Zebra's African Steakhouse in Bicton

Last Saturday, Rob and myself met up with Rinnie and Matt for a movie (The Da Vinci Code) and dinner. The movie itself was only okay - all of us had already read the book and agreed that the movie didn't quite give the same feel. Not certain if this was due to the actors' performances or the layout of the movie itself.

We had dinner at Zebra's African Steakhouse in Bicton. Dinner was very enjoyable, and thanks guys for humoring me by allowing me to take photos of your plates. The decor of the restaurant was done very well - you definitely can tell it is meant to be African. The photos below give an idea of the decoration inside and outside the restaurant (we arrived pretty early - even before the steakhouse opened its doors at 18:30 - and we had the opportunity to take photos with an empty diner). The interior of the restaurant is quite spacious and I think it would be a great place to have a function at. There is also an outdoor bar that one encounters upon entering, which is also just as nicely decorated. Service was friendly and polite, although my main meal arrived at the table 5-10minutes after the others. Otherwise the service was faultless and the waitstaff always had smiles on their faces.







Entree

Rin's sister had recommended the Matopos Mushrooms ($10.50) - grilled mushrooms stuffed with cheese. It was quite nice, but I thought was quite simple and (of course) easily done at home.



Matt had the Prawn Jabulani ($13.75), which I believe is served with avocadoes. I didn't have a try of it, so I can't say whether it was good or not, but Matt said it was nice. It certainly looked yummy.




Mains

With the main meals, you get baked potatoes or rice and vegetables or the salad bar. All of us went with the salad bar which had a good variety of salads. There is also the option to change the sauce served with the meat - from memory, you could choose from creamy garlic, bbq or piripiri. Like Rob said, the dishes tend to be simplistic (how many different ways can you present steak, except to change the sauces?), but delicious.



Rinnie ordered the Piripiri Prawn ($29.75), and it looked really good. It tasted damn good as well. The prawns were big, fresh and done well.



Matt went for the Piripiri T-bone Steak ($27.75) which was huge! It came out sizzling on a hot plate and drowned in the hot piripiri sauce. It was apparently quite yummy.



Rob, always the adventurous eater (more so than myself), ordered the Safari Platter ($29.75) which had crocodile, ostrich, buffalo, boerewors served with monkey gland and piripiri dipping sauce. Boerewors is a sausage, and according to this website, monkey gland sauce was invented as a joke. We've had crocodile before (it wasn't so bad, was it Rinnie?) and we still love it. The ostrich meat unexpectedly had a similar texture and taste to red meat, and the buffalo meat tasted similar to beef.



Last, but not least, I went for the Chicken Shosholoza which was meant to be served with a creamy garlic sauce, but I opted for the more spicy piripiri sauce. Like Matt's t-bone steak, the chicken came out sizzling on a hot plate, drenched in the sauce. The chicken breast was done quite nicely, and wasn't overcooked or dry at all.




Desserts

After the meal, almost everyone was looking forward to dessert. All the desserts were very nicely presented. The only thing on the desserts menu I knew was traditional to African cuisine is the Koeksister ($8.25) - which is basically pastry which has been braided, deep fried and then dipped in sugar syrup. It is similar to the doughnuts as we know them in the western culture. Obviously, Rob and I ordered one to share. It was nice (included ice cream too), but would probably have been a little bit too rich for me to finish one on my own.



Rinnie ordered this Passionfruit Granadilla ($8.25), which is a very creamy dessert presented like a creme caramel, but with passionfruit sauce. I had a tiny taste, and it was yummy, but I am rather intolerant to creamy things and have to conclude that I would not be able to have more than one bite of this dessert. I believe Rin enjoyed her dessert :)



Matt ordered Coffee Crunch ($8.25), which from memory is a coffee-flavoured ice-cream.




All in all, movie and dinner with a couple of our friends was a very nice way to spend the latter part of the Saturday. We had a good time, and this African steakhouse gets our thumbs up (especially if you have the Entertainment Card handy).