Typically one can expect prices to go down when traveling to a country in abject poverty, such as Zimbabwe, yet when we arrived in Victoria Falls, we were greeted by prices that rivaled fancy pants restaurants in LA. The people certainly could have used the money more than us, but I was still shocked when I sat down to eat lunch at the Buffalo Bar in the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and found myself staring at a $15 burger.
Called the Buffalo Bar Burger, it was made with old-fashioned beef instead of buffalo, and was served topless with cheese and a mango salsa. That’s right, topless. That means no top bun, which I ordinarily wouldn’t mind in the assumption that it is part of the style, but somehow I felt I was being cheated. It did come with fries at least.
The burger turned out to be…well…just fine. It wasn’t bad, per say, but it wasn’t very good either. It was thoroughly cooked through and the mango salsa was a nice touch, but didn’t add too much to the flavor. I do have to admit I liked the melty cheese and the crispy skirt that formed when it hit the griddle. The fries were also nothing special, but helped make up for the lack of bun.
To be fair, the view was pretty spectacular. While the falls themselves weren’t visible, there was a watering hotel that was constantly attracting elephants, buffalo, and antelopes. In the end, that’s what the cost of my burger really went into. Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is a destination for tourists because of that watering hole, however, as guests of the lodge, we didn’t need to order food to get the view, as we had it from our room. So, unless you’re just swinging by the lodge for a view, the food at the Buffalo Bar isn’t exactly something to brag about.
