We found a decent parking spot outside the Travel Plaza complex where it finds its home and wandered in to find the restaurant inside. There was an option for indoor or outdoor dining and we decided to eat indoors, away from the heat.
A waitress led us to a table and left us to peruse the menu. My first impression was of overwhelming cleanliness. I was pleased to see how conscientious they were, but felt a little overpowered by the strong scent of disinfectant and moved to the outdoor dining area instead.
The menu offered much variety with many enticing options. We decided against the breakfast offerings though they sounded good, and settled on some starters and mains for our pick-us-up lunch.
I chose deep fried mushrooms and fillet steak with garlic sauce, my partner in covert operation, the honey chicken strips followed by Chinese-style chicken. For our first order of drinks we opted for a Malawi Shandy and a Rock Shandy.
These were served timeously and we enjoyed sipping them and observing the variety of people walking by. I needed the restroom and discovered that Gaby’s has access to a nearby public facility shared with other tenants in the complex. I was impressed with their innovative “lady bags” which contained the requisite tissue, paper towels and hand soap for clients to take to the restrooms; a good idea, as though clean, the toilet lacked these amenities making their provision a necessity.
This restaurant has in the past been criticised for its bathroom facilities, facing the rather trying challenges that various establishments that do, when sharing these with other businesses, and I was impressed by the way they had taken control of this situation.
Our starters took a while to arrive, so we had worked up suitable anticipatory appetites and were well hungry as they arrived, emitting mouth– watering aromas. The mushrooms were deep fried and topped with bacon bits and garlic sauce.
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They came with a pleasing side salad of crisp lettuce, cucumber, green peppers, tomato and onion. This starter was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My partner’s honey chicken strips, also served with a side salad, were full of flavour and nicely covered with a delicious honey-chilli sauce.
After we had enjoyed these suitably, our plates were promptly cleared and main courses served. My fillet steak came with chips, mixed vegetables, salad and garlic sauce. The steak was a little chewy but the garlic sauce, exquisite. I drowned the steak in it and chewed with relish. The chips and salad were good but I was disappointed with the mixed vegetables as they were stone cold.
The Chinese-style chicken was chicken strips combined with pineapple, carrots and onions, served with rice, and with extra salad, as my partner had requested.
She really enjoyed the pineapple bits as they were a flavourful kick to what was otherwise a surprisingly bland dish. We had ordered more drinks when our mains were served but it became obvious that these had been forgotten. We reminded our waitress to bring these – another shandy and a cappuccino, which arrived after we had finished eating our main courses.
Family Restaurant2 PlatesExpect to Spend US$20 – US$30 per personTravel Plaza, Mazoe Street, Harare.
