Enjoy a crispy pork chop and release your inner gardener at The Plot Cafe and garden centre in Carrick Creagh Road.

IT’S not unusual in Zimbabwe for things to either crawl at a snail’s pace, or to move with the speed of light. Once described as galloping, the rate of inflation, since the local currency lost two thirds of its value against the dollar, is now moving at warp speed.

Conversely, the ghostly ruins of building projects that began years ago, continue to haunt the suburbs, while road construction and rehabilitation have been known to drag on for months and years.

Pork chop and chips at The Plot Cafe.

At the corner of Crowhill  and Carrick Creagh Roads, work began almost a decade ago on building a multi-storied hotel, the project of one of Harare’s most stylish and swashbuckling businessmen. While it remains a skeletal structure, suitable perhaps for Halloween parties, or serving as a landmark, I noticed last week that workmen in hard hats were once again moving purposefully around the building. I was on my way to The Plot Cafe and the Plot Nursery, situated at 9 Carrick Creagh Road, not far from Borrowdale Brook.

Vibrant garden centre at The Plot Cafe.

The Plot Cafe is surrounded by a garden centre, which makes it one of the most peaceful and relaxing places to enjoy a snack or meal in the bustling metropolis of Harare. The thatched roof and lack of decor or table cloths create a rustic atmosphere, where patrons can have a meal, while sitting back comfortably in canvas directors’ chairs and looking out at green grass, lemon trees, cosmos and distant views, imagining themselves to be in the countryside.

If you need an early start to your day, stop off at The Plot Cafe at 7.30 am for a cappuccino and a slice of cake. Breakfast, served from 8.30 am onwards, offers all kinds of omelettes, gourmet bacon and egg rolls, deluxe fry ups with sausage, bacon, mushrooms,  beans and eggs, and bougie Eggs Benedict with poached egg and bacon served on an English muffin, topped with hollandaise sauce.

The lunch time menu has choices to suit all tastes, from soup of the day to home made beef burgers, and from butter chicken curry to beef fillet medallions. Quiche with bacon (you can choose different fillings) was served with a garden salad, the ingredients sourced from a vegetable patch in the garden centre. Salad leaves were crisp and fresh, and the salad dressing delicate and perfectly balanced. Flavours of eggs, cream, cheese and bacon were delicately balanced in the quiche, and it was so delicious I could have eaten two. Presentation, however, was slightly offbeat, as the quiche and salad were served at the top end of a large plate, and were seemingly unrelated to the chopped parsley and swirls of glaze decorating the rest of the plate.

Quiche and fresh garden salad at The Plot Cafe.

There’s a myth that real men don’t eat quiche, which could be why George opted for a ‘pan fried crispy pork chop’ and a large plate of chips. While the pork chop was bronzed and juicy, and the chips golden and crisp, the accompanying red and yellow peppers and zucchini were overcooked and oily.

We skipped dessert, and lingered over strong and flavourful cappuccinos. Patrons continued to drift in for lunch, and for a while a heavy rain shower drowned out the hum of conversation. The downpour also muffled a selection of songs from Taylor Swift’s recent Eras Tour, played by a young swiftie, intent on her pink iPad, at the nextdoor table.

After exchanging some Mukadota-style humour with our waiter, we bought some farm fresh eggs and juicy green lemons (available at The Plot Cafe), and releasing our inner gardeners, went to explore the garden centre. With assistance from a knowledgeable nurseryman, we chose some herbs, winter annuals, a rose bush and some ornamental grass.

Our rewarding excursion to The Plot Cafe and garden centre was leisurely and uninterrupted by phone calls or appointments. Travelling at warp speed is only for the fearless or the foolhardy, and should you occasionally find the pace in Zimbabwe infuriatingly slow, consider this Chinese proverb  ‘Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still’.

A Matter of Taste  Charlotte Malakoff