100% Chocolate at Artcaffe

London Dairy Strawberry Ice-Cream

Long weekend means time to relax, spend time with the family and catch up on some reading or watch films. And with all that happening food becomes a key highlight for such weekends when you sit back and relish the delicacies. 

On the supermarket visit we picked up the long desired London Dairy Strawberry ice-cream pack. At Kenyan Shillings 560 we have found this to be expensive and always put off the purchase. But last evening we decided to indulge and see what this product was all about. 

A complete delight. Natural tastes, no artificial flavours and ice-cream the way it should be. Money well-spent and we have been spoilt - our next try is going to the Tiramisu flavour. 

Sunday Foodie Delights

One of those Sundays which turns out to be a complete culinary delight.

Lunch at Nairobi Java Coffee House where I relished the Mushroom Chicken Breast.. I really like the mushroom sauce they make. And the fries are always tasty at Java. A meal so good can't be without a wonderful dessert to leave the sweetness of the afternoon lingering for a long time in your mouth. The massive Chocolate Cookie Sundae was ordered. Yes massive is an understatement - look at the size of those choco chip cookies and the 3 scoops of ice creams. Phew!

Choco Chip Sundae at Nairobi Java House

As if the lunch wasn't enough that the wife decided to make the dinner too very interesting. It was home cooked panini and a lovely bottle of red wine accompanied it. Pearly Bay has been my favorite since I first tasted it a few years back with some close friends in Mumbai.

Red wine & Panini 

Truly a delightful Sunday this has been. 2 more days of holidays in Kenya ... Here is to more good food and drinks.

Veg Gujarati Thali in Nairobi

One of my favourite restaurants in Nairobi for simple, good and no nonsense food is Ashiana Vegetarian Restaurant.

The veg thali is delicious and value for money. Nitika and I often go there and eat when we are tired and want a simple meal option. I have a stronger craving to eat there when I am alone in Nairobi.

Reminds me of what good home cooked meals are all about.

Must try!

Guinness Beer - Not my choice

Tried the black Guinness Beer a few weeks ago. Just didn't seem to like it. And my father-in-law said it was very strong and gave him a headache.

I guess I am avoiding this one for sure.

Naked Pizza opens in Nairobi

Much acclaimed across many other countries, NAKED PIZZA finally opened its first store in Nairobi at the end of 2012.

Last night, Nitika and I decided to try it out. One line review: Different and nice.

A quick check on reviews and 4square tips you know that something you surely need to try is their famous Superbiotic pizza. The first bite and you know this is not the pizza sauce and mozzarella loaded typical standard offering. A delight for your taste buds and the parsley makes it yum.

We also tried the greenhouse. Not bad.

Greenhouse pizza at Naked Pizza, Nairobi

It would have been nice to have ended the meal with a little dessert. Maybe some cupcakes or little chocolate pudding. But they don't have anything on their menu. Don't know if that's an international standard.

Oh yes! they don't serve any ketchup or mustard sauce.

They focus a lot on delivery so the outlet isn't very big but yet manages to seat about 40 people.

NAKED PIZZA is digitally very active, so if you want to know something before you order or go there give them a shout.

twitter: @nakedpizzakenya
facebook: nakedpizzakenya

They also have a loyalty program in partnership with Niko Happa. Every 3 check-ins get you something NAKED. Sadly, all the scan does is make you send a pre-set SMS. Nothing fancy.

Their first and only store is in Westlands and I really do hope they come closer to my place for us to be able to order a lot more pizzas. 

Sunday lunch at Carnivore

Carnivore is the famous restaurant in Nairobi which serves a wild variety of game meats. They call it the Beast of a Feast offering meat of ostrich, crocodile and camel roasted over charcoal and carved at the table.

For many years they served probably every kind of meat you could find in a jungle; but since 2004 things have changed and meats of Giraffe, Zebra and some others are now not available there.

At this Sunday lunch, we were a mixed bunch - A few who wanted to eat every meat available, Me - who wanted to try just a few and then some Herbivores who wanted NO meat. So we choose to sit in the area which offers the ALL YOU CAN eat meat offerings which is a fixed price and they serve both veg and non-veg meals.

They called him the medicine man

Dawa

A pumpkin soup and some DAWA wet your appetite before you attack the massive meat offerings. After the server has placed the mountain of sauces & salads, the FLAG is put up - indicating you are now ready for the meats.

Sauces & Salads

Soon the carvers start appearing and bring the many meats. So, what all did we eat? I stuck to chicken and lamb and tried the ostrich meat balls which was nice. I really liked the leg of lamb BUT didn’t enjoy the chicken gizzards, preferred the usual Chicken Wings. I tried some Turkey for the first time and liked the taste of it.

Carver

All in all the meats are very well cooked and it was much edible than I had thought.

If you think you’ve had enough, its time to put down the flag so that the server can clear up your table and bring in the desserts. Lots of variety and after all the tasting - my choice was the best - Choco-Chip Blondie.

Black Magic Gateaux 

Choco-chip Blondie

Before you call the bill, enjoy the afternoon and get yourself some Kenyan Coffee to close the meal.

They call it the Hell 

Carnivore has a wonderful ambiance. Wide-spread, you have the option for both indoor and outdoor seating. Make sure you book a table since they are busy on weekends. The service is prompt and they let you sit easy and relish your meal without being pushed off.

Ethiopian Lunch at Dass Restaurant Nairobi

The first weekend in Nairobi went off catching up on sleep, setting up the kitchen and so there was no action. But the next weekend, Asif my Nairobi-Twitter friend invited me to meet some interesting people over an Ethiopian Lunch. 

The place is called Dass Restaurant and I was told that because we came in post-lunch hour time we were lucky to have the place to ourselves. Yes, there was some intrusive private group activity happening but that's another story. 

So there is not much variety on the menu. You have some salads for starters and then you basically attack the main-course. Ethiopian meals are meats or vegetables cooked in a traditional sauce and served with something called the Injera, which is not very different from what we India eat as the Apam. 

I picked the chicken dish - Doro Watt Alitcha (mild red sauce) I didn't want to experiment the spicy one not knowing how spicy is Ethiopian food. But I was happy with my selection and the meat was soft marinated in a red sauce called Awaze. I also tried a bit of the lamb which Asif had ordered and I think that too can be recommended. Our other 2 friends on the table ordered like a basket - so they got a little of a few dishes mixed like a platter offering. Interesting if you've got a group so you can mix and match the offerings. 

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon and we had all the time in the world to kill so I thought of satisfying the sweet tooth. But no such luck, they don't serve any sweet desserts. Strange, is there is no Ethiopian sweet specialty? 

You can also read the restaurant review done by ChickAboutTown. 

Bachelor's Kitchen Management Tips

It's been 2 months in Nairobi for me. Away from home without the mother or wife to manage the kitchen here. Although I am a foodie and once in a while I did like to experiment I don't think I can call myself even an amateur cook. And running and managing a kitchen on regular basis is an altogether different challenge which I experienced during this trip. 

What I am going to share is a little learning for the many challenges of running a bachelor's kitchen. 

Learn

I think one of the most important things to do is learn as much as you can. Ask family, friends and other people who live alone on what's easy to cook, meal ideas and helpful tips. I must thank some of my ex-colleagues at Mudra who gave me tips and meal ideas to get going. 

Dig

Yes, dig into your memory to remember all those simple meal ideas which you ate when the mother or wife were too tired/bored to cook. You'll be amazed how some simple recipes can produce good, tasty and quick meals to add variety to your daily eating. 

Plan

Don't go to the super-market without having planned your ingredients and other essentials shopping list. You'll end up home with at least 1 key element missing. So the way I did it was - Think Meal. For eg. 1 meal you want to do Thai Curry & Rice. So write - rice, coconut milk, Thai curry paste and veggies to go with it. This way you'll end up having all that is necessary for cooking that meal. 

Shopping List

Goes without saying plan, check and make a list. You'll have some basics which you need to buy every time - bread, milk, eggs, chicken and veggies etc. But every trip you'll want to also pick up some items which add variety to your daily menu, so go back to my "Think Meal" approach. 

Control 

The first few trips to the supermarket you'll go crazy. You want to pick-up pasta sauce, fresh chicken and lots of fresh veggies. And then you only realise that some of it got thrown because you never managed to cook it all in good time. For eg. I bought either chicken or then paneer otherwise you end up consuming one and other rots. 

Experiment

If you're in a new country and see a whole new set of brands and products, I think you should go ahead and experiment. So your first round of shopping should be a mixed bag. For eg. I love flavoured yoghurt. So I bought a small pack of 2 different companies to try. I liked 1 and and now that's a regular in my shopping list. 

So that's it. Hope it helps you manage your kitchen better. Would love to know if you've got a kitchen tip to share with my readers. Leave your thoughts in the comments area below. 

In my next post, I am going to try and share some simple meal ideas which have become my favourites.