If you want to have a special experience, Komba Hari — in the Rainbow Towers Hotel — is a good place to go.
By Le Connoisseur
It is set on the ground floor and has the character of an Asian restaurant. It has eight cooking stations with a horseshoe seating arrangement for each: you get your own chef who will cook your choice of the menu as you sit and chat and have a drink. The menu also explains that Komba Hari is meant to express the idea of “sitting around the pot”.
When we arrived we were welcomed warmly by the various staff and shown to our own horseshoe cooking station, with our Chef Kudakwashe. We looked at the menu and were intrigued by the Japanese (teppanyaki dishes) and Chinese dishes (chow mein dishes). Teppanyaki is a Japanese term that stands for “cooked on an iron griddle” and indeed there is a large frying plate at each station. But there is also your normal fare such as lamb-chops, various steaks, fish, pork chops, pasta etc.
We chose to have New Zealand mussels and deep-fried calamari for starters, and then my partner decided to try out the sea food chow mein — which here meant specifically seafood stir fry. I decided on the subayaki (if that is a meaningful word, and indeed the correct spelling; the menu had quite a few spelling errors) — which in this case was beef, pork, and fish fillet. Both our dishes we asked to come with egg and noodles, as well as vegetables.
The starters took some time in coming, but the calamari were very nicely done in a great crisp batter. The mussels was fine, but perhaps lacking in taste and attentive preparation. I was drinking some beer with it all, while my partner decided to try Komba Hari’s knowledge of making a good Pimm’s — we had noticed over the last months of dining out that knowledge of how and with what ingredients this elaborate cocktail should be made seemed to be disappearing. Alas, this proved to be a confirmation of our suspicion as my partner was given a gin and Grand Marnier, rather than anything that came close to a Pimm’s.
Family Restaurant 3 Plates Expect to spend US$30 to US$40 Rainbow Towers Hotel, Harare
