The menu is identical; cooking ditto; welcome as warm as it was when the late Henry Banda was maitre d’hôtel; the place owned by Atilio Vigoriti and Nick Mandeya, now down-sized at Adrienne’s.
What has altered is that when those three worthies ran the place it could take three weeks to secure a table for Wednesday-Saturday nights and some lunches, whereas now there’s hardly anyone in the place.
Each time I review the restaurant (about every 15-18 months) a common comment is “Goodness me, is it still open?”
It is…and worth a visit, especially as most prices haven’t changed in ages. The retro menu (a successful time-traveller from the 1960s) still lists mouthwatering meals at mouthwatering prices.
My good pal Richard Matthews and I went on a sudden impulse on Tuesday when Harare shivered in uncharacteristic chilly winter weather in late summer. A curry would have gone down a treat but Tuesday in Ha-ha-ha-rare (Africa’s fun capital) seems to be — increasingly — the day many eateries shut.
L’Escargot (“the snail” in French: L’escargot de Bourgogne — half a dozen snails in garlic butter is the eponymous starter course, at US$5) was for once quite busy when we arrived without booking at 8:30pm. But to a man (and woman) all fellow diners had — coincidentally, I hope — bombshelled within two minutes of us sitting.
They were probably at one of the many conferences/seminars/workshops/team-building sessions/ talkfests hosted at the two-star hotel by NGOs. Feed them sadza and nyama twice daily, with Certificates of Attendance on Friday and everyone’s happy. (A friend who runs a similar hotel in rural Manicaland says his delegates spend days earnestly discussing ways of preventing Aids spreading…and nights playing musical bedrooms!)
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L’Escargot’s trademark French onion soup earns praise: Unusually, a distinctive ivory-white-creamy hue, rather like its English equivalent; brimful of delicious onions and with a thick topping of gooey cheese and toasted garlic crouton. A big tick for management for holding price of soup (their minestrone and mushroom varieties are also excellent) at US$2, including hot toast, bread, breadsticks and butter. Flavour was deeply intense; it was quite swiftly served piping hot.
The bare-brick décor featuring ancient iron kitchen items has been there since the hotel opened — which I can live with — but once handsome dark wood, leather padded dining chairs have seen better days and are the most obvious examples of a sad lack of TLC and maintenance.
Liberal, regular doses of linseed oil, polish and elbow grease would have greatly extended the useful lives of these items — two of which were perched upon by the regal bums of their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain, visiting L’Escargot before Zim regained its unwelcome status of pariah nation. There are small brass plaques to identify which are which, but the whole lot now sadly need urgent re-upholstering.
Richard wanted rump steak, but it wasn’t “on”; he expressed total satisfaction with a wonderfully tender, large pepper fillet steak, flambéed dramatically a pace or two from our table to the exact shade of internal pinkness rare-to-medium done implies and costing the same US$15 it did last time I ordered the dish four years ago. A carnivore of note, he said it was the nicest steak eaten in months.
My fillet of kingklip wasn’t too shabby, either: Big, juicy, full of ocean flavour, basted in lemon butter, with a sharply complex tartare sauce (US$20.) Mains came with a salad fringe, well-cooked French beans, carrots and the ubiquitous chips.
When we said these could have been cooked a wee bit longer at a slightly higher temperature to give them a much sought after crisp, golden outside, fluffy inner, the waiter disappeared into the kitchen returning later with fries exactly as described. Although we didn’t really have room, we ate a few to say “thanks” for the effort.
We declined pudding — traditionally “on the house” (a nice gesture) at L’Escargot — but had arms twisted into ordering a nightcap apiece of splendid creamy, steaming hot Irish coffee (with Famous Grouse) which were gratifyingly gratis.
Waiter Charles Soliyati originally from Mozambique, has served me for 32 years of the 34 I’ve eaten there and is an institution.
In a nutshell: lovely welcome, great service, fine food, nice, affordable prices, but totally lacking ambience on a freezing cold night when you comprise the only surviving table mid-evening. Urgent work needed on furniture before whimsically shabby genteel crosses an invisible line, becoming tatty junk.
Two soup, flambéed fillet steak, an imported fish, two speciality coffees US$39. Bar US$10 (five Golden Pilseners). Dusty Miller rating 3,5 Stars April 2012.
In a licensed residential hotel, the restaurant opens lunch/supper daily. Secure, guarded parking right outside. Fairly handicapped friendly. Smoking/no smoking. Adjoining cocktail bar; reasonable wine list.
L’Escargot, Courteney Hotel, 8th Street, The Avenues, Harare. Tel 706411-4 or 704400 (Good luck, I’ve tried them for the past three hours to check corkage fees!) [email protected]
