This afternoon we went to lunch to Basilico, a pizzeria a the Ya Ya Center in Hurlingham. My colleagues wanted to go to Osteria del Chianti, but I'd just been there Monday night AND Wednesday night, and there has to be a limit at how often one patronizes a restaurant! Plus it's not like I like their food that much.

So when Gabriel, a colleague from work, suggested that there was an Italian place at the Ya Ya Center, and Brianna (my boss) said it was OK with her, I was quite happy. And indeed, I had a pretty good eating experience.

Basilico is your typical shopping mall deli-style restaurant, don't expect much in the way of ambiance here. But it's cute enough. It offers sandwiches, pizzas, pastas and a few main dishes. But being an Italian place I decided to go for the pasta. I had fusilli (I think) with a tomato mushroom-prosciutto sauce. It was quite good, just the sort of hearty Italian pasta I like. The pasta itself was not cooked al dente (it wasn't soft either), which was a big plus for me.

Gabriel was less happy with his pasta with a gorgonzola cream sauce. He'd had it before and he'd enjoyed it, or maybe he misremembered. Brianna had nothing bad to say about her fish & chips, and as someone who has hang out in London quite a bit, that's probably a high recommendation.

Prices were in the mid hundreds, my pasta, for example, was Ks. 600 - $9. Outrageously expensive if you ask me, but that's the name of the game in Nairobi.

Basilico
Ya Ya Center
Lenana Road
Nairobi
0721 618886