Cafenion – Arundel ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚪️

🔻Ambience 

The white decor of Cafe Nion has always been attractive to me – the Greek theme & menu adds some intrigue – suddenly I’m in a Greek cafe in the middle of Harare. The background music has always been on the quiet. Never loud enough to distract from a conversation or have you engage in a ping-pong of ‘what?!’ with the servers. These days, they play Greek piano classics, but I much preferred it when they played classic Greek love songs which I would often Shazam out of curiosity.

It’s a cafe you’re meant to pass by and enjoy a light meal or coffee.
The smoking section, however, is not very separate from the rest of the cafe, which for a non-smoker like me is not ideal.

🔻 Customer Service

This is one of the very few cafes/restaurants in Harare where a waiter will recognise and attend to you within 5 minutes of your arrival. Something that I like very much. The waiters have a good knowledge of the menu ( the menu boards here are the best I’ve seen anywhere) and if you’re a regular you can expect they will know your regular order, often suggesting it you before you say a word.

Plenty of charging ports and a dedicated bar area if you have to do some work while there. No in-shop WiFi though, you’ll have to rely on ZOL. The bathrooms are a delight – private and always clean.

If you’re too warm or too cold, the servers will gladly help with either gas heaters or a fan. Also available are portable chargers/power banks for the more popular brands of mobile phones. It is appreciated that the waiters are not tip-aggressive, a huge plus.

🔻The Cuppa

The Coffee/Cappucino served here is among the best in town. Second only to two or three other establishments and that’s only because it’s rather inconsistent. Their barista came third last year in a national barista competition, whose name I forget but I remember seeing the plaque in the cafe. So in terms of coffee art and sheer quality- you can look forward to a delightful surprise every morning. There was a time I visited this cafe every morning for about a month – I noticed then there was an inconsistency in the strength and taste of the cappuccinos. But, nothing too major to take away from their otherwise brilliant serve. Nice choice and range of pastries to have with your coffee too.

🔻 Pricing

A regular cappuccino is $2.50 which is on the fair-end of cappuccino prices in the city. It’s always served with a complimentary and somewhat dry cookie – which I’m making a habit of leaving alone these days.

Last year they’d served chocolate wafer bars which I loved. Overall good value for money. A double espresso is $3 while a regular coffee is $2. All payment methods are accepted.

🔻What you’ll like

Prompt service and good value for money coffee, beautiful atmosphere.

🔻 What you won’t like

The prices on the rest of the menu. While I can’t (and won’t) make a good assessment of their food, the prices (to me anyway) are on the high end. Not a lot of affordable bites. I repeat the smoking section is too close.

* E&OE
* This review was not Sponsored.