Food Memories

by various contributors

Some BTers are obviously serious foodies from way back! Here are a few of their memories...

Gosh who can forget the Rio. Their braais on a Sunday were fabulous. My in-laws recently took their family visiting from England there. Wow, and the Granada. Very very good paellas there. Who remembers the Bamboo Inn in Salisbury, and also the Bombay Duck for fabulous curries. Heck I think there wasn't a restaurant in Sby & Byo we didn't try at some stage.
Maggi

Talking about "Zing " orange juice .... who remembers that godawful Bezant ....sweetened (awful) and unsweetened ( squeeze your tonsils till you choke awful!) Then there those bright pink candy covered clusters of peanuts you could only get in Woolworths ......Charhons chocolate almonds ....those 1/3 pints of milk our parents paid coupons for at junior school...the veggie woman who came every Friday with her basket on her head in which were always little recycled plastic bags of potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and beans ....... always beans for some reason! The Astoria cake shop in Manica arcade in Umtali, Mitchells Bakery and all their biscuits and the intricate wedding cakes in their windows down main street.
Marilyn

I remember Dairy Den icecream, especially their Bee Sting with chocolate sauce, honey crunchies, and a huge honey biscuit!!! Never found anything to compare!
Anne-Louise

And Nick's Cafe out at Avondale where you could go late at night for a coffee to help sober up!!
Tony

Aaaahhh !!! New Orleans Restaurant, Hillside. Bananas Foster. MMmmmmmmm Bananas Fosssttterrrrr.
Ted

The Wise Donkey .... oh yes...I remember that tiny little sliver of a cafe on the corner of Speke Ave and I think it was First Street? ... we all used to frequent the Wise Donkey most of the time, and when it was month end and we were "flush" then we would go out to Barbours for lunch! ...........Working Girls!
Marilyn

Does anybody remember the old 'hamburger hut' where everybody used to go after a night out? Or am I imagining it?? Also does anybody remember Bull Acutt in Salisbury, and those fabulous chicken and mushroom pies which he used to make and sell??
Anon

I remember the pink cachous pink fish and guns at 1d and the licorice bootlace at 1d, sherbert dabs at 3d and marshmallow and chocolate Easter Eggs. Lobels 3d biscuits from the Waldorf Bakery in Gwelo.
Stephen

And those huge gob-stopping sweets called "Apricots."
Anon

....has anyone mentioned "Guido's" in Kingsway yet .... I remember the T-bone steaks there were huge, and when you went in it was like going to a favourite aunt's house ... you were so welcomed! ....and what about the Park Lane on a Saturday afternoon, outside on the lawn under those awful slatted metal umbrellas! .... and what about sitting outside sipping "brown cows" down First street outside Woolworths? .... and when the second parkade opened near Rezende street,and the dip near the exit was so low that they had to close the place down and fill it in because all the cars were losing their exhausts!! .... memories what memories!
Marilyn

Guidos......oh yes, certainly brown cows and visits to the Dairy Den in Chisipite. What about clubbing at Rosalinds or if you were really young or bored, the Causerie at Meikles. Hitch hiking to Kariba on Gooks and Spooks weekend, sleeping on the only patch of grass outside the filling station or weekend trips to McIllwaine on a $5.00 note. Probably my favourite was queuing outside the Akropolis all for some cheap sea-food, but golden days and nights. Trips to Mabelreign drive-in in a bukkie with a crate or going back some years, to Mermaids Pool. So many wonderful memories. Misty African mornings, that first Madison Ciggy in the morning sun on first street, careless times.
Robert

...about the waffles and REAL maple syrup at Barbours?? Just prior to UDI being declared the buyer of the maple syrup mis-read the quantity and added a 0 onto the amount! They inadvertantly ordered enough to see Barbours through ... to more than likely today -
Robyn

Nostalgia is Oasis on a Saturday lunch time with a trip to the Police grounds to watch Rhodesia stomp the South African currie cup teams and then on to listen to Holy Black. WHAT A PLEASURE - wish I were young again.
LesG

Nothing compares to the Bamboo Inn, did anyone ever try their paper wrapped prawns. I went so often that to this day my big kids won't eat Chinese especially the one who gets on this site every night.
Jimbo

Anyone remember Bretts Saturday lunch time, mid 60's, to find out where the Saturday night party was on then down to the Fiddlers Crutch (Southerton Police Club) drink more grog play Crown and Anchor, darts, more grog, home for a quick s---, shave and shampoo, and off to 22 Dulwich Road, Greendale for a rip roaring party or am I the only one still standing. I met my better half at one of those parties and we are still married. Wow!
Jimbo

My friend and I went to Gremlins one night after movies and ordered hot chocolates. Parked under one of their 'lights' my friend got really excited that as she neared the end of her drink, she found a piece of chocolate. After impaling it on her straw she brought it into the light to discover it had legs and resembled a cockroach!! Also, who remembers the bread one could use as cannon fodder? Anyone got the Acropolis on a Sunday night after a day at Lake Mc, for a plate stacked with spare ribs and chips....!
Karyn

As for those sherbets with the liquorice straws, yum. How I wish I was a kid again, even if only for one day.
Maggi

the Birdcage at Sanders! Their waffles were divine. I remember the wallpaper - dark with bright birds on it, and the fountain on the balcony with floating flowers in it. And the fashion parades they had twice a day. In Barbours tearoom I always had anchovy toast! Funny how food always stays in the memory....
Barbara

Did you ever eat those red locusts that used to swarm over the midlands in days gone by?They were mooshi stereke especially fried on the coals.
Ernie

Maltabella ...... what about Kreemy Meel and Quaker Oats? ...Charhons chocolate almonds and frikkadels ..... Rabroy tomato sauce and 1/3 pints of milk at school at break? "Dogs meat" at the butcher, and "rations" ? ...... Cplcom pink viennas, and Dairiboard icecream ....Lyons maid ... the list is endless! Memories what culinary memories!
Marilyn

I was thinking the other day about boarding school food - not-so-fond memories of frogs eggs, Zambesi mud, and squashed chamelon jam, and that disgusting tomato jam; what did we call it, toe-jam?? The things I did enjoy and look forward to were the brown (maltabella?) porridge, and pumpkin fritters, not to mention the unutterable delights of the fantastic treat of roast chicken and icecream one Sunday a month!!! One wonders what today's children with their KFC and Big Macs would think of that.
Barbara

Nostalgia.....Did anyone else order toasted cheese, bacon and banana sandwiches from Gremlins on Enterprise Road or was it only me? We used to tuck into them before going to the drive-in on the road to Marandellas. I also remember the delights of toasted open-face mayo and cheese sandwiches from Eskies in Bulawayo before hitting the town on the weekends or after a day out in the Matopos. Those treats were way before the low-fat diets, aerobics, step and fitness classes that I have experienced here in the First world. I guess games of tennis, hiking in the bundu, swimming and just being young kept us lean.
Mary

Who remembers Z7B that wonderful steak house in Bulawayo? Stan Nadle and his wife used to only employ 6th formers from Milton as waiters! Used to work for $4 weeknights and $6 weekends plus tips. The Chef was superb! Waiters had a free meal but this excluded fillet. The steak was served on a wooden board with ridges and those onion rings still cause my mouth to water! Ice cream and marshmellow coffee to finish off. Does anyone know what happened to Stan? I know he was a CA and ran the Z7B in his "spare time". Truly wonderful and somewhat innocent age in 71/72.
Clive