Good food to light up the moment

At home the norm has seen Zesa only between 10pm and 6 am – we only had electricity in daylight hours once. Waking up to the plaintive beep of the alarm signalling power off for the fourth day in a row I phoned Zesa faults, miraculously got through and had God’s blessings called down upon me by the hapless phone answerer who said I was the first caller not to shout at him. Poor man – what a job – dealing with an irate public without adequate information, unable to shed any light literally or figuratively on the situation.
Borrowdale was no exception when I met a friend for lunch at Millers Café to the background hum of many generators and the pungent scent of diesel fumes filling the shopping mall. It didn’t dent our sprits – even though she had just received a Zesa bill for over US$200 for a period when her house was unoccupied. No redress there either.
The Café was bustling at lunch time – but the waiters were attentive, well-spoken and watchful without being obtrusive. I arrived early and thirsty and a cold soda water was delivered promptly giving me ample time to study the large menu.
Millers is open daily from 8am to 10pm and offers the full range of hospitality from breakfast specials-through cappuccinos and cakes to cocktails and full dinners.
Meat, chicken and fish all feature on the substantial menu and I did pause at the Borrowdalian (US$10) – a rich combination of crumbed chicken breasts with ham and mozzarella – but had heard so much about it from two colleagues who never order anything else, and for whom it is a regular firm favourite that I felt I already knew how good it was and didn’t need to try it this time. Pizzas were recommended by my friend who has eaten there before and pasta, advertised as made from scratch, looks appetizing. (US$12 to US$16.)
The choice wasn’t easy – but neither of us was in the mood for meat. (Hearty appetites could enjoy a prawn and steak combination at US$20.) Lunch was a good excuse for a catch up conversation and we needed time to make our choices.  Which the staff were happy to let us do – remaining observant and noticing when we were finally ready.  Lukewarm white wine was perhaps the only thumbs down.  Was that due to the lack of power? But there was plenty of ice which soon fixed the temperature.
In the end we chose a starter each and a salad as main – calamari in a lemon sauce for me (US$7) and chicken livers (US$5) for my friend. Calamari is a good test because it is so often ruined and rubbery. This wasn’t – it was very tender and the lemon sauce nicely piquant.  The chicken livers were good too – creamy consistency with a nice spicing.
The salads were very pretty – mine the river salad with salmon and avocado (US$12) – and hers the Millers special. (US$10). I liked the crispy butternut slivers which decorated it but she found the dressing a bit sweet, enjoyed the copious amount of olives and could have done with less ice berg lettuce.
Salmon and avocado are a lovely combination and I liked the dressing though I found there was too many dollops of cottage cheese and also an overdose of lettuce.
But we talked up a storm to drown out the generator noise, were very impressed with the service, enjoyed the food – and will be back.
Lunch for two including  two glasses of wine and soda waters was US$44.

– g.jeke@yahoo.com