Lunch at the Beer Engine, Harare

We arrived in Harare at 12.40pm. It was strange being in a city of 2.6 million people! We were given two hours to get some lunch and have a walk around. Laban recommended a place to go, but we didn’t like the look of it, so we went round the corner with Mona to the Beer Engine, a craft brewery and pub. The barman gave us samples of each of the beers they brew on the premises. We all agreed that their IPA, brewed using imported hops from the USA, was the best and ordered a glass each. We also ordered a platter to share. This comprised of samosas, chicken legs, ribs, sausages, chips, and salad.

While we were waiting for the food to arrive, we met the owner of the place, a British guy who is married to a Zimbabwean and who has lived in the city since 1984. He explained to us that the government are planning to increase the excise duty on his product by 40%, meaning that it will cost him more to produce than he can charge for it, potentially putting him out of business! We complimented him on the quality of his IPA. He realised that our drinks had been poured from a new barrel that hadn’t had time to settle so, even though we’d nearly finished them, he gave us refills on the house. These came from an older barrel and were even better than the first ones. When the food came, it was delicious. We were joined by Ian, who agreed that the IPA was very good. By the time we’d paid our bill, we just had time to nip to the supermarket to stock up for tomorrow’s long driving day.Read more