Sable Square. Where to begin with Sable Square? Sable Square is another mzungu hangout a little way outside of Arusha, on my side, traveling into town on the Lower Road. The Sable Square complex consists of two grocery stores, a gym, a brewery-esque space (Tanzanian equivalent), a few restaurants, a shop for buying jewelry and various other, different, consumer goods, a pharmacy, a safari company and most importantly, not one, but two, coffee shops.
The two cafes, Butter & Scotch AND Msumbi’s, are what draw me to Sable Square. The one, Butter & Scotch, has a French, smooth jazz vibe. The flow of the coffee house entering from the front take you through an entry room with a couch and small table, the largest room next door through an arch has various different types of seating options and then an outdoor seating area that looks out onto a fenced-in area that has Grant gazelles and a strange, pre-historic crane type bird that is there on the rare occassion. They play jazz music, have solid coffee (I crush their hot & iced lattes), a super choice brownie with orange rinds, and an out-of-this-world burger, that I’ve gotten twice. I love Butter & Scotch. It is an escape. A refuge and a place where I can recharged my batteries heading into every week.
Msumbi’s is the other café at Sable Square. It has a different vibe. It is smaller, one room, with a square seating area with six seats, a long-table with seats on the side when you walk in and an outdoor seating area on a narrow patio. It is more of a come-and-go coffee shop. People get their coffee products to-go and bounce. I however, considering the 45 minutes to hr daladala ride, prefer to come and stay for at least two hours. The cost of serious discomfort, lack of personal space and sweating is that you make the most of where you’re going by staying there for a while. The biggest difference between Butter & Scotch and Msumbi’s is that Msumbi’s doesn’t play music. It is a fabulous reading spot. I also once had a delightful conversation with a one Ralph Williams (a long-term missionary in Monduli Juu) about culture, communication styles and generally made stories with one another.
I’ve stopped going to Compassion International on Saturdays due to the isolation being too brutal there, after a week of that nonsense at Maasae Girls, and have started going to Sable Square essentially every Saturday. It is part of my weekly routine and I am so thankful that this place exists. I’m not sure what I would do without it. Being able to get away from my community, the people and Monduli for a few hours is a God-send. Thank God for Butter & Scotch (new as of the start of last November) and Msumbi’s.
Tanzanian Times 