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2 Cecil Rhodes Drive
Newlands
746368/746215

Spice just nice for a winter’s evening at the Sitar 2011
With winter now knocking steadily on our last summer’s door, the thought of dining at The Sitar Restaurant brought hot, spicy expectations of the rich culinary traditions from the Indian sub- continent.  Aptly named ‘The Sitar’, the restaurant surprises the diner with its delicate preservation of  traditional Indian food cultures.

Booking a table was as easy as . . . simply picking the phone up and dialling their number. I was answered promptly and our reservation was made with no difficulty at all. On arrival at the lovely old converted home in the corner of Newlands with ample parking, we were shown to the bar for our pre dinner drinks. After a typical busy “nothing-really-works-in-Harare” day, a beer shandy, a Malawi shandy, a glass of red wine were very welcome re-hydrators for us.  Unfortunately the wine list was quite limited, with a selection of just a handful of stables from South Africa, lacking in variety, span and depth.

The menu is very extensive with wide Vegetarian, Chicken, Beef, Mutton, Fish choices, clearly and carefully explaining the traditional origin of each dish thus stating the Indian speciality touch to the restaurant.  The details of how the food is prepared and how the different herbs and spices are used for different dishes makes this menu very special and different from many in this city.   The Sitar menu is indeed very creative and is very well put together.

We were shown to our table by a youthful waiter by the name of Heaven. Sadly the table was not set with crispy white table cloths and napkins from the Indian colonial traditions, but instead not ironed and slightly wrinkled, giving an impression that the table layout had not been given particular attention. The ambience was just averagely Indian and on the cold side as a result of the large premises with ceramic floors. Together with a lack of music that would then sometimes reappear only to then go quiet again, there was some disappointment that not more attention was given to the furnishing and decoration to thoroughly enhance the ambience, so as to give it a warm, homely Indian traditional feel synonymous with the theme of the restaurant.  If ambience and furnishing are not that important to you, and weather permitting, there is also the choice of sitting outside on the garden patio should one choose to.
Another disappointment was that our drinks were often served after a long wait.  Having different waiters serving us made it difficult to follow up on our orders, this underlined when there was then actual confusion on one of the dishes ordered. We however received an immediate apology and were not charged for the wrong order received.

We started our meal with a complimentary and generous plate of pompadoms.  This was complimented with scrumptious Pakoras - spiced potato fritters deep fried in a special butter, and Chicken Tikka - chicken breast pieces marinated in spices and spinach.  The starters did not disappoint as they excited the taste buds with their complex zesty flavours and set the tone for what was to come.

The main course was very impressive too. Not able to eat our curry too spicy hot, we ordered a mild Mutton Curry and a Fish Curry with Pilao and Basmati rice on the side. Goon Dhal – green lentils in spices, onions and tomatoes was absolutely delicious as a vegetable alongside the meat dishes. To compliment the main course and to soak up all the juices left in our plates, we ordered Garlic Naan prepared in the traditional Tandoori oven. Unfortunately the butternut chutney was awful alongside the yoghurt and tomato condiment bowls as this was fermenting. The front desk manager put this down to the heat in the kitchen, an answer obviously not satisfactory.  Otherwise the food was presented simply without any elaborate garnishing, perhaps a reminder that food can be enjoyed in its simplest form.

For dessert, I ordered Kulfi, a special type of ice cream from thickened milk, crushed nuts and rose water, and my partner ordered Gulab Jamun – fried balls of semolina enriched in syrup, both heavenly sweet to round off the rich, spicy flavours of the main course. As coffee is not really synonymous to Indian eating, we settled for delicious Indian tea with spices.

One of our accompanying guests described dining at The Sitar as “an interesting experience of what happens with one’s taste buds...”  Indeed the strength of the Sitar is in their secret of preparing the food with Indian Herbs and Spices. (We later learnt from the two young members of The Sitar Family that the restaurant is now under the hands of its Third Generation!  Now we know, Grandma’s secrets are paying off!)  A wonderful, simple yet delightfully aromatic dinner at The Sitar, recommend for a fabulous gastronomic journey into the Hindustan traditions.
Speciality Restaurant
3 Plates
Expect to spend $20 to $30 per head

The Sitar - authentic Indian cuisine for discerning diners (2010 review)
Seeing that the Sitar, in its new abode which I had yet to visit, was offering a lunch time buffet at weekends, I was determined to give it a try, not least to introduce the children to the delights of Indian cuisine.  So on a sunny Saturday we drove into the pleasant grounds of 2 Cecil Rhodes Drive, were greeted and quickly led to our table, an extra member to our party accommodated without fuss.

The restaurant occupies a portion of the homestead on the property but it is rather obviously a conversion of the residence as opposed to a custom designed facility.  There is a separate bar area but we opted to have our drinks at the table whilst perusing the menus and munching poppadoms.  Large windows overlook the garden (where the children were able to expend some energy exploring) and let in lots of light.  The pale peach walls with dark green cornicing and the yellow curtaining make for a light and bright interior.  I am sure that at night time with the lighting subdued it creates a warm and cosy ambience.  It however lacks the character of the old establishment where the high ceiling canopied with Indian fabrics lent a touch of drama to the dining experience.

A card on the table advertised the daily special as salmon with a creamy sauce served with potatoes and peas.  It didn’t sound very Indian but appealed to one of the less adventurous of our party.  Unfortunately the head chef was off and so too was the special.  The majority opted for the buffet, which at $15 per head and half price for the children, offered a variety of dishes – starters of samoosas and pakoras brought to the table, a self-service for the main course and a choice of desserts.  The meat samoosas were generously plump and devoured in next to no time.  The pakoras too were rather moreish.  One of the accompaniments was a butternut ‘chutney’, smooth rather than chunky in texture, which I thought added interesting flavour.

The main course self-service comprised rice and roti, dhal, a spicy cabbage dish, a beef curry and a chicken curry and the usual sambals – chopped tomato and onion, yoghurt, and chutney.  A somewhat pedestrian offering, but given the small number of diners presumably a wider choice would have seen food going to waste. 

To my mind, one of the strengths of Indian cuisine is its attention to vegetables which are more often than not  the staple of the meal rather than a mere accompaniment.  And so it proved.  The dhal was delicious, the cabbage had a fiery bite and the portion of palak panneer (cheese curd and spinach) which I ordered as an extra was simply wonderful!  Conversely the beef curry was disappointing both in flavour and tenderness, although the chicken curry was tender, moist and flavourful.  One of the group had ordered tandoori chicken – ‘very mild, please!’ – which arrived a rather off-putting virulent shade of red and disappointingly devoid of flavour.

There was no wine list, but a display of Robertson Vineyard wines was on offer, although it only included one white varietal.  We chose the rosé which was rather sweet but proved a good foil for the spicy meal.  Drinks and ice were replenished on request.

Plates were cleared and the wine was drunk and so to dessert.  There were three puddings on offer including ice-cream and chocolate sauce.  Enquiries revealed that kulfi was also available and so without question that was my choice and what an excellent one it was.  The richness of this traditional Indian ice-cream flavoured with cardamom and other spices, textured with chopped nuts and with the inspired addition of chilli to counter the sweetness, it was the highlight of the meal!

It was a pleasant outing and I will certainly return to the Sitar again, but not necessarily for the buffet.  However the dearth of diners is telling.  Possibly it is a question of position – if the restaurant were sited in a busy shopping centre the offering of a reasonably priced lunch time buffet would attract passing trade.  However, it could be a question of marketing.  Instead of the value-for-money buffet why not offer an occasional gastronomic feast where diners can partake of a wide range of dishes that otherwise they might never sample.  That could well get the punters coming back for more. The Sitar deserves to do better and needs to capitalise on the strength of its ability to offer authentic and exotic Indian cuisine to discerning diners.
Speciality Restaurant
3 Plates
Expect to spend $20-$30 per head
2 Cecil Rhodes Drive, Newlands

New Sitar 2009
It has indeed been quite a long time since I went to an Indian restaurant so the ‘new’ Sitar was keenly anticipated.  And when I say ‘new’, that is their new location in a house on Cecil Rhodes Avenue, not far from where they used to be in Newlands Shopping Centre, but between there and Eastlea shops.  So parking is safer and easier and the whole atmosphere is certainly more airy, brighter and pleasant, and you can look out of the large windows onto a garden.  That being said, my first impression on driving in was that the garden was running away with itself and in need of the attentions of a diligent gardener!

We had the somewhat shorter lunch menu to peruse, a single laminated sheet, and the names of some dishes were a bit confused in our minds – “what is a korma, again?” and that sort of thing.  But the proprietor spared us long explanations by bringing us the much more attractive and longer evening menu with descriptions of the different dishes.  I would guess that the Sitar tends towards the north-western cuisine; there didn’t appear to be the mustard oil, used more in the east and Bangladesh, or the culinary delights of the south where coconut plays a commanding role.  The lunch menu had about four or five choices within the various categories of starters, fish, chicken, mutton and beef, with a few more vegetarian options.  There were naan and roti to choose from and two rice dishes – basmati or plain, and a few of the all-important accompaniments to the main dishes.

So we decided to skip the starters and finally settled on mutton curry and naan, and prawn curry with basmati rice.  Being unsure whether their hot was very hot, the waiter suggested somewhere between medium and hot, which seemed like a good compromise.  As a side dish the potatoes with cumin was something we particularly wanted to try.

When eating Indian food it is important to forget about our Western expectation of a lot of meat with a smaller serving of rice.  More correctly, rice is the main part of the dish and balances the stronger, spicier meat, fish or vegetables, which should be taken in smaller portions – all the better to appreciate the flavours.  As much as I normally hate sharing food at a restaurant, for this reason it is an excellent idea to sample everyone’s diverse choice.  It is this that makes Indian cuisine so amazing for which you would best need a large group with various curries surrounding a central mound of rice.  When you think about it, rice is a staple food for a good half of the world and one of the oldest, having been cultivated for over 7000 years.  It is inevitable that rice connoisseurs have developed who can sniff a few grains and tell its variety, age and sometimes even its provenance.  I’m certainly no expert but was disappointed that my ‘basmati’ rice was, as far as I could tell, ordinary long grain Patna rice without the characteristic aroma of true basmati, with some fennel seeds added.  But our curries were good, the prawn curry being the better of the two, very tasty indeed.  It turned out that we could have gone for hot after all; the medium-hot was by no means over-powering.  I tried the lassi, made with skim milk rather than yoghurt, and there is the option of the more traditional version with salt or one sweetened with sugar.  It is a great accompaniment with a hot curry.  It is a pity there weren’t a few more sharbat drinks such as sharbat gulab with those intriguing tulsi seeds – probably unobtainable – or a falooda.

There wasn’t very much to choose from on the dessert front and two dishes were not available.  Making Indian sweetmeats is an art in itself and can be done really well by a master hidden away somewhere or you can find the ‘lesser’ delicacies in most bazaars; there is certainly a great selection to experience in India.  I’m demanding too much no doubt, but what about trying a barfi badam (almond cream) or barfi pista (pistachio), ras malai or other more unusual sweets you don’t usually find in our restaurants?  I had banana pieces fried in a cinnamon batter and served with ice cream, pleasant but not too exciting – a more authentic Indian koulfi ice cream would be a much nicer alternative.

Our service was good and despite all my bright ideas we had a good and tasty meal, though my companion couldn’t help but remark on the prices.  But that applies to all restaurants, and most other things, in Harare I’m afraid!
Speciality Restaurant
3 Plates
Expect to spend $15 to $30 per head