The Bottom Drawer is an unusual name for a dining venue, but the owners once ran a successful bridal registry business with the same name and over the years this evolved into the restaurant that has now become one of Harare’s best-known suburban cafés.
Restaurant Review with Epicurean
The bridal registry business, which ran from Seagrave Road in the area where Mount Pleasant and Avondale meet, dates back to 1994, but the restaurant opened in 2000. It’s in Maasdorp Avenue, Alexandra Park, close to a string of businesses, embassies and the Belgravia shopping centre, home of Reps Theatre and the Ballet Centre. It’s a busy and buzzy area, and whenever I have been to The Bottom Drawer, it has been well patronised.
And so it was when we dined there recently, on a superb summer’s day with a cool breeze wafting through the restaurant’s attractive garden. We were seated in a shady area with a good view over the garden and terrace, surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers, a truly delightful setting for lunch. Service was provided by Emma Katete, and throughout our stay she was attentive, friendly and extremely efficient; one of the best service providers I have encountered in a long time. Over excellent fruit juices, we perused the menu, which had a great selection on offer.
My guest chose a chicken and mushroom pot pie, which was served with a large and colourful salad, while I went for the special of the day: tagliatelle Alfredo, also served with salad and a very generous portion of well cooked and tasty food. Specials are usually on offer for a week at a time and I know quite a few Bottom Drawer regulars who make this their choice, enjoying quality and quantity, as well as the special price. We certainly enjoyed our meals, finding them fresh and very tasty.
We moved on to desserts: a chocolate cake slice for my guest and lemon meringue pie for me. I am a great fan of lemon meringue, and this was definitely one of the best I have encountered in many a year; a delight for the eye and tongue that I can heartily recommend to folks with a taste for the sweet things in life. We had a chance to chat with owner Bridget Hoard, who runs the place with Sarah Macmillan, and she was pleased with the turnout that day; like almost all other restaurants in this country, business there is a roller coaster affair, with good days and bad ones, and no telling what the outcome of a day will be at the start.
The Bottom Drawer operates from a double-storey building that was once a family home, connected to the next-door property by a gate in the wall. Wednesdays and Saturdays see markets running here, with a wide range of product on sale and, from my own observations, well-supported by visitors. Of course, many of those people may simply be casual visitors, and not every patron provides market stall operators with a sale!
The menu has a wide range on offer. On the hot drinks list something that caught my eye was a vanillachino — cappuccino with a dash of vanilla, at $3. The item that sounded most interesting on the cold drinks list was not available that day: elderberry cordial, at $2 a glass. There was a good selection of beverages, and we enjoyed our fruit juices very much.
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Breakfasts run until 11am and include a full English at $12, while other breakfast items run from $1 to $7, including a children’s breakfast at $5. Soups are apparently very generous in portion and include mushroom ($7), butternut ($5) and broccoli and blue cheese ($7). Lunches range from $7 to $13, with quiches, pot pies, open sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, wraps and salads giving a good choice. Desserts are priced between $4 and $6, and a teatime treats section offers scones, cake, flapjacks, chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins and spinach and feta muffins; these are priced at $4 or $5.
A shop in the main building seemed very busy, with a range of gift items on sale, so we perused the stock after lunch and I noted a number of people coming to buy gifts and then staying on for a coffee and cake; the partnership between dining venues and retail outlets is an important one for many dining venues around Harare.
The Bottom Drawer opens from 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday and from 8:30am to 3pm on Saturday, but is closed on Sunday. It has a card facility, so important in these days of a continuous cash crisis. It’s a calming and relaxing place and the mix of service, cuisine and ambience make it a must for all diners; when we were there we saw family groups, couples, business groups and the odd individual diner. I have always had a pleasing experience at this venue and my most recent trip was one that reinforced the talk around town that it has a well-earned reputation for value and satisfaction.
The Bottom Drawer, 14 Maasdorp Avenue, Alexandra Park. Call (04) 745679 or 0772 235566 for reservations and queries.
