Chinese restaurants have always had a special place in the hearts of Zimbabweans going out to dine, and if I mention names like Bamboo Inn, Mandarin and Golden Dragon, many a Harare person will call up a wave of fond memories; ditto for Bulawayo people if I mention Peking and Mutare people if I say Little Swallow.
Restaurant Review with Epicurean
There seem to be a great many Chinese dining venues in the country these days, in part I suppose because the cuisine is still popular among many diners, but probably more so because there has been a significant increase in Chinese people living and working in this country. Whenever I visit a Chinese restaurant, a good percentage of the diners are in fact China-born, so I always assume that the cuisine of the venue must be genuinely Chinese (and enjoyably so).
Several years ago, I asked the then Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe what he felt was Harare’s best venue for Chinese cuisine … he gave his answer and was immediately challenged by several other Chinese people present, each of whom had a different favourite, outlining reasons. So it’s fair to say that each of these dining venues has something special to offer and I certainly have had good experiences for the most part, both in terms of standard of cuisine and also price.
On Thursday night we dined at Shangri-La, which has been operational since about 2007 and has become one of Harare’s most popular Chinese restaurants. It has grown in size over the years and fairly recently underwent a makeover with an upgrade of décor and design. The June luncheon of the restaurateurs and hoteliers group was held at Shangri-La, in one of the private dining rooms (in fact, in three of them, opened up to accommodate the large group that came along). It was a great success, and for me reaffirmed the venue’s status as a “fine dining” venue for this type of cuisine.
Just two of us on Thursday, but the restaurant was buzzing, with several large parties in the private dining rooms and the main indoors area almost full with an interesting mix of local and foreign folk. No-one was on the veranda, as it was chilly. Service was quick and efficient and although the menu is a big one, they are easy to scan and, if one has favourites, it makes the job even easier.
For starter I had a seaweed soup, and my guest had spring rolls. My soup, which was, in fact, a chicken and seaweed creation, was absolutely delicious. I am a great fan of seaweed and usually ask for a special seaweed side dish for mains; at Shangri-La they serve it cold, with a generous cover of garlic and vegetable oil. My guest enjoyed her spring rolls … though I must say I have a sneaking suspicion that spring rolls are not genuinely Chinese, but rather a western idea of Chinese food, much like butter chicken is for fanciers of Indian cuisine.
For mains we shared a selection and asked for small portions (Shangri-La can never be faulted on portion size – always generous). We asked for crispy prawns, crispy duck and sweet and sour pork… somehow, though, we ended up with pork in brown sauce instead of the sweet and sour; this was not as enjoyable as the sweet and sour pork usually is, with a stronger soya flavour, but was tasty. The prawns and duck were outstanding. Along with this we had vegetable noodles and egg fried rice, both of which were meals in themselves and were extremely tasty. We didn’t finish it all, despite the reduced portion sizes, and had some takeaways. No room for dessert after that, which is a pity but I often feel that Chinese food doesn’t really include dessert in the way western cuisine does.
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In the past, though, I’ve enjoyed the fried bananas at Shangri-La and I noted that quite a few diners were having this with their food.
The menu is very extensive and contains a huge selection of meat and vegetable dishes. A separate menu exists for sushi dishes, and a table alongside us was digging in to an exclusive selection of these with great gusto. Sushi was introduced a couple of years ago and I know a great many folk in Harare who find it delightful; I find it all rather bland. Takeaways are also a big thing for Shangri-La, and loads of people call in and later collect, with much of the main menu available for this purpose.
There’s no official wine list, but a selection of Nederburg and Graham Beck wines is available, sourced I assume, from Marldon and La Distra Brut respectively. I understand the selection was made on the basis of suitability in pairing with Chinese dishes.
I mentioned private dining rooms; there are seven of these, including the outside gazebo, and they can be used for special functions of all kinds, whether corporate or celebratory in nature. One of the rooms has an outstanding marble table, complete with massive “lazy Susan” in the centre, and on Thursday night there was a child’s birthday party in full swing, with a large family group gathered.
We met Evans Marufu, the manager, as owner Wu was in China and her very charming son, Jolly, was not available that night. Both had been at the restaurateurs luncheon and received great acclaim for their achievement that day.
Evans, with a background at Wild Geese Lodge, Cresta Lodge and other venues, was a good host and answered questions we had about the venue. He said some of the most popular items on the menu included sweet and sour dishes, vegetable fried rice, seasoned beef, sizzling beef, beef mushrooms and the barbecue ribs. The cuisine is not exclusive to any one part of China, and it would seem the hotter dishes come from the south. Evans also told us of a new feature: an all-you-can-eat menu with price tags of $16 for lunch and $22 for dinner. The whole table must be part of the special, of course, and the selection is wide.
Shangri-La is open from Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, with opening times of 12 noon to 2:30pm for lunch and 5:30pm to 9:30pm for dinner. It is usually closed on public holidays. It’s normally quite busy, but special recommendation for advanced table booking comes on Saturdays, which is peak day for the venue.
l Shangri-La is a delightful restaurant that has gained a reputation for good cuisine and my own experiences there over the years have been positive, reinforced by this most recent visit. A suitable venue for families, celebratory groups, corporate groups, romantic couples and even single diners! It’s on Enterprise Road, between Highlands and Chisipite, about a kilometre closer to the city centre than the Chisipite Shopping Centre. Call Evans on 0774 130 064 or the restaurant’s landline, (04) 443263, for reservations and takeaways.
