomless green tea was provided by our waitress, who hovered throughout our meal on the verandah, just outside our private room.
After lunch, Benjamin from housekeeping, who worked previously at The Rainbow Towers and The Ambassador Hotel, took us on a tour of the villas, and accommodation available on a bed and breakfast basis. Rooms vary from basic to VVIP suites in the style of Imperial China.
Should President Xi Jinping visit Zimbabwe in the near future, there would be plenty of room for his entourage at Golden Peacock Villa Hotel.
The Chinese chefs in the kitchen won’t be under too much pressure, as Xi is known to have simple tastes when it comes to food. They say that ‘all you need for a Communist party is a blanket, some congee (Chinese porridge) and friends.
Golden Peacock Villa Hotel offers a lot more than that.

Sogecoa Zimbabwe Golden Peacock Villa Hotel, 89 Kingsmead Road, Borrowdale, Harare.
Mobile: 0785 820 639, email: 1067898419@qq.com<mailto:1067898419@qq.com
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