St Patrick’s at Shop Cafe

The Upper Manyame Catchment Council is the latest authority to be roaming the suburbs demanding regularisation of wells and boreholes. Needless to say this involves a payment.
The mission statement sounds noble and I hope they really are supervising and monitoring the “exercising of surface and ground water permits, abstractions and riverflows”. I would be delighted if the capital’s (and the country’s) water supply were being managed in a sustainable and responsible way.
But we are so used to demands for payment without concomitant service delivery that I remain sceptical until I see some evidence to the contrary. But with municipal non-delivery being the norm, private water supplies remain the prime option — so I hope someone is taking care of the greater good!
I have been watering my stressed garden with containers carried from the rain tank, so St Patrick’s Day was a good excuse to think about greener and wetter places — like Ireland.
Favourite restaurant — Shop Café at Doon Estate, is starting to do occasional Sunday lunches — and opened this Sunday for a St Patrick’s Day special . .
St Patrick, patron saint and national apostle of Ireland, has given his name and blessing to a celebration of all things Irish on March 17 — the day he is believed to have died back in 461! It is a huge holiday in Ireland and also in the US where the day is marked by large parades through city streets.
He is credited with driving the snakes from Ireland and with explaining the Holy Trinity by using the shamrock — thus making it easier for Christianity to spread in Ireland. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped.  Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice.
The day has come to be associated with everything Irish — anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Plenty of patrons were wearing green, the tables were decorated with clover (no shamrocks in Zimbabwe) and a couple of oversized leprechauns in giant hats were in evidence.
Shop Café has deservedly enjoyed good reviews by local foodies recently. Run by a small tight-knit team, the café serves some of the best food in town, well presented, freshly sourced with loving attention to taste and detail. A regular Sunday lunch will be welcome in the laid back setting under the indigenous vine shaded by a giant flamboyant.
A set of four courses (US$30) — centered in homage to that Irish staple the humble potato. Starters were either leek and salmon tart or leek and blue cheese frittata for non-fish eaters, both light and delicious and delicately flavoured. A robust apple celery and tomato soup, packed with flavour followed — served with Shop Café’s signature brown seed loaf.
In honour of the day, a huge green arrangement of shiny foliage dominated the serving space where a substantial buffet was laid out. Tender beef and guiness stew with mustard mashed potato; roast chicken with gravy; roasted potato, onion and parsnips, glistening baby carrots; and colcannon — a lovely baked dish of cabbage onion and potato. Apparently, colcannon was originally eaten in celebration of a Druidic festival to honour the Sun God — and remains an Irish favourite. A strong Celtic tradition still prevails in Ireland so perhaps Patrick was more successful with the snakes than the pagans!
A relaxed Sunday lunch was capped with an Irish coffee to accompany the sublime desserts — melting apple tart, a sticky butterscotch trifle and fresh watermelon with mint.
Shop Café is open daily for lunch except Monday and will open on occasional Sundays.

– g.jeke@yahoo.com