EXTREME, BIZZARE AND RATHER HORRIBLE

My cousin Michele sent this to me - I am worried she is becoming a webtechnoholic - someone who is constantly scouring the internet, but its more likely to be her forwarding stuff someone else sent to her - either way I am delighted to be on the receiving end as otherwise how else would I get to see a TOILET RESTAURANT !! 

                               Now I am sharing it with you..

Not in a million years !!

ONE ON EVERY CORNER..

By now you are all probably sick of reading about me warbling on about how fabulous Vic Falls was, great food and amazing Chefs and I think in an effort to shut me up, I was invited (and went uninvited to others) to some of the new restaurants and Cafes that have opened up in Bulawayo over the past few week - Yes - Weeks!

Sam and David Jacobs, dear friends that they are, have opened the lovely Mojo - Lounge Bar.  Sam is very insistent I get it right so I haven't left off the Lounge Bar and just called it Mojo's.  The official opening was on Saturday and we weren't there because, you've guessed it, we were in Victoria Falls, so Sam asked me to call in and check it out when I got back.

How to describe something that is inside an average looking Sports Club with a disintegrating car park and some tired looking foliage - I would probably have to say its the most amazing surprise you're going to get in a long time.  Walking into Mojo's (sorry Sam) is like taking a quick trip to some trendy spot in the middle of a cosmopolitan city - out of this world!

 

Warm greys, maroons, silver, glass, mirror, huge paintings and private corners make this a complete contradiction, centering around a massive bar that doubles up as a coffee counter during the day.  I had a fab cuppachino and thought I was in Joburg.  Like any new establishment, the hard work is all to come, but judging by the complimentary chatter around town and the impact of opening night, I think they have a winner.  Make sure you book a corner on Saturday night - the excellent Jazz Band will be back..

Next on the list was the revamp of the old Roasted Berry.  Now this restaurant was a real enigma, as for some reason it won the Best Restaurant award for quite a few years and no one could work out why.  The food was fair, the setting lovely and the service very insipid - perhaps no one else bothered to enter?  It has now been taken over by Greg and the Lads from Bombela and renamed

26 on Park

First impression is that the setting is still lovely and more or less looks the same, but the perky menu board tells that dramatic changes have taken place and a real taste bud experience is about to happen - Light fresh meals.  Jane and I decided to share lunch - half her Salmon Bagel for half my Quiche.  All good food - for ladies not wanting to walk away feeling stuffed to the gills.  Greg let us in on his plans for dinners next month - something different for Bulawayo with tasting menus instead of solid meals.  Great idea Greg - but lets hope the hearty Beef Boys will have the nerve to to try it !!

My last stop of the day - by now I'd had so much coffee I was almost bouncing off the walls, was

Middy's Spot andwhateveryoulikeit (I kid you not).  This is a delightful little cafe, set on the very edge of the city centre, close enough to be considered a town venue but far enough away to be comfortable, after all, who wants to go into any city centre these days! 

Now this place is different - and I am not influenced by the fact Clive Midlaine and I went to school together (I didn't remember him but he seemed to know a lot about my school days, even the bits I was keeping quiet,  especially from my children)  Its different because their main aim is to keep their prices low enough to make their competitors sit up and take notice and because, if they can wake dozy little Bulawayo up early enough, they have plants to do happy hour between 7.30 and 8.30 every morning.. 

 Anyone who can come up with all these novel ideas (and they had lots of them), dress their waitresses in Cerise Pink Aprons and have the largest muffins I have ever seen, one week after getting their new Cafe ripped off and their TVs and furniture stolen - deserves to succeed !!!  I am going to reserve a permanent parking as its on my way to work and I can really see myself managing the early morning coffee grab and dash! (when its warmer that is..)

NEWS FROM THE EDGE

We decided to head off to Victoria Falls for the weekend to see our son Dayne (the Chef) which I am delighted to say, ended up being a "gastronomic" food fest and one I just have to write about ... endlessly ... good and bad !!

Our first night was out at Gorges Lodge.  If you haven't been there, its set on the very edge of the Zambezi Gorge, balancing 250m in the air.  Pretty amazing views and definately not the place to go if you are looking for an argument or have an issue with your partner - far too close to the edge for comfort!  But honestly, the view can take your breath away.

Eating at Gorges is not going to set the "foodies" ablaze with excitement but if you are wanting a really good home cooked meal, satisfying  portions, whilst sipping a fairly decent wine  in an exceptional setting, then its worth sitting at their table.  A definate plus was their outstanding choice of coffee - proper filter coffee of a high quality and actually quite a surprise!

We had a really pleasant evening.  The beds are amazingly comfortable with decent pillows and lovely linen.  Just hope like hell you dont sleep-walk..

OUTTER LIMITS

Every now and then something completely random comes along that absolutely catches your imagination and for me this has to be "the one".  I had the pleasure of arranging a transfer for the Zimbabwe Music Academy staff on a recent Jolly up to Hwange and Vic Falls after the Music Festival - which went spectacularly "wrong" !!


I had to leopard crawl into Michael Bullivants office this morning to eat crow and apologise profusely and I have to say he was an absolute gentleman about the whole thing which made me feel even worse..  In the course of the conversation there was mention of Bruce, the local train, buffalo and Petroc? 


After a period of total confusion (these people talk their own language) Michael explained - Petroc, who is famous, (none of us had heard of him) went with  Bruce (who is not) on the local train (no one could explain why) and whilst en-route to Hwange, the train ran into a herd of buffalo - how the hell do you do that?  One buffalo is huge so a herd is enormous !!  As a result the train was derailed and 7 buffalo were killed.  Naturally the train came to a grinding halt and always on the look out for a good deal, the lovely people on the train got out, cut up the buffalo and had an impromptu "braai". 


Petroc said that it was a little too rare for his taste and could have been hung for a bit longer.  I suppose they could have strung it up around the trees for a few days !!  Just in case you think I am talking a load of buffalo's, it was in the London Evening Standard on the 31st May ! 


I am now going to google "Petroc"

WHAT A LUNCH !!

I am never quite sure how I manage to get involved in so many of the things I end up doing, but my darling friend Karen once bought me a book entitled "For People Who Don’t Know How To Say No" so the answer is probably there somewhere. Anyway on this occassion, I am glad I got involved as it resulted in a sumptuous lunch at Wes and Jane - with the American Ambassador, Charles A Ray.


Now as much as I would like to tell you that I eat with the In-Crowd, this was a lot more In than normal and was the result of a Mentor Programme that required woman in certain fields of business to mentor a young girl from a disadvantaged background. My little Mentoree was a lovely girl called Sam who wants (heaven help her) to get involved with Travel and Tourism - which is where I came in.


The lunch was fabulous, but not the done thing to charge around flashing cameras in the Ambassadors face so we will have to wait for the official photos to come from the Embassy but at least I can give you a step by step account of the actual lunch,


33 people on the veranda, beautiful table with white drapes blowing gently in the wind, artful conversation and fabulous food. Platter after platter of breads, salads, chicken, pates, quiche, couscous, rare beef and all the trimmings kept coming out of the kitchen. Wes cooking and Jane serving! Someone asked me afterwards what made the salads so different and I was lost for an answer as they were full of the normal salad content but just had an amazing modern slant to them - that’s the work of a trend setting Chef! It was all topped off by a Melt in your Mouth Coffee Mousse and I got to stay and have coffee with the Chef!


So the next time someone asks me to get involved in something, I am definitely going to think about it before I say No !

TO EAT - OR NOT TO EAT - THAT IS THE QUESTION?

This is my first blog of 2010 and its not that I have been suffering from writers block and cant write, its just that I have been on a diet. Has it worked - definately not!  After a miserable, anti-social month and 1gram off, I have decided that I would rather enjoy the moment and carry on breakfasting, lunching and dining.  Have I given up - definately not but this year I am going to focus on being healthy instead of being thin! (thats never going to happen - being thin that is)  So, heres to a good 2010 and some fab food.

Cannelloni (Italian: large reeds) are rectangular pasta sheets that are rolled into a cylindrical shape encompassing a filling. After a pasta sheet has been boiled, it is typically filled with a savoury stuffing which may include ricotta cheese, spinach, and various meats. It is then covered with a sauce, typically a classic tomato or béchamel sauce. Cannelloni is often erroneously referred to as manicotti (Italian: sleeves), the latter being a pre-shaped tube that is then stuffed.

Today was pretty interesting! We were invited to The Boma at Hillside Dams to celebrate Chloe and Alan Forrest 51st wedding anniversary which is quite a feat with today’s disposable lifestyle. As I have said before it really is a great place to have a weekend meal and judging by the number of people there, it was a good choice.


Now the thing with Hillside Dams is that all the plates of food at some time more or less pass under your nose, so it’s easy to get an idea of what will whet the appetite For us it had to be the Cannelloni - golden grilled cheese toppings promising a mouth-watering feast underneath, until we dug our forks in to find that there was no pasta??


After a rather confusing few moments where we searched through the creamy vegetable mix hoping we had made a mistake, we realised that this was in fact a rather tasty vegetable bake that had mistakenly been mis-named.


One of my pet hates is when someone comes along to a restaurant, has a dreadful meal and then spends all year talking about it in the school car park, so I decided to have a `quiet' word with the Chef and tactfully suggest he rename the dish. I have to say in an understated way (it is Sunday evening after all and the stress can wait till Monday) that he didn’t appreciate my helpfulness and informed me in icy tones that CANNELLONI is a VEGETABLE dish !! I am not going to bore you with my reply but I seem to remember words like "cookbook, shove and nose" being amongst many others.


One good thing though was that the restaurant owner did phone me when I got home which was appreciated, but the next time I go there I am going to be a little wary of what might end up on my plate - there could be a lot of different interpretations of a Beef Salad !