Staycation ‘sans bruscheta’

Kite flyers tested their skills at weekends, and an annual Donkey Derby every October was a dusty but exciting event. In 1982, the Energopro-jekt began to dig the foundations for a prestigious new hotel. Excavations were slow and painstaking. Weekly visits with Saskia, Marianne and Elise to ‘change books’ at the adjacent Queen Victoria Memorial Library (now Harare City Library) were made all the more interesting by observing the building operations and gradual creation of a state-of-the-art hotel. By 1985 the Sheraton Hotel and International Conference Centre were complete. Nicknamed the Golden Boot for its unusual shape and colour, the Sheraton instantly became a favourite venue for locals, a popular destination for tourists, and a ‘home from home’ for airline personnel. Twenty years later the contract with Sheraton ended, and the hotel was re-branded as the Rainbow Towers. During the recent Easter break, in tune with holidaying at home being the new going away, George and I decided to visit the Rainbow Towers for two nights. On arrival at the imposing hotel entrance, a posse of smiling doormen greeted us: one to open the car door, another to load our suitcase onto the dome-shaped luggage trolley and a third to accompany us to the VIP check in on the 15th floor. Here the engaging and ever-pleasant Nelly took our particulars and enquired if our journey had been pleasant. ‘Yes’, I replied in a fraudulent way, since we had travelled only a few kilometres down the Borrowdale Road. A courteous porter then showed us to the north-facing Mazowe suite on the 16th floor. He demonstrated how to work the TV and the air conditioning, and described the two restaurants where we could dine, these being the Harvest Garden and the Kombahari. The Patisserie in the lobby was open for coffee and cake, and light snacks. Breakfast would be served in the VIP restaurant on the 15th floor. Guests staying above the twelfth floor could visit the stylish VIP lounge, read a variety of local and regional newspapers, watch TV, or check e-mail and surf the net free of charge, for up to thirty five minutes. Happy hour in the VIP lounge, between the hours of 6 and 10pm, is a moderately cheerful event. Celebrants are restricted to two beers or two cool drinks each, and snacks are run-of-the-mill chicken pieces or sausage. So if you imagined you might sip a rum and coke and nibble on goat’s cheese bruschetta while the sun sank over distant Mount Hampden, you might feel some disappointment. After a Castle and a Stoney ginger beer at happy hour on our first evening, George and I went down to the Harvest Garden, where a traditional African meal was being served. Cream of chicken soup with croutons was followed by a variety of cold salads. Boiled, salted groundnuts were tasty and tomato and onion and lettuce and cucumber salads were crisp and fresh. From a varied buffet I chose rice with peanut butter, rape with peanut butter, butternut, beef stew, mazondos and a small helping of tripe. Everything was well cooked and tasty. Our teetotal waiter could not make wine recommendations, but we chose a delicious 2006 Nederburg Baronne, which complemented the rich beef stew and full-bodied mazondos. Dessert was served from a buffet table in a dark corner of the dining room. I regretted not having brought my pocket torch to distinguish between the shadowy assortment of fruit jellies, chocolate pudding and cakes. Waiter service was courteous, friendly and attentive, responsive to our every request; flimsy paper napkins were immediately exchanged on request for full sized linen table napkins. Breakfast next morning in the VIP restaurant, was presided over by the sweetly smiling Cynthia, who offered us fruit juices, cereals, fresh fruit, muffins and bread rolls. A pre-cooked breakfast of sausage, fried eggs and baked beans was served from a heated hostess trolley. Toast and tea were freshly made to order. We visited the Kombahari in the evening, where the cooks are said to have been trained by Japanese chefs. The choice was limited, and sushi was off the menu, so I opted for a fairly ordinary tasting stir-fry. Hoping for a cappuccino and a slice of Black Forest Gateau, we later strolled over to the Patisserie, to discover it had closed at 10pm. We sat a while, listening to the mellifluous voice of a singer in the nearby bar, and then ascended in the lift to our 16th floor eerie. I made a cup of instant in the kitchenette, and we gazed out over the city lights and beyond, into a night sky seemingly stretching into infinity. Rainbow Towers Pennefather Avenue Harare Tel: 772633 Comments to: cmalakoff@gmail.com