A travelogue from Abby Salle as she travels through Africa with her family!
Last night, we went to the warm and inviting Dusty Road Restaurant for the township experience. We were greeted by the wonderful owner, Sarah, who welcomed us with some traditional drinks. My favorite was the sweet tea with tamarind, munyii berry and rosella. I ended up having a delicious cocktail concoction with the tea as well. We also tried some of the local beer.
After welcome drinks, Sarah showed us around the restaurant. All of the glasses and tables and chairs were made from recycled materials, like the cocktail glasses made from old Savannah Cider bottles! (Which Mikey definitely got a kick out of.)
All of the food served in the restaurant is cooked traditionally on an open flame stove, and the whole restaurant is modeled after a traditional local Zimbabwean’s home.
We started off the dinner with some tapas, including maize bread, tomato dip, deep-fried kapenta, and fried sadza balls. My favorite was the sadza balls in the tomato dip. The main course was a buffet of all of my favorite homey-feeling Zimbabwean food. I gorged myself on sadza, beef stew (nyama), chicken in peanut butter sauce, Zambezi bream and chomolsa. It was so delicious and (sorry mom and dad!) better than anything I’ve eaten in my Zimbabwean-American house.
I was full and happy, so full I wasn’t sure I’d have room for dessert. However, when dessert come out, I realized how wrong I was. The dessert was chocolate balls, marula nut tarts, and baobab cream pots with masau and munyii berry sauce (same as the tea!) I would do the whole Dusty Road experience again just to taste the baobab pots again!
After I stuffed myself I enjoyed the chatter of other guests and staff as it drowned out the music. After the sun set, we had lights setting the perfect mood. We thanked the chefs, our server, and Sarah, and on our way out, we were greeted by kids clapping, singing, and dancing.
An incredible night that I would recommend to anyone looking to expand their palate (or have a good time) while in Victoria Falls.
