Best Yorkshire pudding at Brento’s coffee shop, Honeydew FLM

Roast beef and Yorkshire pud at Brento’s Coffee Shop.

A Matter of Taste with Charlotte Malakoff

HONEYDEW Food Lovers’ Market is one of those feel good destinations, where you know you’ll find the crispest apples, the finest red peppers, the liveliest tsunga and the plumpest pecan nuts grown in the Vumba mountains.

Moreover, it’s always possible to get a parking place at Honeydew, and the drive through Greendale’s Jacaranda-lined roads, past peaceful, well-kept gardens, sets the scene for a successful outing.
Once you’ve filled your shopping basket with ingredients for that all-important brunch or dinner party, drop into Brento’s Coffee Shop for an espresso and a freshly baked scone with jam and cream. Brento’s opens every day of the week except Monday at 8 am, so it’s also an ideal place for breakfast. Choices range from full English breakfast or a bacon and egg roll, to a tropical fruit or a health breakfast of oats, yoghurt, nuts, raisins and honey.
Last week, I booked a table for Brento’s recently-advertised $14 Sunday roast, served between 1200 and 1400 hours. There were a number of patrons, both inside and outside on the verandah. Pleasant wait staff greeted us, and showed us to a table. In search of sun and winter warmth, we chose a picnic table and bench, in dappled sunlight, overlooking Hennings Plant Nursery. I chose roast beef, and my guest chose roast chicken. Both were served with crisp Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, fresh peas, beans and carrots and lashings of rich, meaty gravy. George, who loves pastry of all textures and types, ordered a meat pie with chips, salad and gravy, $8. My six-year-old guest was content with a large plate of chips and a strawberry milkshake.
The roast beef was delicious — medium as requested and perfectly sliced. The Yorkshire puddings would have made chefs like Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver envious — tall, light and crisp, with a slightly chewy interior. The vegetables tasted so fresh, they could have been harvested at dawn on that day. The roast potatoes, however, although having a golden colour and a pleasant crispy exterior, were not quite cooked through. There was no horseradish sauce available and the only mustard on offer was a dayglo colour and looked and tasted as though it had been squeezed out of a plastic bottle. Even so, the dish was a success, and I would probably order it again.
Of her strawberry milkshake, the six-year-old said it was the best she’d ever tasted, and George commented in a similar way on the meat pie.
Although the slats on the picnic bench began to pinch, we decided to remain sitting outside, to enjoy looking out onto the flowering shrubs and roses of Hennings Nursery, a popular plant nursery next door. We were also close to the green lawn, slides, roundabout and rocking horses of a children’s play area.
The pecan pie with ice cream I ordered from the many choices on the dessert menu was well-presented, even if the crust was somewhat thick and tough. The waffle and cream, however, was said by my guest to be good. My cappuccino, served in a nice-sized cup, was pleasantly hot, although the coffee beans lacked flavour.
Honeydew farm, once home to cabbage fields stretching to the horizon and rustic farm stalls laden with organic fruit and vegetables, is undergoing a transformation. Attractive shops and office space with wrap around verandahs are being built on land adjoining the market and the coffee shop; Honeydew Foodlovers Market is soon to become a one stop destination.

Brento’s Coffee Shop
Honeydew Foodlovers Market
16 Greendale Avenue
Harare
Open Tuesday – Friday: 8 am – 6 pm
Saturday: 8 am – 3 pm
Sunday: 8 am – 2 pm
Monday: closed
Tel: 04 497 507
Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com