Restaurant review | At OPA!

All across the Middle East hospitality is offered with a variety of meze or mezedes

WHAT a treat to find a new and refreshing restaurant in Harare. OPA! is a Greek exclamation — a word of pronouncement of celebration, a way of expressing joy and gratitude to God and life for good food and good friends. Visiting Opa’s, recently opened in Kensington, gave us just that feeling.

It is a Greek restaurant — run by the Vali family who have operated the bakery further down the strip for decades. Décor is fresh and open – with glass tables, white wooden chairs and big blackboards spanning the inside wall. We sat outside on the pavement where restaurant area is extended by canvas windows and pot plants.

Menu is divided into sections and patrons are encouraged to eat Greek style — sampling lots of little dishes. All across the Middle East hospitality is offered with a variety of meze or mezedes — and the more on offer, the better your table. Easy to make a meal of mezedes — which is what we did.

Dips include sublime taramasalata — the best I have tasted in a long time — signature Greek dip made from fish roe, soaked bread, olive oil and lemon juice. This one was smooth and tangy but not too pungent. We also chose melitzana — grilled egg plants served with skordalia, another traditional sauce made with garlic and pureed potato. Dolmathes — swiss chard leaves — stuffed with rice and herbs were delicious and we all loved the baked feta cheese – with grilled peppers and a hint of chillie.

Opa works on all fronts. Menu is diverse and interesting, authentically Greek and great value for money. I liked very much the way you could put your own meals together. The meat dishes are not served with standard choice of starch, but stand alone and you can add your own accompaniments be that salads, other vegetable dishes or Greek potatoes.

We were having a vegetarian day so didn’t try any meat though one of our party had previously enjoyed the meltingly good lamb kleftiko (priciest dish on the menu at US$16) and tasty meatballs (US$5) served with minted yoghurt.  We enjoyed the way the Greek salad (US$5) was served — with a good slice of feta on top sprinkled with dry oregano — though it included a bit too much red and yellow pepper shreds for my liking. A selection of bread — pita and bread sticks — is brought to each table as well as pitchers of water with ice and lemon slices.

Traditional Greek favourites like moussaka (vegetarian version US$5, with mincemeat US$6) and spanakopita (spinach pie in filo pastry) are on the menu. Seafood includes calamari (US$9) hake in a dill sauce and mussels in wine and garlic (US$10).

Many years ago I was taught to cook stuffed tomatoes in Greece. First trick was finding the largest, ripest summer tomatoes — and carefully scooping out the centre with knife and spoon. Stuffing was sautéed onion with rice and lots of chopped herbs – especially dill – though these days I use other green herbs depending on what’s in the garden. Once the tomato lid is back on, bake in the oven with a generous layer of olive oil and salt and pepper seasoning. Yemista is the name for stuffed vegetables and I did enjoy my Opa stuffed tomato though not quite as much as on the island in that long ago summer.

All the same — this restaurant gives a real taste of Greece with a generous and friendly ambience. Service was charming and competent and we enjoyed a lovely relaxed lunch. Not licenced — so BYO. I will certainly make this a regular hang out and look forward to trying other dishes. OPA!

g.jeke@yahoo.com