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Doon Estate
Msasa
Harare
446684, 0772416207

 

Under the Pergola at The Shop Café 2012
‘Darling, isn’t this a lovely grape vine? And it gives such a nice shade on our little terrace.’ ‘Well ..., actually I don’t think that it is a vine.’ ‘Of course it is a vine darling, you can see that a mile away.’ ‘It isn’t! It looks like one, perhaps, but the leaves are not quite right, they are just that bit different from a genuine grape vine. It is one of those other climbing thingies; I can’t think of the name right now.’ ‘Well, really; you are stubborn! I’ll get the waiter to tell us who is right!’

Lunch at the Shop Café at Doon estate in Msasa is bound to be an exciting affair! When we had arrived some time earlier, we first inspected the outside terrace for a possible table, and located a nice-looking one under the pergola; shady and secluded. Before sitting down however, we went inside the Shop Café premises to have a look at what was happening there. We were confronted with a beautiful and large table laden with a help-yourself buffet: a most marvellous spread of any salad you can think of, as well as a warming tray with dishes of very appetising-looking game chips, pumpkin with cinnamon, and cauliflower in a rich cheese sauce.

Going back outside - discussing how to get the most out of the bounteous buffet - we sat down at our nice quiet table under the shady pergola, discussing that climbing plant, that shade-giving growth the name of which we were not able to agree on. However, soon we were distracted by the arrival of our bottomless pitcher of homemade lemonade. It was very refreshing and happily not too sweet, perfect on such a hot day.

We asked the waiter for the specials of the day: a beef fillet, fried tilapia, or a soup Provençale. The lunch menu also offered toasted sandwiches, deep fried haloumi and omelettes for those wanting a lighter meal. The standard menu might be fairly brief, but the day’s specials, together with the buffet’s enormous selection of salads and the hot vegetable dishes provide ample variation to create a really splendid lunch. The salads on the buffet are almost too many to mention: a classic green salad; a bean salad; creamed rice; tomato on aubergine with haloumi in between and mozzarella melted on top; pumpkin with lovely spices; melanzane with oils and herbs; watermelon with feta and olives; and so on. Every dish on the buffet has just those few little extras – sunflower or pumpkin seeds, sprinklings of fresh herbs, some special spices, etc. – which lift an ordinary salad to the level of an extraordinary and very attractive one.

As the ‘centre’ for her main course, my wife decided on the tilapia, while I chose the beef fillet, asking for it to be done medium rare. The waiter explained that when these would be ready we could then also select from the buffet any and every salad and vegetable dish we might want to put around our fillet and fish. What pleasure and what anticipatory excitement!

Having given our friendly and professional waiter our order, my wife now put our burning question to him - the question that had vexed us so grievously as soon as we had sat down under the pergola: Was it, or was it not, a grape vine that grew over our heads? ‘I will ask the manager, ma’am,’ the waiter promptly said and went inside.

Not two minutes later our waiter came out with a booklet in hand. This booklet appeared to have been written by the manager of the Shop Cafe himself! It provided very valuable information on many indigenous trees and shrubs to help anyone with designing a beautiful and environmentally sensible garden. On page 5, left-hand bottom, our creeper was mentioned: it was a Grape Ivy. Aha! So it was not a vine; but was a grape, and actually had the name of grape ivy. A difference that only finicky botanists would want to fight over. We decided to bury the hatchet, agreeing that both of us had been more or less right.
Our waiter then called us to come inside, collect our plates with the fillet and the fish, and add anything we might wish from the buffet. Did we select, and take titbits of this, and that, and the other!

Sitting under our shady pergola again, we tucked in, and after some minutes of most pleasant eating, we both realised that we had been so enthralled by our varied salads and vegetables, that we had quite forgotten that we also had fish and fillet to enjoy. That was a first for us! The tomato on aubergine with haloumi and mozzarella was divine, the creamed rice - with what appeared to be some long dark wild rice grains mixed in - was sumptuous, the pumpkin with cinnamon heart-warming, the game chips delectable, and the watermelon with feta and olives surprisingly successful. Small wonder we forgot our fish and fillet. However, once we managed to give it some attention, it was clear that the fish was cooked just exactly right and was not overdone, and that the fillet was indeed that exact medium-rare that enhances its taste while maintaining its very tender texture. We continued to take mouthful after mouthful of pure and beautifully varied enjoyment; what pleasure to have such a wide selection of palate-pleasing bites!

While sitting over our double espresso and cappuccino - and a good large slice of chocolate cake to share - The Shop Café Owner Kerry Wallace came out to retrieve his reading-glasses which my wife had borrowed at the start of our lunch in order to read the menu. With a good laugh, we discussed the vine once more and the booklet on trees and shrubs that he had written together with Tom Muller.
It is clear that Kerry is a great chef.  His approach - not surprisingly in view of the booklet on trees – is geared towards sustainability: seasonal ingredients causing a minimum carbon foot-print. What is so exciting about all this is that Kerry likes to set himself the challenge of providing food within the boundaries of sustainability and use this to let his creativity go all out. And it works. As mentioned before, all the food is done with attention - proven also by the fact that the meal comes with some slices of different focaccia made at the Shop Café itself and not bought in from some baker’s dozen of bread rolls. All in all, the food on offer shows such a wide spread of creative and exciting flavour combinations that anyone can create a truly beautiful and very tasty lunch.

Some friends – enjoying their retirement and who happened to be at The Shop Café too – also raved about the Soup Provençale, and its good value with the fresh focaccia as a perfect midday meal for a very fair price. They came regularly to treat themselves thus.  Indeed, The Shop Café should be anyone’s regular lunch venue. The food is delicious and carefully put together, and the price is quite reasonable.  So go there, and sit under the pergola, enjoying the shade from its grape ... eh ..., ivy.
Speciality Restaurant – healthy food using local ingredients in season, which caters primarily for vegetarians but has something for the carnivores too!
5 Plates
Expect to Spend $10 to $15 a head
Adjacent to The Shop, Doon Estate, Harrow Road, Msasa

Shop Café - perfectly delicious! 2011
Having Friday lunch at The Shop Café is a delightful way to end your week.  Set in Doon Estate between The Shop and an eclectic mix of clothing, furniture and décor shops and The Lucky Bean Gallery, The Shop Café is that delightful mix of casual and relaxed but with a serious attitude towards good healthy food.  Well worth the trek out to the Msasa Light Industrial area to sample the delicious homemade fare for which The Shop Café is locally famous.

Arriving at 1.45 we found the outdoor tables full of relaxed folk ranging from groups of retired gents, families and friends to business associates, chatting convivially – that happy murmur and hum of contented dinners.

Stomachs grumbling we took our places at our reserved table and eagerly tucked into the “bottomless jug “of homemade lemonade (the premises are unlicensed so you are encouraged to bring a bottle if you so desire) and plate of assorted breads that come with every table. Fresh slices of olive, beetroot or olive oil foccacci with butter are a great start to any meal.

Our waiter recited the menu for the day and while the choice is not large we still found it difficult to make a choice as each dish was a ‘must try that’!  Grilled or beer batter fried tilapia with your own selection of vegetables from the array of more than a dozen vegetarian dishes laid out on a table inside.  Or you could opt for a vegetarian plateful of your own choice selected from the above dishes.  Beef Stroganoff, chicken curry, spaghetti with a tomato topping or a selection of omelettes made up the rest of the main dishes.  Determined to sample as many dishes as possible, we each ordered something different, promising to share!  My chicken curry was delicately flavoured with coriander and turmeric in a creamy sauce, the heat coming from the delicious subtle combination of spices rather than just chilies.  The stroganoff served on tagliatelle with crunchy green beans was an equally delectable mix of beef and mushrooms and cream and generously portioned.  The best dish of the lot, as far as my husband was concerned, was the fish in beer batter with his own selection of vegetables.  Crunchy parcels of moist bream surrounded by a colourful mix of pumpkin fritters, spicy lentils with hard boiled eggs, beetroots, roasted potatoes and butternut chunks and leafy green salads made for one very happy consumer!

By the time puddings were being considered there were only 3 tables still occupied but, reassured by our waiter that there was no hurry, we managed to find space for the Dessert for the Day – 2 scoops of homemade ice-cream drizzled with dark chocolate sauce, a scattering of pecan nuts and topped with a thin, nutty biscotti wafer.  That and a strong frothy cappuccino ended an extremely enjoyable lunch.

Besides all food served us looking and tasting delicious, cooked and flavoured to perfection, the fact that Kerry Wallace sources all his ingredients, bar the olive oil, locally, using fresh seasonal vegetables, is another very good reason to go and enjoy a lunch or coffee at The Shop Café, which is open for lunch only, from Monday to Friday, 12 to 2.15 pm.
Speciality Restaurant - vegetarian, whole food, using local produce in season
5 Plates
Expect to spend $20 to $30 per head
Doon Estate, Harrow Road, Msasa, Harare

The Shop Café – Where Quality Reigns Supreme! 2010 Review
Cherry tomato and olive tart – the stuff gourmet dreams are made of and a reason in itself to travel across Harare Drive to Msasa’s Doon Estate and The Shop Café.  And many past times I did just that and sometimes was bitterly disappointed to find it not available due to absence of cherry tomatoes.  Very quickly I discovered consolation in slow baked bream fillet or comforting vegetarian babotie or some other delicacies chalked on the blackboard and changed daily. Long before our palates were educated by DSTV’s food channel Kerry (ever present owner chef Kerry Wallace) insisted on serving only fresh produce and that meant a variable feast with menu items constantly added to and deleted from the blackboard on the wall.

And so it remains over a decade later!  Although the Shop Café has expanded and changed its menu style and presentation the emphasis remains on quality fresh produce and imaginative vegetarian food.  Now however the vegetarian dishes are displayed as a “help yourself” buffet ($!2 for a large dish, $7 for small) and can be combined with fish, chicken or the dish of the day ($15). Remembering Kerry’s delicious slow baked bream I ordered the fish and my companion ordered the dish of the day which was fillet cooked “medium” exactly as requested.  Although not the crusted bream I remembered, my fish was pan fried to perfection and was accompanied by a large wedge of lemon. While waiting for our dishes we enjoyed a plate of freshly baked bread – crusty tomato and rosemary, and a herb crusted bread. Whilst appreciating the complimentary bottomless pitcher of home made lemonade on the table we also supped a Portuguese Rose wine which we brought with us (this is an unlicensed restaurant) and which was promptly put in an ice bucket and opened for us.

We then approached, with due reverence, the groaning buffet table.  Amongst the cold dishes, and you will appreciate that these are listed from memory as my presence was undercover, were avocado wedges with toasted flaked almonds; beetroot with sour cream; particularly delicious brown rice with diced cucumber and fresh herbs; brinjal with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and cream; coleslaw; roasted pumpkin and feta cheese salad drizzled with honey; raw tomatoes and mozzarella cheese; Greek salad with tomatoes, feta cheese and olive oil; brown lentil and onion salad; carrot shavings with cucumber; and mixed lettuces. Hot dishes included mixed roasted vegetables – marrow, brinjal and butternut; boiled potatoes with parsley butter, roasted pumpkin. And of course there was an array of dressings for the exceptional person whose palate could cope with yet more flavours! We returned to our table with brimming plates, all conversation ceased as we concentrated on the array in front of us – truly memorable!

Ever mindful of our responsibility to report on the complete menu but unable to contemplate a dessert each we shared a piece of carrot cake – moist and full of interesting seeds and nuts. Our exceptional waiter Shane had the foresight to cut it in half for us and serve each of our halves on a separate plate! Filter coffee followed to complete what was an exotic lunchtime feast in peaceful surroundings.

Situated in Doon Estate near the Ros Byrne shop and surrounded by a selection of other Art and Craft shops this complex is a haven for visitors and diplomats returning to their home countries as well as regular shopaholics. I was disappointed not to see the monkeys which I remember from previous visits but I’m sure if they have vacated the premises this is a relief to the management. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Kerry was on hand, both in the kitchen and the dining area, as I had understood that he planned to pass  the business onto his son and enjoy much deserved retirement amongst his beloved indigenous trees at Juliasdale.

A word of warning, the spectacular buffet is only served on Tuesdays to Fridays between 12.30 hrs and 2.15 hrs, it is replaced on Saturdays with chunky potatoes and salad. The Shop Café is also open for breakfasts and a note on the menu informed that private dinners can be organised – what a lovely setting in which to celebrate a special anniversary!
Speciality Restaurant
5 Plates
Expect to spend $15 and $20 per head

The Divine and Delicious Shop Café 2009
Lunch at The Shop Cafe in Doon Estate is a complete treat.  The environment is wonderful and the food is glorious. Kerry Wallace and his team, comprising his son Leroy and wonder woman Michelle Small, do a damn fine job of satisfying diners with quality food.  Kerry is just about everything a restaurant owner should be - in my book at least!  He's as sexy as Gordon Ramsey with the mouth of a sailor and the taste buds of the Goddess of Orgasmic Dining.  Unlike a lot of restaurant owners who sit like bouffant or bald blobs behind their desks toting up the numbers, Kerry is always on the prowl looking to up his game, checking that people like their food, mingling and clearing plates.  He walks his talk and in so doing has created a café that is simply streets ahead of many restaurants in Zimbabwe. 

Shane, one of two waiters who were rushed off their feet during a very busy service, greeted us pretty promptly.  Our complementary jug of ice-cold homemade lemonade, together with a bottle of water came soon after we sat down.  A selection of home made bread with a generous number of real butter cubes was also served in record time.  My partner thought that the beetroot bread was to die for, whilst I preferred the olive bread.  A few slices of garlic bread were also available. 

Unfortunately our waiter slipped up a bit, forgetting to tell us what all the specials of the day were when he came to take our order.  The Shop Café serves a fantastic vegetarian buffet from Tuesday to Friday while the other meals are specials of the day.  These options include fish, chicken and pasta.  My partner opted for the Spanakopita, a Greek savoury pastry filled with spinach and feta cheese served with a light herb yogurt dressing accompanied by a side order from the vegetarian buffet.  She raved about her meal. I had a main dish of Fish Cakes that were soft and gorgeously herbed.  The specials at The Shop Café are always first class, but what really steals the show is the vegetarian buffet which is so varied and creatively assembled. On offer the day we went were salads that included lentils, chickpeas, aubergine, feta cheese, roasted butternut, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, a sexy coleslaw, rocket, a cheeky rape relish and fabulous chunky parmesan encrusted roast potatoes.  Whilst I was loading up my plate at the buffet, two women were enthusing about how delicious and divine the food is at The Shop Café.  I overheard many such compliments during lunch. 

During the course of our meal our waiter generously offered us another round of bread, which I said yes to very enthusiastically.  My partner ordered an iced coffee that according to her was so good that it got the Golden Straw Award.  Apparently our waiter made it and when I asked him what his secret was, he laughed and said that he makes his best iced coffees when he's "in a hurry".  There is a dessert of the day, which my partner ordered, and she declared the homemade rhubarb and strawberry ice cream that came with a homemade biscotti as superb.  I have to say I looked on enviously, because my scoop of vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and roasted pecan nuts was somewhat spoiled by slightly stale nuts.  We had a couple of cappuccinos to round off our meal. 

The place was absolutely buzzing with all tables occupied.  People to left and right of us were enjoying long chats over bottles of wine.  The Shop Café doesn't have a licence so it’s a BYOB place.  I highly recommend a lazy lunch under the trees sipping a glass or two of wine.  Kerry has provided some classy little enhancements like high quality salt and pepper grinders and beautiful fresh flowers in smoky little glass bottles on every table. 

The only major criticism and where I would mark The Shop Café down, is on service. The staff is wonderfully competent and friendly, but a restaurant as popular as The Shop Café, needs more hands on deck.  When we arrived just before 1pm the service was great, but as the tables filled, we had to flag down a waiter to get attention.  Another aspect that Kerry might work on is making it less of a "mystery tour".  By that I mean the specials of the day should be advertised clearly on chalk blackboards dotted around the place, or a slip of paper on each table.  The waiters are too busy to describe the dishes in detail or at length. My telephone booking was handled extremely professionally but I have experienced an inconsistency in this regard with sometimes being told that one can't book a table at The Shop Cafe.  And booking is essential because their capacity isn’t huge and you might well travel out to Msasa and find you can’t get a table. 
I've always wanted more than one Shop Café in Harare believing that the passion and precision that Kerry and his young team bring to eating out in this country is exactly what we need to regain our competitive edge in providing a quality dining experience. 
The Shop Cafe also offers outside catering and I hear Kerry gives cooking lessons.  Both of which I'm sure are well worth trying out. 

I'll end with a Word of Warning!  It's really easy to over-indulge at The Shop Café, because the food is so good.  Spread your treats out and go back, and back again!  It’s situated at Doon Estate in Msasa, phone 446684, and is open Tuesday to Saturday.
Speciality Restaurant
5 Plates
Expect to spend 15 to $20 per head 

 

Legendary Shop Café – simply delicious! 2008
The Shop Café is something of a legend.  It’s a very popular Speciality Restaurant situated in the Msasa light industrial area, at the equally popular Doon Estate shopping village.  Here one can find all sorts of very fine crafts and foods and designer pottery and such – a great place to hunt down the perfect gift, or to work on the interior design of your home or hotel, with the popular top quality Kudhinda potato print fabrics, Ros Byrne pottery, and many other great Zimbabwean success stories.   Doon Estate is also a great place to take your overseas visitors for a Zimbabwean shopping spree.  I was like the cat that got the cream when I was given this eatery to review.  Recently, in fact, I noticed that its owner, the outspoken yet affable Kerry Wallace, was profiled on these very pages. 

This establishment is a family type restaurant with a strong vegetarian and macrobiotic focus.  It is not puritanically vegetarian, nor purist about serving strictly whole foods, however, as certainly, there are some delicious sweet treats on offer.  Fish dishes and the occasional meat dish do appear on the menu.  Its strongest emphasis is on the use of local produce and ingredients, as far as humanly possible – thus keeping broadly within the macrobiotic principle.  The restaurant is in the Speciality category, for its strong vegetarian slant, and rightly so.  It’s one of a kind, and it has earned a strong following.  It was busy the day we went to sample its lunchtime delights – not for the first time, but we eat out less often these days, life being what it is in our beleaguered economy.

The Shop Café does not have a printed menu.  The imaginative offerings of the day are written on a chalk board inside the restaurant.  These offerings, which always sound enticing, constantly change, and indeed, that too would fit with the macrobiotic view that one should eat local, and therefore within season, rendering the diet varied and therefore able to surprise the taste buds as one moves through the seasons of the year.  I must say I like this idea.  Why should we be able to eat absolutely anything, and at absolutely any time of the year, after all?  One loses the novelty element, the glorious anticipation of favourite fruits and vegetables as they become available.

The blackboard boasted a wide range of delightful sounding dishes, which certainly inspired the imagination and the taste buds.  Amongst these were four delicious sounding fish dishes – all using locally available tilapia in various inspired ways – Greek Pastitio, showing there is not rigidity about vegetarianism here –Butternut Soup with Coconut Milk, Fried Halloumi Cheese with a lime and capers dressing, the ever popular Caprese Salad comprising sliced avocado, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and dressing, and another avocado based salad that grabbed my attention, with Chilli, Mustard Dressing and Spring Onions.  There were also omelettes, including a rather enticing Blue Cheese and Spring Onion Omelette, Greek Salad, and several other intriguing sounding salads too.  Of course, I’m doing this all from memory as it’s rather hard to jot down the many interesting descriptions we found on the board surreptitiously enough not to give the game away!

We ended up ordering a very fine feast indeed. There were three of us, and between us we polished off two plates of quite spectacularly delicious homemade breads, some delightfully flavoured with aniseed, (we thought it was aniseed, at any rate!) some with cumin and sun dried tomatoes, and served with real butter, thank goodness!  This bread was served at every table and the extra plate offered and enthusiastically accepted, was pure bonus.  We partook of this interspersed with our actual orders which were the butternut soup, the avo, chilli and spring onion salad, and the fried halloumi cheese.  All outstandingly flavoursome, quite divine, actually, and beautifully presented!

Then, getting right into gourmand behaviour, and far more out of greed than need, we ordered a slice of  spectacularly rich, dark, chocolate cake that we’d noticed earlier on the counter inside, and a home made strawberry ice cream, packed with real strawberries,  and served with some creamy Cortina vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis.  Both were top notch.  The counter also had on display a whole range of other delicious treats such as melk tart, carrot cake, coconut cake and muffins.

To drink with all of this, we made our way through five homemade lemonades – very refreshing and delicious, plus a filter coffee and a cappuccino.  These beverages were all excellent as well.  The bathroom was clean and serviceable, the atmosphere very relaxing and friendly.  A steady stream of lunch time trade attested to the continuing popularity of this spot.  Our waitress was a jovial soul too.

All round, this was a really pleasurable eating out experience.  I’ve always had excellent food at The Shop Café over the years, and I’ve never heard a single report of food that was less than excellent here. For all these reasons, our party of three, after filling in the score sheet and holding a very satisfied discussion, were in agreement.  The Shop Café this year gets 5 plates.
Speciality Restaurant
5 Plates