Mother’s Day: Chefs, cooks still off mark

This was an opportunity to show your love and appreciation for your mum, to buy flowers for her, to make breakfast, or to take her out for lunch.
It is only in the last century that Mothering Sunday became an annual celebration, but throughout the ages, mothers have always been regarded as a source of warmth, protection and great love.
Abandoned as babies on the banks of the River Tiber, Romulus and Remus, the founders of ancient Rome, were lucky to find a surrogate mother in the wolf that suckled them together with her own pups. If they hadn’t been subsequently adopted by a shepherd and his wife, the language and customs of the Romans, current arbiters of fashion and cuisine, might have developed in a quite a different way.
Although retailers and the media in Zimbabwe seem to focus more on Valentine’s Day than on Mother’s Day, I came across the occasional supermarket promotion for gifts for mothers, while a number of restaurants advertised a special Sunday lunch. My local supermarket, in its weekly e-mail bulletin, advertised cosmetics and chocolates as last-minute Mother’s Day gifts, and ran specials on Wild Africa Cream liqueur and Halls lozenges.
While the big three restaurants — Amanzi, Victoria 22 and Dehli Palace — were, as usual, closed on Sundays, other popular destinations such as Millers, Shangri-La and the Golden Bamboo were packed with mothers, fathers and all their offspring.
Mothers and fathers, whose children have grown up and made new lives abroad, will have contented themselves with loving phone calls from Boston, London or Perth, before booking a table for lunch and celebrating in the usual way.
Our children, all being in foreign parts, George and I contemplated taking a picnic to Cleveland Dam, with our two young Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Nellie and Starr, as company. But eventually we decided to try out the Mother’s Day lunch at the Pavilion at Meikles, leaving the pooches behind.
Since the recent arrival of a new food and beverages manager from Indigo Bay, resort for the rich and famous in Mozambique, I had heard exciting reports about delicious meals once again being served at Meikles. This would be an opportunity to find out what was what and who was who.
After one ring, the polished reception staff at Meikles picked up the phone and supplied all necessary information concerning lunch. Pavilion staff then offered smoking/non-smoking seating and described the buffet and menu. Lunch would be served from 12.30 to 3.30pm. We booked a table for two on the verandah, where our view extended beyond the green lawns and late-blooming roses of Meikles roof garden to the serene church spires and skyscrapers of the ever-beautiful City of Harare.
The scene was set as mothers were welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine and a rosebud. Our attentive waiter, Antonio, then led us to the buffet, where we discovered a brunch menu with yoghurt and cereal and croissants, in addition to hot and cold dishes.
As it was already lunchtime, we started with a bowl of lukewarm, but otherwise perfectly delicious butternut soup, served with a homemade bread roll from Meikles subterranean bakery.
A small plate of delicious potato salad with freshly grated carrot, crunchy green beans and assorted cold meats followed. Bypassing the breakfast option of tailor-made omelettes, I added a crisp yet tender grilled fillet of tilapia to my plate. So far, so good.
George, however, found his minute steak too tough to eat, and had to abandon it.
The main buffet offered a delicious variety of stews and fricassees, including kidneys served with sadza, a hearty beef stew, curried beef, sugar bean casserole and sautéed chicken. I felt that the cook had used too heavy a hand with turmeric when preparing the curry, but all other dishes were beautifully prepared.
With the exception of some delicious petits pots de crème caramel, dessert was a boring affair with sherry trifle and vanilla cake being as usual the front runners. Oh, for a chef whose ambition in life is to create glamorous puddings and enchanting desserts!
Attentive and courteous waiter service and beautiful surroundings made our meal memorable. The cooks and chefs, however, still have a way to go with their menus, particularly on a day when all the mothers in Zimbabwe are hoping for something out of the ordinary.
The Pavilion
Meikles Hotel
Harare
Tel.: 707721
– cmalakoff@gmail.com