One of Confucius the Chinese philosopher’s less well known sayings is “Eating is the utmost important thing in life!”
By le connoisseur
Dining at Shangri-La is authentically Chinese with complete families in a celebratory mood occupying large tables, groaning with multiple dishes and enjoying that utmost important thing! Nothing could be more different from European “fine dining” with its rarefied ambience and rigid code of behaviour!
The restaurant is a complex of private rooms, a picturesque pavilion set in beautiful gardens which also have a play area, verandah dining, bar and take-away area and the vast main dining area complete with a flat screen TV.
The menu is vast, featuring every kind of meat, even lamb, plus fish, and a tofu section. There is a separate comprehensive sushi menu and being a novice, I was fascinated watching the dishes being expertly prepared at the sushi bar.
Our table on the verandah was pleasantly cool with a good view of the gardens and everyone coming and going, which in itself was entertainment as there was a large birthday party in the main room!
As our meal progressed and the restaurant became busier the service deteriorated markedly but initially this added to the atmosphere rather than being an annoyance.
We decided on mixed starters to stave off our hunger pangs; spring rolls, chicken satay and tempura prawns, while we considered our main dishes.
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The spring rolls were large and a wonderfully light crispy parcel, equally good were the tempura prawns, only the chicken satay disappointed as it was overcooked and dry and the peanut sauce uninterestingly thin.
Continuing the tradition of mixing and sharing dishes, we ordered crispy pork, crispy duck and beef and vegetable sizzler with an accompaniment of egg fried rice.
The duck was delicious; strips of meat, spring onions and cucumber with wafer thin pancakes to wrap them in before delivering to our mouths.
The crispy pork was pleasantly seasoned but unremarkable and the sizzler, impressively sizzling, but the beef was so tough it was inedible and we identified it as a very cheap cut, needing much more cooking to make it palatable.
With difficulty, for the restaurant was now very busy, we got the attention of the manageress who replaced the dish with an identical looking sizzler, this time with strips of wonderfully tender fillet. Having done justice to the bottle of wine we brought with us (corkage US$2), we ordered a bottle of Graham Beck Sauvignon Blanc from the well-selected wine list which surprisingly had no prices on it.
In answer to my query I was told they were all priced between US$18 and US$20 but as they had no chilled white wine (our waiter told us it had all been ordered by the birthday party!) we declined a room temperature bottle and didn’t feel like red wine.
More disappointment followed later when we were told there was only instant coffee because the machine was broken. We would have enjoyed something sweet to finish, but despite asking several times for the menu, it never came and after a lengthy wait we gave up and headed home.
What was nearly a good, fun dining experience was marred by the glitches highlighted. Although a certain amount of hustle and bustle is expected in an authentically Chinese restaurant, after a while the poor service, which also deprived us of dessert, lessened our enjoyment. Despite these glitches, I would return as there are so many dishes I would like to try and next time we hope not to be relegated to second place by a big party.
Shangri-La is justifiably popular with families, many Chinese, portion sizes are large and doggy bags willingly produced, making it very good value, a lamentably rare characteristic of dining out in Harare.
Speciality Restaurant 3 Plates Expect to spend US$15 to US$30 per head 155 Enterprise Road, Chisipite, Harare
