I think that writing comes with great difficulty if you don’t like what you write about and with this said, I think passion plays a big role in blog posts as well. But I must include that it makes it worthwhile when you have listeners. I mean who wants to talk to someone and not get a reply? Passion for your writing can get you to post even on days you don’t really wanna do it and you feel a sense of accomplishment but having readers or better still subscribers, makes you enjoy relationship!
In this day and age of huge followings on social media, many a blogger have diluted blogging to popularity schemes. In as much as there is nothing wrong in having big dreams, this causes one to shut an eye to the genuine subscribers who are connected to you. It is for this reason that I want to take a moment to thank all my subscribers who hit that button! Lots of appreciation right there! I love travel and adventure and if you ask me, this is a highly competitive niche that if you could have 100 subscribers so far, thank and appreciate them.
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I would like to thank you all because you have encouraged me to do what I love to do and some of you have selflessly contributed comments and the biggest lessons from those is to learn to listen to others. A selfish blogger always wants to be heard but never listens to what others have to say. And I don’t want that to be me.
I needed a treat and I let my appetite lead the way. My taste buds whispered they wanted something scrumptious and not home made. I looked up a few hotels from booking.com and found a resort called The Quorum. I loved the general outlook of the place and headed there.There are restaurants I know of that are not much of an attractive package in terms of outdoors but the food they serve is on point. I was in the mood to enjoy a meal with a view or in a place that appeals greatly to the sense of beauty.
Arrival
I didn’t necessarily make a call, reservation or anything like that. I just got on a cab and arrived there. The place had a parking lot on the outside and I think I only saw two cars on the inside. Most cars were parked outside. Am thinking there should be a bigger parking lot should there be a big event there. So unless there is parts of the resort I didn’t see, I gave them 3 stars for the parking lot.
Upon arrival, the guard did alert someone to take me to the reception and I saw some smiling and welcoming staff and I must say it was smooth sailing. I however understood in no time that this was a club hotel and there were some parts of it that I wanted access to that well…. I couldn’t get to simply because I was not a member. There was a way around it though. I stuck around in the wait room
About the resort
This resort is a club hotel or those kind of resorts that offer membership and loyalty programs. https://www.thequorumzm.com I went there to have an eat out at the spot I saw on booking.com only to be told ‘access denied’ because I was not a member. Ouch! I didn’t let that slide. After digging deeper, I found out I could still have access as a non member if I had one of the services in the resort like spa and spend about $30 dollars minimum there. It was fine by me.
Fast forward, I finally stepped into the restaurant I wanted to dine in because of it’s views. Though found at the resort, it had another name called Mafinga Peak Rooftop Restaurant. This place boasted a sophisticated yet informal atmosphere. There was another restaurant downstairs that I could easily access but that’s not the one I saw on booking.com. I had to get access to the rooftop restaurant.
I don’t think I want to rate their loyalty or membership programs that almost caused me to miss my dining opportunity because this is the lifeline of this resort, it’s a club hotel and ‘members only’ is the password for most services here. I am sure it has its pros but a con is definite, there are one time customers that they may miss out on that may never necessarily want to be all timers or regulars. It’s good that the way out of this was to make customers like us make use of other services as key to another.
The dining area
The dining area had two sides. One side had tables with four seats and others two seats closer to the bar area and covered by a glass demarcation and the other side that was more spacious had comfy sets of casual chairs. The theme colour was lime green a bit of white here and there with a brown floor. There was a seriousness to the place with a touch of casual. What a combo! The place can be ideal for family, business and group gathering yet perfect for an intimate or romantic get away. The beauty with this place is, the restaurant area is not all you see but as you enjoy your food, you have a beautiful view to go with it.
I loved that the place and neighborhood aren’t noisy. The music playing in the background was soothing. Rating the dining area as far as the general vibe is concerned was a 4 star. The reason for not having a 5 star was because the rooftop glass shield meant to enjoy spectacular views has to be super clean all the time because it’s glass. Had this been of other material like marble, a definite 5 star here. Glass easily shows blemish.
The other things that added a touch of beauty to the place is the fountain like structures around the restaurant that added to the relaxed mood. The orange flower pots added a touch of cheerfulness. The ceiling had beautifully hanging simple chandeliers which am sure look heavenly at night time. The rest rooms had a chocolate brown theme and the walls were slapped with modern oval mirrors.
Let’s order!
I was in the mood to have something meaty, a bit of Greek salad and my forever favorite, mashed potatoes. I want to always remember the medium grilled meat I was served. This steak was mildly charred on the outside and still had the brown all through and am sure it was a slow process to avoid it being too tough but succulent.
My Greek salad had simple yet perfect combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, crisp onions, olives in olive oil. I found my mashed potatoes creamy and full of amazing flavor. They were fluffy and well served in a cute bowl.
The bar informed me that the cocktails they had always contained egg whites and they were nice enough to ask if I was allergic. I wasn’t. Funny thing is I have forgotten the name of this cocktail but it had strawberries, fresh lime juice, gin etc. Totally loved the cute glass they used.
As far as the food was concerned, the level of yummy was definitely a 5 star and I should have congratulated the chef. I spent about 40 dollars for the meal and that’s because of some taxes to go with the kind of place. I had two of those cocktails.Wink wink.
Lasting impressions and recommendations
The place is cosy and I loved it’s vibe. The staff bent over backwards to give great service. No place is perfect but so far it’s living up to it’s stars. I would go back again but this time to enjoy the room services.
I really get bored being in one place for too long.I don’t know who suffers from this condition but it’s depressing to have a monotonous life.
Nshima
The same feeling applies to food and views.Sometimes I am okay having my traditional Zambian staple food which is called ‘nshima’ but I wouldn’t want to give my mouth a bore by having it continuously the way I see it get eaten here.
Having a mother that was a hotelier,was literally married to food and fussy about food presentation, those things kind of rubbed on to me.
I feel eating out refreshes your soul.Leave your fridge, stove, pots, pans alone and head straight to a place all that can be done for you PERFECTLY.
No one wants to visit a four or five star hotel and come back loaded heavily with disappointments.We all expect perfection or something close to it!
I had already listed lunch and the target upscale hotel in mind was Radisson Blu hotel.
I may never be sure whether Radisson Blu is a four or five star hotel but the bottom line is it is an upscale hotel where only the best should be good enough.
Being in Lusaka at that time, I took a cab and off I went only to be so well received by a guard at the main gate and the other enterance.No one wants a grumpy waiter, guard or whatever.
I chose to have my lunch at the pool side.I found just few people outside, nothing that could interfere with my looking like a weirdo taking selfish selfies or asking employees to take photos of me for me…..coast was clear, just enough noise.
LET’S ORDER!
I ordered pork spareribs and mashed potatoes. I love potatoes! This was definitely going to go well with a cocktail. And it did! There is a lot of tantalizing that goes on from order time, to eating time and since I was not in the mood to go through that agony, I found something to keep me busy.Viewing!
Let’s order
I went round the hotel enjoying site seeing.When you seek meals in an upscale hotel, even the decor and vibe of the place are a biggie!
Ablution block so clean
I went round and I must say the decor fits well in the theme of the hotel.The hotel has some lovely decor and interesting art work that clients with an eye of art would fancy.My honest opinion is they should not let the same decor up for too long.There should be some changes every now and then .
The front view of the hotel
EATING TIME!
One of things to use to rate a good restaurant as far as I am concerned is length of time of the order. It shows how efficient the staff is.Of course other things come into play like the number of clients. Judging from the length of time it took to prepare the food to it’s mouth watering taste, one may think it took forever to prepare it.
The chef took a good 30 to 40 minutes which I think is the average waiting time for the kind of meal I ordered.Besides, I even inconvenienced the chef by changing my order slightly eating into preparation time.
The first thing I noticed when I saw the food was the generous portions. I have dined out with a 25 dollars I spent on the meal but left with my stomach protesting it didn’t get enough. I was not only stuffed but satisfied.The former has to do with quantity and the latter, quality. My general rating food wise was 9 out of 10!
FINAL RATING
The location of the place is perfect if you want an urban, boutique, close to everything kind of location which was a 9 out of 10.
The staff were super helpful and friendly and this is treatment they gave not for show but if it was fake, I am glad it looked real! That was a 9 out of 10.
I however didn’t appreciate what appeared to be a mini bar right next to the pool which I believe is for those enjoying the pool.I wasn’t there to swim but my eyes told me that place needed a touch up, ASAP before more critiques spot it.
My unbiased rating is a genuine 8.9 out of 10.Experiences differ.Mine was awesome!
