Quick, convenient, tasty eating

 Café Nush is the new, slick-looking eatery, occupying the previous restaurant space as well as what was the entrance foyer of the movie houses.
A friend recently returned from Maputo was delighted to find a space more representative of city living. She is  tired of the plethora of garden restaurants. After all with so many beautiful home gardens in Harare, when she goes out she wants something different. A differing view came from someone to whom malls are anathema, and who dismissed it as just another Mall Café – thousands abound in South Africa, that mecca of mall living – but not so many here.
Curiosity combined with an excursion to Avondale flea market for new dark glasses and a visit to Kow Lee Takeaways Chinese supermarket to stock up on noodles, soy sauce and exotic spices brought us into Café Nush. Already a popular hang out it was busy early lunchtime. Decor is clean and bright with new tiles, lots of glass and a raised platform in the middle overlooking the outside terrace and the car park. It is easy to disappear though –  the neutral colours make you invisible, and we weren’t noticed straight away. But it wasn’t too long before a waiter came to our table for a drinks order. A lot of furniture moving was going on.  We were joined by a friend and although the table seated three, there really wasn’t enough room to get into the third chair without colliding with the next table. After we relocated to somewhere more spacious – though butt up against the cashier’s desk – a party of women and kids spend a while shifting tables to accommodate their large group without having a pillar as dining companion.
Café Nush bills itself as a  confectioner, and there are good looking cakes laid out decorated with chocolate and cream and goodies – all for around US$2.
The menu is a pretty little laminated book with pictures and sayings illustrating the different pages. Our friend, whose wife has been travelling, has been coming often for breakfast on his way to work and found it quick, convenient and tasty.  Breakfasts include omelettes with different fillings (US$7), up to a fairly hefty US$10 for a full English.
But we were there for lunch. The café menu offers a range of quick snack meals, coffee and cakes, as well as more substantial  main dishes. Sandwiches – chicken, tuna, salmon, smoked beef – range from US$6 and a beef burger is US$10. Pastas incl-ude standard napoletana and bolognaise, (US$6) basil pesto (US$7) and a complex Alfredo with chicken, mushroom and broccoli for US$8.
The specials sound exotic but the waiter couldn’t tell me the nationality.  Turns out to be Iranian – but pretty safe and a long way from the Arabian Nights flavours which characterise Persian cooking.  What’s left is the evocative names. My husband chose the kukusabzi (US$7) – a herby frittata – which arrived brilliant green on the plate and tasted interesting, served with dill flavoured rice.
My koobideh, a minced beef kebab needed the chillie sauce (local brand fagamoto) to spice it up but I liked the tsatsiki accompaniment. Our friend chose a     fillet steak (US$13), served with chips and a side       salad.
It was perfectly adequate and prettily presented. After lunch coffee was good and I think for me it will be a place to meet for coffee and cake rather than a meal – much like the IB used to be! 

– g.jeke@yahoo.com