Discreetly hidden in central Mount Pleasant, this delightful place is part of The Christian Counselling Centre. It is not well sign-posted, but once discovered, this simple rustic café is one to which you’ll definitely return!
By Le Connoisseur
The seating area is well set out in lovely shady gardens with a choice of peaceful discreet chairs and tables near a gorgeous water feature which gurgles away in the background, or the more family-oriented old barn door and wicker chair seating near a super playground. No guesses where we ended up sitting! Right next to a lovely sand pit, climbing in and out of which the little ones spent a lot of time; making sand pies and feeding them down each other’s backs, or slyly into the baby’s mouth! Great fun for them, of course. Not so much fun for us, when sprayed with sand by one of the more enthusiastic diggers! Ensuring they do not consume too much sand is also a bit tricky!
There is a newly acquired Wendy house too, which with the jungle gym, swings, and an enclosure of rabbits and a wee tortoise, keeps the young ones well amused, leaving the adults free to indulge themselves. Today, for the most part, they restrained themselves from too much high jinks, thank goodness — not too many high-pitched howls of dismay interrupted our contemplations! We however, have to rescue the smallest from being buried in the sandpit! Always tricky when one is so small that one is easily lost among piles of sand and enthusiastic castle builders and pie makers!
The menu is interesting, as it arrives with bits and bobs attached to it… very simple and rustic with lovely homemade pies on offer, which are absolutely enormous, and definitely to be recommended, as well as lots of other favourites. The chicken salad that caught my eye was particularly tasty, the chicken well-marinated with a lovely spicy flavour, very tender and moist, surrounded by a bed of mixed lettuces and other nice salad vegetables and complemented by a choice of two lovely tangy flavoursome salad dressings. So simple but so tasty, I really enjoyed it! The plate, although not sophisticated in its appearance, looked wholesome and attractive. The coffee milkshakes with which we accompanied our meal, were definitely something not to miss — very good, large and of course very filling.
Never fear, we had arrived with big appetites, and moved on from there to a lemon meringue pie and strawberry cheesecake. The lemon meringue was just like my mother used to make it; nice lemony flavour, smoothed by the sweet meringue, and lovely pastry. This chef knows about pastry, that’s for sure! Light, crisp and buttery — not easy to achieve with cheesecakes. The strawberry cheesecake was consumed by the little ones who enjoyed its sweet subtle flavours, in fact they liked it so much we had to order an extra one or there’d have been none left for us!
We finished up with a lovely latte — a large, creamy and very fitting end to a satisfactory lunch; hand-decorated on top with either your name or “The Cottage” on the froth, it looks as good as it tastes!
overall comment: When you’re looking for somewhere out of the ordinary with lovely tranquil surroundings, The Cottage is perfectly placed for Saturday morning shoppers or a quiet lunch. The food is tasty and wholesome, the surroundings lovely, the service, leisurely, so don’t be in too much rush!
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Coffee Shop 4 Plates Expect to spend US$15- US$20 per head 8 Coltman Road, off The Chase, Mount Pleasant, Harare
