Vusumuzi DubeBruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
VERY often, when visitors come to Bulawayo, as many did over the last week for this year’s edition of Mine Entra, there is always talk about the magnificent sights and delights that the city offers.
As soon as one passes a “Welcome to Bulawayo” sign, visitors are likely told of the artistic excellence of the City of Kings, the self-proclaimed cultural capital of the country.
It is a claim that is hard to dispute, given the city’s long-standing reputation for producing some of the country’s finest arts practitioners and groups.
Besides its reputation for excellence in the arts, the city provides enough eye candy for those with an appreciation for grand architectural design. The Victorian style buildings still dotted around the city, are not only a nod to a bygone age but to some perhaps the true, unaltered face of Bulawayo, with significance that goes beyond mere sentimental value.
Of course, every visitor is also encouraged to sample some of the city’s famous nightlife, including a stroll through Robert Mugabe, between 10th and 11th avenue, were a string of pubs and nightspots line-up in formation to give even the most adventurous of imbibers a wide array of nocturnal delights.
However, despite the many wonders that the city is reputed to offer, there is very seldom mention of the cuisine in the City of Kings.
Any visitor, after an arduous journey, would want to be pointed to warm place with most sumptuous kitchen to boot.
The fastest way to any weary visitor’s heart is through their stomach and although there’s very little noise made about some of Bulawayo’s eateries, both conventional and unconventional, the city has a wide array of spots that can satisfy the appetite of even the most famished of travelers.
Fine Dining
Bulawayo as a city, through the design of the city’s erstwhile colonial spatial planners, has always been divided into two halves, the east and the west.
It is on the eastern half that one usually finds some of the restaurants that offer a menu for those with an appreciation of fine dining in tranquil setting.
One place that seems to be a hit, particular with the younger generation that seeks meals that are ready made for Instagram pictures, is Banff Lodge in Hillside.
Located not much further than stone’s throw away from the famous Hillside Dams, Banff makes up for its pricey menu with tantalising treats that are well complemented by the fittingly serene ambience it also offers.
Nearby, at Busters Sports Club, is The Smokehouse, a buzzing hive that is seen as the nerve centre of the city’s social scene.
From football luminaries like Marvelous Nakamba and Vusa Nyoni to radio personalities like Misred, the Smokehouse is the joint of choice for almost anyone trying to get a taste of the unique Bulawayo experience.
However, while it opens an ideal window for one seeking to sneak a peak into the social scene in Bulawayo, it is also the meat lover’s paradise, as the name Smokehouse suggests.
One can feast on choice cuts ranging from steaks and chicken to burgers and kebabs, while washing it down with their favourite beverage as the music flows from a live band or DJ.
Across town in Suburbs, Shangri La is a slice of East Asian heaven, serving cuisine with a distinctly oriental focus. Known for its uncompromising high standards, Shangri La’s menu, whether it’s sweet and sour pork, the beef chao mein or cashew chicken, is filled with delicacies that will have a food lover salivating before they even walk through its doors.
Traditional
A run down of the eat out spots in Bulawayo would not be complete without mention of the places that have stuck to tradition despite western and eastern cuisine taking over most menus.
After all, there is nothing that says home like a plate of flaming hot isitshwala accompanied by generous serving of relish.
From Captain in Paddonhurst to Sis Bee, Dickies and Mumsie’s kitchen in the Bulawayo CBD, places that serve traditional cuisine are the City of Kings’ crowning glory.
From roadrunners so well cooked that jaws do not need to indulge in a tug off war with the meat to get a proper bite to goat intestines so tender they seem to melt in the mouth, some of the city’s restaurants have done a fine job of making traditional food attractive again.
Gone are the days when such delicacies could be consumed only within a home setting. Traditional food is no longer “rural”. It is now hip and in Bulawayo, it is served close to perfection.
Food on the go
On social media, there is a running joke that nothing tastes better than food from places that seem to have questionable hygiene standards.
Perhaps this logic is applicable in Bulawayo, a city that has over the decades forged a reputation as the cleanest in the country.
Last year, the Bulawayo City Council condemned most city takeaway joints, with most getting a C or a C-Minus rating.
Despite this Bulawayo, still has come takeaway joints, without whose presence the city would be a lesser metropolis.
What, for example, would Bulawayo be without fresh chips from Sunflower? In 2022, Oriental still serves pies that pack so much meat that some cheeky social media comedians have claimed can feed entire families.
If the butcheries ran out of meat, one would only need to separate the pastry from the meat of an Oriental and they could have a braai with their friends, so the urban legend goes.
However, recently a battle of the pies has ignited on 9th Avenue, with a former chef at Oriental also opening his own place which is just as good but only at a lesser price. It remains to be seen if this new pretender to the throne will win this battle for pie supremacy.
Tshisa Nyamas
A list of places where one can go to eat out in Bulawayo would not be complete without mention of the tshisa nyamas in Bulawayo.
the concept of a tshisa nyama, like many things in Bulawayo, flowed down from South Africa and has taken strong roots in Bulawayo.
While Hartsfield may be the only place close to the Bulawayo CBD where one can get meat that has been “burnt” perfectly on a braai, the city’s townships offer a wide array of places that capture the city’s passion for meat.
While Mazinyane in Bellevue has earned a reputation for serving the most succulent meat, Madamara in Mzilikazi, with its walls covered in graffiti, gives one the impression that they are eating meat from the real beating heart of Bulawayo.
Chigumira in Luveve is perhaps the one place that comes close to replicating the South African township tshisa nyama experience, with meat consumed by the plate-load from the back of cars that seemingly drown the whole neighbourhood with loud music.
For a unique experience, koJudea in Magwegwe North is strictly for the goat lovers, as that is the only animal whose meat ever graces its braai stands.
Serving food with a homely and personal touch, one can even call ahead and order which cuts of meat they prefer and the way that would like it prepared.
Cooked or braaid, one leaves with a stomach full of goat meat and a heart full of joy.
Online Reporter