After a long journalistic day and attending the second of two funerals over four hectic days shortly before going on leave, I hungrily decided to try supper at The Bagatelle restaurant, a five-star eatery in Meikles five-star Hotel in down-town Ha-ha-ha-rare.
Eating Out with Dusty Miller
The last but one time I visited there I believed it was probably its swansong for some considerable time, because the hotel’s extremely elegant flagship La Fontaine Grillroom was allegedly due to be re-opened at the end of April, as work continued apace on Meikles’ US$8,5 million refurbishment and makeover.
Well that didn’t happen! Indeed, it still hadn’t re-opened almost at the end of July, but the cheerful waiting staff in the Bagatelle assured me that La Fontaine — with its spectacular views over Africa Unity Square — would again be serving the public “very soon”.
The previous time I was at Bagatelle, I was entertained for lunch by media colleagues now based in Zambia, who have worked all over the world.
They immediately fell in love with the place, service, food and prices.
Bagatelle had virtually been in mothballs since the lunatic land invasions began in 2000, and international travellers and tourists began avoiding Zimbabwe very much as they would leprosy.
Occasionally, it had re-opened temporarily on major occasions like New Year’s Eve, Christmas lunch, St Valentine’s and Mothers’ Day, but I often got the impression it was very much an afterthought.
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In the interregnum, it often looked and felt unloved and unlovely; I found its dark board-room style timber panelling and lack of outside walls (thus missing cross-ventilation and airiness) sometimes a bit oppressive.
That was offset by many fond memories I have of Bagatelle in its hey-day.
Spectres of some of this country’s all-time great bons vivants still seem to chuckle lustily to the sound of champagne corks popping and piano keys tinkling to the whoosh and roar of pepper fillet steaks and crepes Suzette being expertly flambéed.
Now, somehow the panelling has been lightened up. Air-conditioning works perfectly… a vast improvement on either shivering or sweltering, sometimes both, during the same meal!
Friendly faces Service is, of course, totally faultless: civil, not at all servile, by old friendly faces that seem to have been around Meikles Hotel for ever.
As usual, I was happy to stick to a compact prix-fixe (US$30) three course table d’hôtel menu, which offers a more than adequate choice. Very sensibly and attractively priced a la carte is also available, but I can’t recently recall seeing anyone order from it.
An amuse bouche is a gratis, unordered, speciality of the chef, served in advance of your meal to “amuse” or tickle the palate. On my recent visit it was a dinky demitasse cup of dense, velvety, steaming, creamy, potato soup, which was quickly served and went well with still warm in-house baked brown or white rolls and good salty butter and had my palate in stitches!
Starters included a full portion of soup-of-the-day: aubergine (eggplant or brinjal) served with crumbed aubergine; confit (not to be confused with “comfit”) chicken leg salad with lentils or cauliflower mousse with smoked salmon.
Or the warm duck breast with naartjie and macadamia nut dressing, which leapt out of the page and I ordered.
Duck flesh was rich, lean, moist and wonderfully cooked and for one of an age group almost raised on duckling a l ’orange with fresh garden peas, the juicy naartjie (tangerine for overseas readers) segments were a perfect 1960s-style accompaniment with shallow-fried macadamias adding crunch and extra texture to a memorably fine dish, beautifully presented.
Mains offered a choice between seared tilapia (Kariba bream fillets) with couscous, the traditional “starch” of semolina from North Africa and a grape veloute sauce; roast chicken with “spatzli” (presumably spaetzle: German noodles) and sweetcorn; or gnocchi (Italian thick, soft dumplings) with herbs, tomato dressing and Parmesan cheese; or the first item in the section, which I chose. I was very pleased with poached and roast pork fillet with glazed belly of pork, which came in a wonderfully rich gravy (“jus”, I suppose I should type!) with boiled/roast jacket new potatoes topped with crisped butternut curls and vegetables of white cauliflower, orange baby carrots and green broccoli tastefully laid out like the Irish (or several other countries’) flags!
Different cuts I loved this whole course, particularly the two different cuts and cooking methods used by Meikles’ highly talented development chef, Rory Lumsden, on what proved to be grand bits of a porker, which hadn’t died in vain. I know from many previous visits that when the menu states “Selection of desserts from the trolley or cheese plate”, it means either or both, but I didn’t have the appetite for an end-of-meal gastronomic assault course, settling for a soupcon of cheese. There were maybe six varieties, but I chose a little Brie, Camembert, and a particularly pungent, pongy, South African blue cheese. These were all perfectly kept and went down beautifully with a warm soup roll and the last few quaffs of a second icily cold Golden Pilsener Lager. The meal finished with tea or coffee and, despite desperately needing to sleep, I couldn’t resist a good, strong frothy cappuccino with an After-8 style sophisticated, adult, dark chocolate mint. And if US$30 isn’t grand value for an amuse bouche, starter, substantial main course, pudding or cheese (almost certainly pudding and cheese if you’ve the appetite) and a post-prandial hot drink in a five-star restaurant of a genuine five-star hotel, with six-star silver service, amid acres of crisp, snowy white starched linen, sparkling crystal glass, gleaming hollow-ware, and a real live pianist playing your requests, then I don’t know what is! My visit was two nights before the “harmonised” elections, and I expected to find Bagatelle totally full with election observers from impoverished African countries filling their boots with world class fare. Apparently, they were certainly there, but in The Pavilion, buffet restaurant, having gargantuan help-yourself carvery-style meals for only US$20. Bottom line: amuse bouche, starter, main course, cheese, two Golden Pilsener Lagers, a bottle of mineral water and coffee: US$38. As I write this (July 30), Bagatelle opens for lunch and supper daily.
