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Stan Higgins

In Harare, the name Veldemeer has become synonymous with delicious chocolate treats, which is the result of a couple of decades of top-end chocolate-making in the city by Hans Veldemeer and his team.

In recent years, however, that reputation has spread to the area of dining out, stemming from Hans’ decision a few years ago to venture into the world of restaurants, and today there are two such establishments carrying the Veldemeer name in suburban Harare.

Belgian-born Hans came to this country just over a quarter of a century ago to start up a business producing Belgian-style chocolate products.

For many years his principal operation was at Doone Estate in Msasa, but he moved from there some time ago and the chocolate-making now takes place in premises in Mount Pleasant. There are now, unsurprisingly perhaps, four retail outlets for these remarkably good products, in Arundel Village, Village Walk, Sam Levy’s Village and at the new Highland Park shopping centre in Highlands.

It was to the longer-running of the two restaurants that my guest and I went for lunch this past week: Café Veldemeer in the Arundel Village area of Mount Pleasant.

This is a busy suburban retail complex and there are now a number of businesses operating in the surrounding area, so I should think an attractive dining venue is very welcome to the folk working or shopping there.

Café Veldemeer opened in 2015 and has grown in size and stature, with more recent developments being a large bakery and an extended seating area that includes both indoor and outdoor options.

With good weather the norm in Harare, daytime diners really enjoy a chance for the kind of al fresco dining that Hans and partner Ros Byrne have created here. A more recent development has been the opening of Veldemeer’s Bistro in the new Italian Club premises opposite the Chisipite shopping centre and, although I have not been there yet myself, I have heard good reports of from friends who have.

At the Café, we were impressed by a menu, which is not huge but has a great variety on offer, including a substantial amount of vegetarian and vegan content, something increasingly in demand these days. My guest and I both had soup to start: butternut for her and roasted tomato for me, both tasty and satisfying.

For main course I had a delightful linguine Alfredo, which had chicken cubes in addition to the mushrooms expected of this dish, while my guest had a rump steak with a mushroom sauce, accompanied by salad and chips, the latter with a tangy mayonnaise, Belgian style.

After such a satisfying pair of dishes I didn’t think I could manage dessert, but a sighting of the Café Veldemeer cheesecake was enough to convince me to ‘just do it’ and it was a real treat.

Lunch was a superb example of a genuinely enjoyable lunch and we had delightful service from our waiter, Munya Mubvumbe.

The bakery at the Café is a very busy one and its products are highly valued by customers, who come from far off to enjoy these items, including what can only be described as a ‘wow’ selection of cakes. In fact, the Veldemeer cakes have garnered a fine reputation akin to that of the same brand chocolates. I know a great many people who swear their croissants to be the best in Zimbabwe, too.

We were delighted to have a chance to spend some time chatting to Han and to Ros, and it was interesting to hear Hans’ story of how he came to Zimbabwe, having previously worked in the then Zaire for 10 years.

He put in a great of time learning all about the chocolate business while setting up this business in Harare and his big breakthrough came when Meikles Hotel, followed by The Victoria Falls Hotel, decided to use Veldemeer chocolates for their bedroom turndown gifts, and for other uses. Ros is well known in Zimbabwe for her pottery business, now no longer functioning, but which produced a vast array of great products.

Café Veldemeer is open from Monday to Saturday between 8am and 8pm, with kitchen closing at 7pm, while Veldemeer’s Bistro at the Italian Club premises is open 8am to 5pm daily. While much of the menu is similar at each, there are no pizzas or waffles at the latter. Both are fully licensed.

The bakery at Mount Pleasant keeps the Chisipite operation fully supplied with fresh products each day. A fairly new development at Café Veldemeer in the early evenings is a tapas-style offering suitable for sundowner time.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch and look forward to trying out the Chisipite operation soon. I’m always impressed by the obvious effort made by a restaurant for good quality content and for pleasing service and I hope that the kind of standards we saw here can be those adopted by all restaurant operators, irrespective of their style of business or size of operation.

Café Veldemeer is on Quorn Avenue, Mount Pleasant, immediately opposite Arundel Village, while Veldemeer’s Bistro is at the Italian Club, ED Mnangagwa Road, immediately opposite the Chisipite shopping centre. Enquiries and reservations, call 0784 596116.

I’d love to hear from readers about their likes and dislikes in the world of dining out, and to hear of their experiences. E-mail [email protected]