Get bang for your buck at Garfunkels in Borrowdale

WITH fuel queues snaking around the block, inflation soaring, and many supermarkets closing to re-price all their goods, the desire to get bang for your bucks becomes a necessity rather than an option. If eating out at least once a week remains an option, book a table for Sunday lunch at Garfunkels Grill in Borrowdale.

Hands on managers Llew Hughes and Daniel Marini will set the scene with a warm welcome, while efficient wait staff make sure you have a drink in hand, as you scan the well-priced menu.

While you can choose from chicken, steak, fish and pasta dishes, the star attractions on the menu are the pork dishes. Rob Davenport, an owner of Garfunkels, has been a commercial pork producer for many years, and together with co-owners Garth and Dirk du Plooy, a remarkable brand has been built up in the space of a few short years. Pigs are healthiest on a high fibre diet, with sufficient pasture for grazing, and Garfunkel’s pigs are raised on a home-grown feed, produced according to international standards. The result is a lean pork, rich in flavour, processed in Garfunkel’s state-of-the-art abattoir, adjoining the Mount Hampden farm.

Slow-roasted pork belly with crackling at Garfunkels.

Giant billboards along the Borrowdale Road leading to the restaurant provide obligatory reading – on the right, a huge tin of Garfunkel’s gammon ham speaks out , saying ‘Try me, I’m new’. On the left a gigantic glistening Colcom sausage on a bed of mashed potato distracts me from observing the trajectory of an errant kombi, and from keeping an eye on the traffic lights. With these images etched into my memory, I know I’m going to order pork, regardless of the attraction of a ‘bone in, rib-eye steak grilled to perfection’ or ‘marinated and sauteed Portuguese chicken livers with a chilli dipping sauce’.

Garfunkels slow roasted pork belly with crispy crackling ($12) is a dish you’ll keep coming back for. Crackling crunches audibly as I take my first bite. Tender pork with its iridescent layers of pork fat blend deliciously with caramelised onion rings and rich gravy, creamy mashed potato and the freshest of green peas.

A 400g thick cut pork chop is tender and juicy, the potato chips crisp and golden. Llew tells me the chops are cut from a specially- bred extra large breed of pig. He can’t confirm whether it is a Tamworth pig, a Landrace or a Gloucestershire Old Spot, but suggests that a visit to Garfunkel’s pig farm might provide the information. Llew is an interesting host, as over the years he’s worked in and owned several iconic restaurants in Harare.

Daniel Marini, a highly trained and experienced restaurateur, joined Garfunkels in May this year. A graduate of the Hotel School in Bulawayo, the boy can not only cook but sets up computers and control systems, undertakes stock takes and ensures the smooth day to day running of complex hospitality systems. For 14 years he ran the highly successful Leonardo’s Restaurant in Borrowdale, before starting up popular Bojangles in Newlands. Times change, and Llew and Daniel are now growing the dynamic Garfunkels brand in Sam Levy’s Village.

Situated just off the Borrowdale Road, with ample parking, Garfunkels has a great location and is always busy. While Sunday lunch is popular for its $10 lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and vegetables, the real action is seen in the evenings. Millennials eager to relax and have fun after a day’s work, head to Garfunkels to meet friends and to eat out in good company. The pork rib and T bone combo is the meal of choice for evening revellers.

There’s a wide range of beers, ciders, whiskies and spirits available at Garfunkels, and an abundance of minerals, fruit juices and cocktails. Red and white South African wines are on tap, ranging in price from $18 to $30. Coffees are good and desserts sweet and toothsome. In particular I can recommend Garfunkel’s home made waffles and Black Forest cake.

While Llew and Daniel run a tight ship at Garfunkels, its popularity increases and both the business and the brand continue to grow. Daniel works six days a week, and while some might describe him as a workaholic, he’s sincere when he says ‘I wouldn’t be in any other trade.’ – A Matter of Taste with Charlotte Malakoff

Garfunkels Grill

Shop 110, Sam Levy’s Village

Borrowdale Road

Harare

Mobile: 0776 508 702

Monday – Friday: 11 am – 9 pm

Saturday and Sunday: 8 am – 9 pm

Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com