Tag: Restaurant
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Vegetarian Delights at Nairobi’s Haandi
Like a true fox I am a carnivore. But a long time ago I learnt that vegetarian food need not be dull and boring. It was my first consultancy visit to India and I was staying at the Lodhi Hotel in Delhi. The hotel had what was said to be the best vegetarian restaurant in […]
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Il Portico: Nairobi’s Newest Pizza Place
Pizzas. They are an Italian invention, based on a yeasted flatbread, spread with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce and baked in an oven. But their glory is that they can also be topped with a variety of vegetables, meats, and condiments. ‘The great thing about pizzas,’ says Alessandro, ‘is that they can be made of […]
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Thinking of Running a Restaurant?
Have you heard the claim that most restaurants close within the first year? It’s a notion that has had a well-travelled run. Perhaps it’s related to an old American Express commercial that claimed that 90% of them failed in their first year. However, recent research studies show that this statistic is false. One thorough study […]
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An Authentic Taste of Mexico in Nairobi
I’ve said for a long time that Nairobi’s burgeoning culinary scene has lacked a decent Latin American inspired restaurant. I’m talking about the likes of the UK’s Wahaca and Las Iguanas – two very successful chains that serve Central and South American influenced street food in contemporary restaurants-cum-cocktail bars. Mexican food has become increasingly popular […]
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Sampling a Lebanese Cuisine in Westlands
The Phoenicians were sailors, weren’t they? And, back many years BC (from 1,500 to 300 BC, to be precise), their lands stretched across what is now Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Syria and south-west Turkey. Even further, their colonies, so Wikipedia tells us, reached right across the Mediterranean and to the Atlantic Ocean. So it is hardly […]
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A Bohemian Eatery in Karen
The vegan chocolate mousse came with a pansy flower on top – striking purple petals with a yellow face. ‘Can I eat it?’ I asked my wife, Lut. ‘Yes, you can,’ she said. ‘And if you don’t I will!’ So I did. We were at the Boho Eatery, beautifully set in the grounds of the […]
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Cricket in The Tavern along Rhapta Road
Cricket and conversation go together, don’t they? One of my collection of happy memories from my domestic days in England is listening to test match commentaries on the radio while painting a room, weeding the garden, or even washing up. John Arlott – one of the best of the commentators in those days – could […]
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The Asmara: A Taste of Eritrea in Karen
I haven’t been too fond of Ethiopian cuisine. Yes, I have enjoyed a few good evenings out in Addis Ababa. But they were more about the social aspects of the meal – a group of us sitting around a table and choosing pieces of spiced meat or vegetables from a large round platter lined with […]
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Kenyan Food with Contemporary Twists
If I’m ever rich enough to open my own restaurant, I now know what it would look like. The interior designers of Nyama Mama’s flagship restaurant, at Delta Towers in Westlands, got it spot on. The dangling Edison bulbs and other faux vintage paraphernalia instil a sense of nostalgia without being pretentious, and the Kitenge […]
Going Places Africa 