Zim on a Plate, Zim in a Glass
Restaurant Reviews
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Crowne Plaza Monomotapa
54 Park Lane
Harare
704501/30

Parkview Brasserie, Traditional Food on a Friday 2012
The Parkview is Mono’s (formal title “Crowne Plaza Monomatapa Hotel”) buffet style restaurant, while à la carte dining is facilitated in the exclusive La Français restaurant beside it.  Given the choice, I would not choose buffet dining, relying as it does on pre-cooked and kept-warm dishes, but it is a very popular format, especially for big eaters with limited budgets.  Having said that, Parkview is not cheap at $25 per person, to which must be added the cost of drinks, which, if you like wine with your meal, can add considerably to the final bill (see below).  However this is a hotel restaurant and by virtue of the fact that it has to open 365 days a year for long hours and serve a very wide variety of diners, it is not unreasonable for it to be more expensive than an independent restaurant. 

Friday is actually “Traditional Day” at the Parkview, an initiative for which the restaurant should be commended.  There was an Mbira Group playing, rather too loudly for my taste, in the restaurant.  The buffet was vast; in addition to such traditional dishes as fried mopane worms and tripe there were other meats in casserole form.  Other traditional dishes offered included spinach with peanut butter, wild greens, rice with peanut butter and of course, sadza.  For the less adventurous, roast potatoes, carrots and butternut were offered.

We started our meal with butternut soup which was barely tepid, watery, tasteless and unseasoned.  Returning to the buffet I opted for bream which was over-cooked, dried out and tasteless.  My companion declared the oxtail very pleasant, but her beef casserole, as I could see as she struggled to cut it, was very tough.  The vegetables and starches were a great improvement on the meats except for the roast potatoes which had lost any semblance of crispness.  Finally we chose from the attractively displayed sweets.   My fresh fruit salad was definitely the highlight of the meal and my pumpkin and baobab mousse an imaginative deference to the traditional theme.  We ended our meal with very good and hot filter coffee which our waiter fetched from the adjacent Coffee Lounge.

And so, to the wines, the restricted list featuring, as it did, mainly Nederburg wines, and a selection of local wines, but which had no prices on it, and in places was so faded as to be unreadable.  Our waitress after some consultation informed us that the Nederburg wines were $30 and the house wine (Ravenswood) $5 a glass.  In what I hope was not a harsh manner I told her that I had no intention of paying such exorbitant prices which resulted in her return a few minutes later with the good news that the bottles had been reduced to $20, but no reduction on the house wine by the glass.  Based on a 5 litre Ravenswood box, the charge of $5 even for even a generous glass is equivalent to $150 for a box of wine which costs under $20 in the supermarket.  I need say no more except that I ordered a bottle of Zonnebloem 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, one of my favourite tipples, at the special price of $20.  This took a very long time to materialise and arrived nicely chilled just as were finishing our main course.

Parkview is a relaxed venue with delightful staff and a pleasant view of the Park through the security fence. Secure parking is provided in the basement with direct access to the lobby and there is also a secure ground level parking area just a few steps along the city’s pot-holed pavement from the front door.  When we arrived at peak lunch time, the restaurant was empty and during our long lunch only three other tables were occupied. Using the title “Brasserie” implies something a bit more special than the usual hotel dining room fare but unfortunately, even allowing for the fact that we were there on Traditional Day, this did not prove to be the case.  
Family Restaurant
2 Plates
Expect to spend $25 to $40 per head
Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel
54 Park Lane, Harare CBD     

 

Parkview Brasserie hugely improved, ideal for family meal 2011
“What were things like in the olden days, Mum, I mean, like, when you were young?” The question we dread most as a thirty-something (alright, forty-something) year old parent. Granted; we are a lot older than our children, but that doesn’t classify us as having lived in the “olden days”, does it?  I felt positively senile and decrepit.  And yet there is a positive side to this question. “Well, in my so-called “olden days”, we spent most of our time talking to each other, and I mean real, face-to-face talking, not this pseudo Facebook “talking”. We spent actual, not virtual time with each other; we ate all our meals together and communicated our thoughts to each other,” I said, wondering if I was making any sense at all to my “PC generation” children, but at least I had made the most of the opportunity to make my thoughts known.  And then I had a great idea, “Let’s go out to lunch, in town – yes, right in the CBD of Harare, the former social hub of the Nation!”

My thoughts raced back to the long, languid days of my youth; days of coffee at Barbours, disco dancing the nights away at trendy night clubs in the City, and special occasion dining-out at the Monomatapa Hotel – and window-shopping afterwards, all the way down First Street and back.  “We’re going to the Monomatapa for lunch,” I said, not inviting any argument or discussion.  The perplexed and mystified look on my teens’ faces was all I needed to know that I was, in real terms, still in charge of my family.  The names of the restaurants at the Monomatapa have changed, but I wasn’t thwarted by this slight glitch, and, after discussing the options with the hotel receptionist, decided that the Parkview Brasserie was the place for us to dine. The Parkview offers a buffet lunch, which seemed ideal for the differing taste preferences of my family.

The appointed day arrived and we headed in the unaccustomed direction of the City Centre.  I was looking forward to cruising down “memory lane”, but was also feeling anxious about leaving my car unattended in the much-changed heart of Harare.  I didn’t need to worry at all, as we were welcomed into the basement parking facility at the Monomatapa, and entered the Hotel lobby without having to venture onto the streets.  Just as well, because the children were casting uneasy looks over their shoulders.  This was, after all, their first venture into Harare’s CBD.

My husband and I were delighted to find that the Hotel has stood the test of time, and still looks young and stylish.  Wish I could say the same for myself, but I won’t dwell on the negatives; I felt young and stylish as we sauntered through to the Parkview.  The Restaurant is situated on the ground floor of the Hotel and overlooks Harare’s Park.  This sounds very romantic, but the view is interrupted by a secure fence that separates the Park from the Hotel; a clear sign that things have changed in the City, and one needs to be more security conscious these days.

We were warmly welcomed into the Restaurant and shown to our table right by the glass doors; a light and airy setting for a sunny midday.  Our waiter impressed us with his prompt service and his thorough knowledge of the drinks and buffet meals on offer.  We were intrigued with Shingi’s Special – a non-alcoholic, but exciting concoction that the children simply had to try.   My old favourite, the Malawi Shandy, was still on offer, and both drinks were delicious and different from the run-of-the-mill canned fizzy drinks.  Rupert stuck with an ice-cold Pilsner.  A limited, but perfectly adequate, selection of wine is available.

The Buffet was beautifully presented, with a selection of cold meats and salads with various sauces and dressings for hors d’ouevres.  The Soup of the Day was a hearty, although rather salty Vegetable Soup, served with a selection of freshly baked rolls.  On offer for the Main Courses were Roast Leg of Pork, Sausage Kebabs, Chicken Pieces, Beef Olives and Stuffed Gem Squash for vegetarian diners.  Vegetables accompanied the meat dishes together with a choice of rice, potato bake or sadza.  The Roast Pork was the pick of the Buffet, with crispy crackling to compliment the tender meat.  Once again, we found the other meat choices to be too salty for our palates.

The Dessert Buffet was a delight to behold, with great attention paid to detailed decoration of each dainty dessert.  We enjoyed the Steamed Pudding the most, although the delicate cake-based desserts whit the sweet spot.  We ended our meal with one of the best cups of coffee we have had in a very long time.  The Parkview deserves a special award for their coffee and I hope that other Restaurants will raise their standards in the coffee stakes.  In fact, we enjoyed the coffee so much that we had to have a second cup.

Our lunch was a great success, but, if I’m honest, the overall experience was better than the food.  I would describe the meal as homely Zimbabwean; honest food, lovingly presented, but not a gastronomical extravaganza.   It was ideal as a family meal, and that was exactly what we were after.  And yes, our family communicated and chatted and took our time over a lovely, leisurely meal.  Facebook doesn’t even compare…….
Family Restaurant
4 Plates
Expect to spend $20 to $30 per head
Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel
54 Park Lane, Harare CBD              

 

The Parkview must buff up their buffet (2010)
Last week, feeling peckish on a very cold Harare night I stopped by the Park View Brasserie situated on the ground floor of the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel. To check whether the management of the hotel had married its concept with an accurate description, I looked up "brasserie" on Wikipedia, the widely used Internet based encyclopaedia. This is what it has to say: In France and the francophone world, a brasserie is a type of restaurant with a relaxed, upscale setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word 'brasserie' is also French for brewery and, by extension, "the brewing business". A brasserie can be expected to have professional service and printed menus (unlike a bistro which may have neither).

So how close did they come? Well the Park View Brasserie is relaxed but not upscale. It does have professional service but there wasn’t a menu in sight. Our waiter, Nelson, was the highlight of our evening at the Park View. He was attentive and courteous as well as apologetic when he had to deliver some sad news: the wine list was missing in action! To make up for this he’d written down two choices of both red and white wine in his notepad.
To start things off I ordered a Malawi Shandy, which was Divine. Decked out with a pretty pink umbrella and pink coloured sugar it certainly made me hanker after a beach and a bikini. My partner, who I sadly failed to entice up to the 17th floor to round off the evening, went for a local, ice cold Bohlinger.

The Park View Brasserie offers a buffet of soup, salad, and an array of main dishes and desserts. Vegetable was the soup of the day but was unfortunately cold and not very tasty. There were many different kinds of salad to choose from and they were all nice and fresh. Main dishes included a really fantastic beef stew, lovely bream fillet fish cakes, a pasta dish and some rather dried out chicken pieces that looked like they had been hanging around for awhile. Accompanying the main dishes were potatoes, sadza, very nicely cooked vegetables (carrots and broccoli), rape and relish. The overall quality of the food was good but had absolutely no WOW factor and both my partner and I agreed that the management could make the dishes look more appealing on display.

We ordered two glasses of Nederberg Edelrood and discussed the fact that the restaurant could do with expanding their choice of wine, and perhaps tempt travellers to go local by offering a small complimentary glass of local wine.

On the dessert front there was some genuinely fresh fruit salad, and a variety of other sweets to choose from which included mediocre apple crumble and slices of gateaux.  The cream was disappointingly thin and the filter coffee that we ordered tasted burnt.  An improvement could be made by moving away from mass produced desserts which always disappoint, add cheese and biscuits as another choice, and brush up on coffee making skills.

Once requested the bill arrived very promptly and was accurate. There’s secure parking, which is great.

The Parkview Brasserie seems like a business traveller’s restaurant. It has a very utilitarian feel about it and for anyone wanting a romantic night out this wouldn’t be the place to go. But the atmosphere is mellow and friendly and an excellent option if you’ve got kids travelling with you. On the night I went it was very quiet which I felt reflected the difficult times that hotels are going through.

Personally I felt that the cost of our meal for the quality of food that we got was very steep. But of course if you’re out to eat until you pop or drop, then a buffet will always do the trick. Our bill came to $67 including a tip. The buffet is $20 per adult and $10 for children under the age of 12. A glass of imported wine cost $7. I won’t be back soon.
Family Restaurant
1 Plates
Expect to spend $20 to $30 per head

 

PARKVIEW – A PLEASING ASPECT 2009
Given a choice of dining options, a buffet features low on my list of preferences.  There are two reasons for this.  Firstly, I prefer food that has been freshly prepared and secondly, a large array on offer encourages my natural gluttony and I end up with a huge plate of food in a desperate attempt not to miss out on anything.  So, it was with some trepidation that I planned an outing to the Parkview Brasserie at Monomatapa Hotel. I chose a Sunday lunchtime and took along the whole family in the hope that they would counter my in-built prejudices.

It was a hot day and the restaurant with its green walls and outlook over Harare Gardens was cool and welcoming, as were the staff who were friendly and efficient throughout and anxious to please.  The décor requires some attention – it has a mildly ethnic theme which I feel would be better complemented with earthy tones rather than the green!

Drinks were ordered and the lunch service was explained – a self service of soup, a salad bar, a Mongolian style stir fry for mains and a table of desserts.  I then asked for the wine list which seemed to cause some consternation as there wasn’t one!  After some worried discussions amongst the staff I was told that there were four wines available – two reds and two whites – all of them imported and three of them from one vineyard.  I settled for a Boschendal Chenin Blanc and it proved to be a good choice.  Unfortunately it was barely chilled when brought to the table although a bucket of ice ensured that at least the second glass was served at the correct temperature.  The opening of the wine, the tasting and pouring were all executed according to the book.

And so to the food.  The tomato soup was hot and well seasoned, accompanied by rolls and those little plastic containers of margarine that I so dislike.  What the salad bar lacked in imagination it made up for in presentation.  The salads were rather pedestrian but were fresh and crisp – but to my thinking constituted an acceptable side salad rather than a course on its own.  The stir fry – a choice of beef, chicken or pork with additions of onion, green pepper, tomato and garlic expertly cooked before you at the self service, was delicious – and I sampled all three from various plates around the table.  It was accompanied by a choice of rice, mashed potato or sadza and nicely cooked carrots and mange tout.  The mashed potato deserves special mention getting the thumbs up from none other than my mother.  There was also a beef stew as an alternative which was pronounced acceptable by the one member of our party who sampled it.  A choice of alternative flavourings, other than the garlic, with the stir fry would however not go amiss – a Thai curry or Cajun spice spring to mind.  If there was a vegetarian option, other than stir fry without the meat, then it wasn’t apparent and nor was it offered.

The puddings were not bad - there was sufficient variety for everyone to find something they fancied and the fruit salad was all fresh fruit and not out of a can.  The children particularly liked the jelly and returned for second helpings.

This restaurant needs to raise its game.  It’s inexcusable for an international hotel in a capital city not to have a wine list, and a more comprehensive choice of wines on offer.  Perhaps a small bar within the restaurant would improve efficiency in the serving of drinks.  A more exciting array of salads and spicing up the stir fry would have made what was a pleasant meal into a good one!

However, clean plates were left by all, including the children (under twelves are half price), and the buffet at $15 per head offers reasonable value.  All pronounced that they would be more than happy to pay a return visit.
Family Restaurant
3 Plates
Expect to spend $20 to $25 per head

Park View fair but lacks imagination 2008
Having found the restaurant we had intended to visit closed (now operating shorter hours) we ended up at Park View at the Crown Plaza Monomtapa Hotel.  The entrance to the hotel had the usual buzz and live music could be heard emanating from one of the upper conference rooms.  When we got into the restaurant there were only three other tables occupied but the staff was evidently expectant of a good night.  The arrangement in the restaurant was as usual neatly and tastefully done save for a few tables that had not been properly set and had a mixture of paper and cloth serviettes.  As we walked into the restaurant a very friendly receptionist welcomed us and quickly explained the prices and advised us that we were free to choose our own seating.  We opted to sit by the veranda in order to enjoy the cool breeze drifting our way from the adjacent and evidently well-looked after section of Harare gardens (we were later informed that the hotel has taken charge of maintaining this section).  We chatted the evening away, with a glimpse of Harare’s life on the other side of the gardens through the leafy park.  It took a while before we were offered drinks, as the staff were quite busy setting tables.  When our turn finally came, I ordered a guava juice, my companion a fanta.  What a relief the drinks were, after the scorching day!

While we were still enjoying our drinks and chatting we asked our waiter, a trainee with two months’ experience, what was on the buffet menu.  She ran through all the offerings without struggle.  For meat there was roast beef, beef stir fry and chicken.  Vegetables were the usual cabbage, carrots, green beans, cauliflower and so forth. Nothing was extraordinary.   Hotel buffet menus terribly lack creativity and this was one such presentation.  You could not fault it for anything; however there was no wow effect!  She advised that the starter was butternut soup - though in fact it turned out to be tomato. 

Out of the three meat dishes available the beef stir-fry was excellent.  It was extremely tender and the accompanying sauce was very tasty with traces of garlic aroma.  The chicken and the roast beef were fine.  One thing I must highly commend the restaurant for is the freshness of their vegetables.  Everything was very fresh and given our situation at the moment it takes quite a bit of effort to serve fresh veggies at such a large establishment.  The dessert section did not have much choice. There was fruit salad, chocolate cake, orange cake and apple crumble.  My companion, a chocolate fanatic (she thinks fanatic is too light, perhaps zealot!), obviously went for the chocolate cake and had a portion of the fruit salad.  I opted for the orange cake and the fruit as well. We could not complain.

When I decided to go to the ablution rooms (a review that excludes an assessment of these is always incomplete!) I headed straight to the ones I have known for years on the left side of the hotel foyer as you come through the main entrance.  Oh my goodness!  A big sign was pasted on the door directing me to room 209 (men) and 210 (ladies) on the 12th floor!  Fortunately ZESA was in a good mood on this day and the escalator was working.  When I later learnt why a natural phenomenon such as I had wanted to undertake had to be met with such ruthless conditions I forgave the hotel and gave them marks for innovation.  There was no water at the hotel (ZINWA in a bad mood) and so they had opened said rooms so that restaurant patrons could use their ablutions.  Alas, however, they had apparently forgotten to arrange a bucket flushing system.  As we left the restaurant which was now full to capacity with some conference delegates, I kept thinking of how rooms 209 and 210 on 12th floor were going to cope...

All said and done, the restaurant has certainly done its best to maintain a decent service in trying times.   However, for a restaurant within a leading national hotel, staff training perhaps needs to improve, as well as ensuring that there is someone senior to check on the quality of service all the time. 
Family Restaurant
2 Plates