Le Connoiseur
Great Wall is a popular Chinese food restaurant located on East Road, Belgravia.   We made an early dinner booking to avoid the prime time crush.
We arrived just after 6pm and were led to our table which provided a great view of the dining area. 
The restaurant is beautiful with a lovely thatched roof.

There are many windows through which we could see a children’s play area with a swing and see-saw, and the dining area on the veranda. 
The restaurant is simply furnished with wooden chairs and tables.  The walls are adorned with decorative tablets that have Chinese writing and drawings on them.

There are a couple of large paintings, a beatific Buddha sits on the bar and some wrought iron butterflies seem to be taking flight off the rear wall.
The waiter brought the menus and took our drinks order. I ordered a glass of Rosé and my partner ordered Coke.

After this, we studied the menu.  The Great Wall menu is a veritable tome with so much to offer.

There are soups and starters, a variety of beef, chicken, lamb, seafood, pork, vegetable and fish dishes, then there are your rice and noodle dishes, and finally desserts and hot beverages.

There was so much delicious sounding food that I got slightly overwhelmed.  I decided to start off with wonton soup and my partner opted for spring rolls.

For our main course we were advised to opt for one starch as it is such a large portion.

We wanted the chow mein but decided to try the spicy, fried rice instead.

We ordered stir-fried vegetables in oyster sauce to share.

I went with the popular sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and my friend chose the crispy prawns.

My wonton soup arrived first and I dug right in because I didn’t want it to get cold.  It was delicious.

It is a light soup with dumplings, noodles and meatballs. The meatballs were tender and full of flavour.

My partner’s spring rolls eventually arrived and were served with sweet and sour sauce.  They were filled with chicken and vegetables and quite tasty.
While waiting for our main courses we were able to study the other diners.

This is definitely a family friendly restaurant with babies and toddlers welcome.

It’s perfect for a large family outing as they have some big tables that can accommodate large numbers.

Our main courses arrived and I knew immediately that I would need a take-out box.  The servings were huge.

The food comes on communal platters and then each diner has a plate on which to dish a little bit of everything.  The spicy fried rice had chopped carrots, broccoli and red chillies in it.

The stir-fried vegetables included broccoli, cauliflower, onions and carrots in a dark, oyster sauce.

This was my favourite dish.  The crispy prawns were served without a sauce and therefore a tad dry.

However, the flavour was delicious.  The sweet and sour chicken with pineapple was also tasty but very filling.

After a few bites I knew I could not eat anymore because I really wanted dessert.

For dessert I ordered bowties and ice-cream and my partner chose pan-grilled bananas and ice cream.

Rounding off with chinese tea

We also ordered a pot of Chinese tea.  
The tea was served and at first we thought it was plain hot water.  
But then we realised there was a slight tinge of colour in it and a definite tea aroma emanating from it.  
It’s the least strong tea I have ever had but I found it quite refreshing. 

While waiting for our desserts we noticed several patrons standing around giving us weird looks.  
We then realised that a number of diners were waiting for tables and we seemed to be holding them up by “idly” chatting and drinking tea. It was quite disconcerting.

Our desserts arrived and mine was exquisite.

The bowties were crispy and covered in warm syrup.  The pan grilled bananas could easily have fed two people, they were very good but my partner struggled to finish.

The desserts and the Chinese tea went very well together and we enjoyed the food immensely.  
However, we felt we had to pay our bill and leave hastily as there were some obviously impatient clients still waiting for tables.

Speciality Restaurant
4 Plates
Expect to Spend U$20 to US$35 per head
94 East Road,
Belgravia,
Harare.