But last minute problems at the office delayed my departure until after 1:20pm and it really isn’t worth driving to Borrowdale, Chisipite or Rolf Valley at that late stage, when you have a pressing appointment for 2:30pm.
So it was just up the road to a surprisingly busy Kensington Shopping Centre. (Well it surprises me how pumping it is. I thought once the satellite TV people moved to premises which used to be the old George Hotel at Avondale, Kensington would have been relatively shopper-free.)
Not a bit of it! I quickly mooched around the new Spar (nice range of goods: prices jaw-dropping!); looked in at the fishing shop and queued bad-temperedly (thrice) at the pharmacy. Once to establish what I needed, then a second time to be served with those items, then a third queue to pay for them. Is this simply making work, or does no-one trust anyone else there?
I fancied something light and, hopefully, fairly fast at Vali’s Bakery but each one of its pavement tables was filled.
Most if not all of the outdoor seating at Taverna Athena was also occupied: folk trying to catch a breath of air on a stinking hot, humid day.
So I went inside and — serendipity — the air-conditioning caused a refreshing and welcoming thermometer plunge. It was delightful to sit immediately under one of its outlet registers sipping an icily cold Pilsener Lager while scanning the menu.
Actually I know the menu more or less backwards. It’s the same as they had when they operated from premises at the wrong end of Union Avenue (is there a “right” end these days?) behind Holiday Inn.
Soup of the day was a choice of just one: absolutely wonderful home-made cream of mushroom. It’s always brimful of the earthy flavour of fine fungi, seasoned to perfection and served swiftly, steaming hot in a dense, deep bowl, which holds plenty. It comes with a handful of crisp, golden croutons and a basket-weave bowl of still warm soft, loose-crumbed continental style bread, plus pita bread.
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Smear either of these with butter, add a splodge of extra virgin olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper and you have a potage on which a Hellenic peasant could husband a couple of hectares of grapes after lunch!
It is US$5, which would be Alpine ski-slopes steep if it weren’t so stunningly good. (The white French onion soup — almost a cheesy onion stew — at L’Escargot is best value in town at a mere US$2, followed by soup of the day, especially if it’s minestrone, at Adrienne’s: also two-bucks.)I wasn’t hungry enough for a conventional main course, but too peckish for just a salad.
“Just” isn’t the right word. Stavros Anagnostopoulous, chef-proprietor of Taverna Athena isn’t renowned for tiny “nouvelle cuisine” portions: maybe one of the reasons his place is a wee bit pricier than many similar Harare outlets.
His mouth-watering (and huge) garden-fresh salads and French US$6, Greek US$7, Blue Cheese — have you seen the cost of that stuff in any given Spar? — US$8; chicken-liver salad US$9.
So I ordered mussels in a creamy garlic sauce at US$6. I have had this dish, elsewhere, when the mussels amounted to three or four, each perhaps teaspoon size.
Stav’s helping on the other hand (or the portion lovingly prepared by his uncle Costa Douglas or his old sidekick, Patrick Bepe both chefs of note ) comprised six monster molluscs, as tender as an angel’s heart.
These are the big, braw New Zealand green-lipped variety, cooked to soft perfection with no hint of “chewiness”, served in the half-shell.
Sauce was rich, deep and intense, deserving to be mopped up in its entirety by what little remained of the wonderful breads. An interesting salad garnish and two large, very sharp, lemon wedges completed the serving.
(By the way “Douglas” is — believe it or not — a Greek name, pronounced nothing like the usual Scottish form and Uncle Costa Douglas is still grafting in the kitchens at 82!)
If I could have managed a main dish — and friends who went a few nights earlier raved about the pepper fillet steak (US$17) and mammoth helping of pork spareribs at US$22 — it would probably have been chicken (US$13-US$16); moussaka or some other traditional Greek speciality at US$13-US$20.
I must admit a sneaking liking (occasionally) for their very non-Hellenic peninsula pie, chips and gravy at US$5 and I saw on the blackboard specials they now do hamburger and chips at the same price.
I really should have finished with a healthy fresh fruit salad (at US$5, I think) but, fancying a sugar boost, went for ebony and ivory (one white, one brown chocolate mousse atop each other) costing US$6. Taverna Athena, Kensington SC. Opens for lunch Monday to Friday, supper Monday to Saturday.
