It’s a real fare at Mojo’s

By The Standard | Jun. 19, 2011

By Le Connoisseur “Charruscaria” translates roughly from the Portuguese as “barbecue”, or in Shona “goche goche”. It originated in the pampas of Brazil and Argentina, not unlike our own lowveld. When the local cowboys or gauchos would slaughter a cow they had no way to preserve the meat and so would have huge parties and invite everyone from miles around to come and gorge themselves on fresh meat cooked on an open fire. “Mojo” loosely means magic, sex appeal or talent.

So “Mojo’s Churrascaria” is a sexy braai! Well, needless to say I was quite excited to visit an up-market, sexy, South American cook out!

Mojo’s is situated in an old colonial house in fast-becoming-trendy East Road in Avondale. It has been well converted to its new life, and while tastefully (dreadful word) decorated seemed to be a bit lacking in personality. It could be any restaurant anywhere from the pages of any glossy magazine and sadly there was no visual reference to South America, the pampas or gauchos. The only indication of Latin flavour was the music — soft enough not to be obtrusive but sufficient to set the atmosphere.

They have an enormous list of glamorous cocktails to whet your appetite before the magic event begins, including genuine margueritas and mojitos, as well as a great selection of beers, wines and spirits. We had mango mojitos to start, and be warned, although they taste like delicious fruit cocktails, they pack a mean punch!

The curtain raiser to the main event is a tapas platter, consisting of some small cheese breads, a “Mojo sauce” for dipping and a variety of little snacky things like spicy sausage, chicken wings and strangely, samoosas. I never thought of samoosas as particularly South American. I tried to imagine a bunch of weary cowboys lovingly cooking samoosas in the middle of the pampas, but couldn’t quite picture it (Shades of Brokeback Mountain, perhaps). Be careful not to eat too much before the main show starts because you’re going to need every last ounce of stamina to make it to the curtain call.

There is no menu to choose from; instead bowls of salad, chips, spicy rice and a bowl of delicious mushroom sauce are brought to the table. It’s like the stage hands setting up before the show and you can almost hear the drum roll begin. Enter the first actor —a gaucho wielding an enormous skewer of steaming hot meat. The first actor brought on pork belly, shortly followed by beef fillet, then lamb and pork fillet. Seemingly endless amounts of food kept arriving with hardly an intermission between. The tension mounted unremittingly. Chicken thighs made an appearance together with chicken wrapped in bacon, pork ribs, and oh. . .the list goes on! The meat was without exception done to perfection — char grilled with a slightly smoky flavour but still tender and juicy.

The manageress in her knee-high cowboy boots made a perfect Master of Ceremonies, and the waiters worked together in a carefully choreographed ensemble. Without exception it was a charming and polished performance.

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By the time the main act drew to its inevitable climax and conclusion we were emotionally and physically drained. It was a truly cathartic experience! For the encore there is an excellent range of desserts on offer, including a rather delicious sounding cheese cake.

We could only manage a coffee to round off the meal. On the programme there was a long list of coffees with a variety of liqueurs for those who wish to linger after the show! We left with thunderous applause, only wishing that next time the director could perhaps slow down the pace a little!

Speciality Restaurant – Charruscaria – Argentinian/Brazilian Barbecue4 PlatesExpect to spend US$30 to US$40 per head10 East Road, Avondale, Harare.