With the range of cuisines available to us getting more and more diverse we were all excited to be invited along to Zim Braai in Ashley Cross for our first taste of South African Cuisine.
Zim Braai offers a range of vibrant food for you to explore, drawing from Southern Africa with heavy influences from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi, as well as the south eastern islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles, Madagascar and the Spice Island of Zanzibar. Using the traditional wood-charcoal Braai to grill a range of meats and fish, along with a cast iron Potijies for traditional stews and curries the menu is truly diverse with something for everyone.
We were warmly welcomed by the staff and once seated took a moment to cast our eyes around the décor, real care and attention has been put in to the design of this restaurant to create a feeling of an authentic experience.
We all took a moment to look over the menu, with so much choice on offer we ask the experts to recommend some dishes to get a good feel for this style of food. First up from the Potjie was the Cape Malay curry, a traditional fruity chicken curry ordered alongside Zim greens and chilli broccoli. The combination of sweet and savoury was mouth watering, the chicken cooked perfectly absorbing all the flavours of the sauce.
Ross, not liking anything too spicy went with the recommended Zimbabwean Dovi, a chicken and peanut based curry with spinach, peppers and tomatoes, the combination of spices were warming without blowing your head off, again the chicken was cooked perfectly, full of flavour, proving just how expertly they cook their meats at Zim Braai.
For the vegetarian of the group the Grilled Aubergine sounded too good to resist, the aubergine is Braai’d and quartered then topped with chilli and tomato ratatouille served with a side of pitta bread. The sauce was sweet and sticky and completely moreish, paired with the chargilled flavour of the aubergine it was absolutely divine, without doubt worth a trip back for!
Our regular readers will know that Gary cannot resist a burger, so, purely for research purposes, he thought it best to order one as a comparison, and he was not disappointed! The generous burger was cooked perfectly, stacked high with crispy bacon and salad, definitely one to visit if you share his love of burgers!
We highly recommend you give Zim Braai a try; the diversity of the menu is a wonderful way to introduce your taste buds to new flavours from a different culture.
Tel. 01202 068010
Address. Zim Braai is located at 99 Commercial Rd, Poole, BH14 0JD
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