Zimpapers Logo

Stan Higgins

Fine dining is a concept within the restaurant trade that focuses on meals that are more sophisticated than standard dishes, so the venues hosting this kind of food are expected to feature décor, cuisine and service of a stylish, luxurious top-end nature.

The renowned Swiss hospitality genius Cesar Ritz worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with equally famous chef Auguste Escoffier at the Grand Hotel in Monaco to offer what they said were ‘luxury accommodations and gourmet dining all under one roof’ and almost all fine dining in succeeding years has been based on their creative foundation.

Harare diners have taken to fine dining in a big way and several restaurants focus entirely or mostly on this area of cuisine. Several years ago a restaurant competition in Zimbabwe described the layers of dining venues as being fine dining, exotic, family and café and in truth all restaurants and coffee shops could well be placed into one of these categories quite easily.

It was to a fairly new fine dining restaurant that my guest and I went recently and we enjoyed the experience of a meal created to treat all the senses and not just satisfy a need for food. It’s Classique 27, a fine dining restaurant at 27 Ridgeway South in Highlands, a small retail and dining complex that already houses two well-known restaurants, The Mustard Seed and Pamugoti, as well as a spa, conference venue and several other operations.

The restaurant is interesting in layout, being housed in several rooms of what was once a residence. In the past few weeks extensions have been built, resulting from the success of Classique 27 since it opened last year. Warm, welcoming, cosy and attractively decorated, we discovered it features one of the loveliest of all culinary offerings: the flambe trolley.

As far as I know the only venues in Harare which today offer dishes prepared on the trolley are Monos restaurant in the Monomotapa Hotel and Tiffany’s at Cresta Jameson. La Fontaine grillroom at Meikles Hotel does not, I understand, offer this at present, although this was for decades a hallmark there.

So Classique 27 brings a dimension to dining with their flambe trolleys that is pure theatre, with the server preparing the dish in front of you, complete with use of various spirits and liqueurs that are lit to burn off the alcohol and create a flame that thrills the diners.

Primarily an evening dining venue, the Classique experience is, in fact, available for lunchtime dining, too, so we had lunch there, not dinner. In charge of our table was Rion Bakasa, whom I have know at several restaurants over the years and who must now be one of Harare’s most experienced and, indeed, best waiters. Our flambe dishes were prepared by Sunboy Madanhire, who has flambe credentials going back a number of years and has brought this talent to Classique.

There are two menus on offer, a three-courser and a four-courser, with a price differential between the two. We selected from the three-course menu primarily and enjoyed starters of soup for me and prawns for my guest, while for mains we had salmon and lamb.

Dessert was a no-brainer: we both went for the crepes Suzette, prepared on the trolley by Sunboy. Superb, and thoroughly entertaining too, as he took up through the steps.  I must recommend a choice of either a main course or a dessert that has to be prepared this way, for it offers such a visual delight to enhance the whole experience.

The menus change from time to time and I understand version five of both will be launched in early August. Presentation by the chef is excellent and there was a level of service attentiveness that was commensurate with increased expectations on our part, given that we were going to a fine dining venue. Higher prices mean greater expectations and pressure is high for kitchen and service staff to come up with the goods!

Classique 27 is a welcome addition to the Harare restaurant community with lunch and dinner on offer every day and I am delighted it is gaining a positive reputation for an all-round experience that is superlative, judging by comments I have seen in social media and from people I know to have been there.

It is a venue for people who really enjoy good food in a charming environment that in unhurried (unless you advise the team that you have time limits) and undisturbed by noise and distractions. Reservations are highly recommended: call 0776 653614.

Readers, what are you likes and dislikes in the world of cuisine? What are you experiences, good and bad. E-mail me at [email protected] to let me know your feedback and input.