Cafe Veldemeers — Restaurant in Harare

I am made to believe that this is one of the few top-class cafes in Harare owned by a family of Belgian origin. Indeed, it's a well organised and supremely resourced cafe, and its location is perfect to even operate as a neighbourhood joint.

Let me also point out that I'm not new to the cafe as I go there often because of its proximity. I also find the waiters friendly and orderly. Especially in the past few weeks, where I happen to have gone there more frequently than usual, there seems to be a noticeable improvement in the efficiency and delivery of service. I'm pleasantly impressed by the new energy.

The food had always been good and well portioned even though the menus seems to remain the same.

However, when it comes to billing, it remains to be one of the most notorious places. They seem to always struggle with change regardless of time of day. One would think they would address this chronic issue by either arranging their pricing to minimise change shortages or simply making enough change tokens available. If one adds the amount of small change list to the customer a day, it would amount to a big hidden income to the cafe.

It's disheartening and blatant to always see such unfairness to customers who go there to get good service and be happy to tip the staff generously.

It would've also been helpful if the business declares that any change lost to the customer will go into a kitty where it is shared among the staff at the end of every...

So tried out Cafe Veldemeers yesterday. Had checked out their menu online before going there to see if they have vegan options other than the usual plain salad and chips. Was happy to find 2 options, Falafel bowl and Poke bowl. So i went there and ordered the falafel bowl as takeaway. Was served immediately and food came after 20mins. Was charged $1 for the takeaway container which i wasnt too happy about but oh well. I also ordered a dairy free snoothie and mixed berry was the only option on the menu sadly. Got charged 50c for container for the smoothie.

When i got home, realised instead of roasted chickpeas, which i was looking forward too were missing and they replaced with hummus, which I've never really liked. There was no communication of this switch and i was disappointed.

The falafels were dry but everything else (except the hummus) tasted ok and fresh. The whole bowl 6/10. The berry smoothie was yummy bt a bit too watery 8/10

Falafel bowl 10us incl container Mixed berry smoothie 5.50us incl container Environment 8/10 (the bathrooms were a bit dirty but the sitting area was top notch) Service 10/10

Having vegan options in their bakery section wldve been a huge plus but was happy i got a...

I had a late lunch here. I struggled to pick something to eat because there were just so many promising things to pick from, but I ended up having the Steak Roll. I was imagining a really juicy steak roll, based on the ingredients. I was very disheartened that wasn’t the case. Given that it was a seeded baguette, I think it required juicier fillings. Like pickles and some sort of tangy mayo. I had a Chai Latte to drink. It was alright, could have been better if it was a bit sweeter.

I also got two slices of cake to go. I think making a cake that isn’t sweet is special skill so kudos to the team. However, the wooden forks? Those need to gooo. They had a very distinct loud taste that overrode the cake.

The service was very swift.

EDIT: Food is a great way to get to know myself. What I like and don’t like. If you go back to my earliest food reviews, you’ll see the declaration I made that I hate beef. So why am I so surprised every time I hate a roast beef sandwich. I fear I might have to make a public apology to Veldermeers and The Fridge. It wasn’t you, it was the beef. I just don’t like beef as a concept. Your reviews should not have to suffer for my contempt of...