Tag: Karen
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Clean Eating at Boho
‘This is one of the best rhubarb crumbles I’ve ever had!’. That was high praise from my wife, Gabie, who is crazy for crumbles. We were at the Boho Eatery, along Ndovu Road in Karen, enjoying a late lunch on a Sunday afternoon. As she shovelled the crème Anglaise into her mouth with her teaspoon,…
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Exploring the Ngong Road Forest
A few years ago, a good friend of mine told me a story that has stuck with me. He was driving around town with his buddies one evening, with a chocolate cake from Java on the backseat. They hit traffic on Ngong Road, and decided to take the loop behind Jamhuri Park. It was getting…
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Sunday Lunch at the Talisman
One of my most memorable meals was on the terrace of Lamu’s Peponi Hotel. It was a creamy beef and mushroom pasta dish, paired perfectly with a cold beer and a cool sea breeze. The chef who prepared it was probably Ray Cournede, who in 2015 relocated to the kitchen at the Talisman Restaurant along…
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The Hub’s Homely Italian Restaurant
When I spoke to the developers of The Hub Karen before it opened in 2016, they were enthusiastic about the mall’s open-air architecture, and particularly about the large piazza. They said that the design was inspired by the squares of Europe, surrounded by pubs, cafés and Sunday markets. The piazza is still very much the…
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Karen’s Quirky Container Cottage
Over the course of the prolonged cold and wet season, my wife and I decided to spend our weekends sampling cosy Airbnbs around Nairobi. I was surprised at the number of options, particularly in Karen, where there are plenty of quirky and charming houses and cottages. One place caught my eye immediately – The Container…
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Creature Comforts at The River Cottage
For the long Mashujaa Day weekend, my wife and I were on the hunt for a good value Airbnb on the outskirts of Nairobi. The criteria for our search was fairly basic: a small house or cottage with a garden, in a quiet neighbourhood. What we found was far from basic, but it otherwise fitted…
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Sampling the New Kengeles Marula in Karen
When I first interviewed Gavin Bell I asked him why he had opened his first Kengeles bar and restaurant in Lavington. That was back in 1998. He told me that he had been offered a good site in Karen, but he hadn’t taken it because the Karen plots were five acres compared with the one…
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Making a Splash: The New Maji Magic Aqua Park
You may be familiar with the popular game show Total Wipeout, which is often aired on DSTV. The premise is simple: adrenaline-fuelled contestants race each other across an assault course over a large pool of water, tackling obstacles with menacing names like ‘Shapeshifter’ and ‘The Motivator’. I’ve enjoyed many lazy mornings watching people faceplant into…
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Sunday Brunch and Jazz at Hemingways Nairobi
LIMITLESS PROSECCO. The two capitalised words on every brochure for the Sunday Gastronomic Brunch and Jazz at Hemingways Nairobi. Wise marketing, and the clincher for many, I’m sure. It certainly was for my fiancée. We decided to spend the afternoon at Hemingways a couple of Sundays ago. It was the ideal day for it: the…
Going Places Africa 