Category: Restaurants (Page 35 of 53)

We’re lucky that our apartment is situated in an area where there are several restaurants. We eat out practically every night, and it’s good to have variety. Last night it was our turn to try Ethiopian food – and Red Sea in particular. It was quite good.
I went with Paul and Avi, two of my colleagues, and both Paul and I had the mixed meat plate. This includes 4 different meat “stews” and a hardboiled egg with sauce. There is also some veggies and cheese. The whole thing is served on a huge platter, on top of injera. A couple of the stews were spicy (but not very spicy) and the other two were mild. They were all very good, among the best ones I’ve had at Ethiopian restaurants.
Avi, on the other hand, was less lucky with his fish. He ordered something that looked like fish sticks with a sauce. He wasn’t that pleased with it.
Service was good and friendly.
The restaurant itself has an outdoor bar area – where we ate – which is rather informal, there is even a TV, but can be pleasant on a warm night. There is also an indoor dining room which I didn’t check out.
The meal, which included a few non-alcoholic drinks but no desserts (all they had were fruit salads, came to about Ks 2200, $33.
Red Sea
Lenana Road
Nairobi

The Java House is a little mall restaurant in the Ya Ya center serving coffees and pastries, as well as sandwiches and burgers and breakfast foods. The prices are the same or a little bit above what you’d pay in America – and the food can be pretty good. I’ve been there twice, already, and we’ll probably go back again.
On my previous visit I ordered their BBQ beef sandwich. I wasn’t incredibly happy with it, the sandwich was pretty dry and the bbq sauce scant and not that tasty. I wouldn’t order it again. Today I had their cheeseburger (Ks. 380 – $5.70) and once again I wasn’t happy. The hamburger was well done and very, very dry. I guess I could have ordered it less cooked, and that would have helped, but I’m not sure that I want to eat ground beef in Kenya that it’s not well done. Not that I have any reason for this prejudice. The flavor was good enough, but I wouldn’t order it again. It came with fries which weren’t particularly crispy – all the fries I’ve had here have been on the soft side – but were tasty.
My colleague had the double chicken sandwich (Ks. 580 – $8.70). He thought it was very good.
We took home an avocado, cheese and tomato sandwich for another colleague (Ks. 300 – $4.50), and I hear these are quite good.
Java House is part of a Nairobi chain.
Java House
Yaya Center
Nairobi
http://www.nairobijavahouse.com/

I will finish my restaurant blogging for the night by mentioning The Cedars, a Lebanese restaurant located a few hundred feet from our apartment building. I haven’t there yet, but last night we ordered their Mezze for Two platter (I think Ks.2600, $40) and I was quite impressed with the quantity and quality of the food – enough to feed 3 with leftovers. I can’t quite remember everything included but the meal consisted of little containers of mini cheese and meat empanadas (slightly sweet), kofta, hummus, babaghanoush, yogurt and pita bread, potatoes, a tomato salad, dolmas, vegetables, and a bunch of other things. Most of it tasted quite good, the kofta were particularly tasty.
The Cedars supposedly does not deliver, but my team mate Martin is so amazing, he can get most people to do anything for him, so they did bring us the food.
I’m sure we’ll order from there again, and I’ll comment about it below.
The Cedars Restaurant
Lenana Road
Nairobi
02-710399

I’ve been in Nairobi for about 10 days, and I’ve eaten food from Osteria del Chianti already 4 times. It’s not so much because it’s a favorite of mine, but because the people I’m with really seem to like it. They also have the incredible advantage of delivering (I’m not sure what their delivery area is, we live within a few hundred meters).
The menu includes pizzas, pastas and meat dishes. The pizzas are all individual size and Roman style – the owner is indeed Italian. They have paper thin crusts, a lack of abundance of cheese but fresh, tasty toppings. The prosciutto in the raw prosciutto pizza tastes Italian, and the abundant arugula in the gorgonzola and arugula pizza is clearly very fresh. In all, if you like Italian-style pizza (and I’m becoming a convert), they are pretty good. If I well remember they average about Ks. 600-700, $9 – 10.50. They are not really big enough to share.
I’ve had both their gnocchi and their meat lasagna so far, and both were OK. I liked the somewhat heavy consistency of the gnocchi, but the sauce needed bolder flavors. Abundant Parmessan cheese helped. It was a very generous portion.
I’m not sure what I didn’t like about the lasagna – other than the fact that the noodles were cooked al dente and that it could have used more cheese. I guess the sauce just didn’t buy me over. I’ve had better and worse.
I’ve only eaten at the restaurant once, and it was a very pleasant experience. It has a large patio, with shaded tables – which makes for a great dining experience in a warm day. Alas, the March rains have arrived in Nairobi, so eating inside may be a better option now. Their dining rooms are quite elegant.
I am sure that I will eat at the Osteria del Chainti again, and I’ll probably comment here about those meals.
Osteria del Chianti
Lenana Road
Nairobi
2 72 31 73

I just came back from dinner at Misono. Ok, I /think/ I just came back from dinner at Misono. I did go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant – I don’t know the name, but given that it’s close to where we are and Misono is located on Lenana road, I’m willing to bet that’s the one I’ve been to. It was quite good.
Misono offers a variety of dining options. You can have sushi (though its menu is quite limited), teppanaki (meat or veggies fired grilled as you watch, a la Benihana – a complete meal starts at around $25 pp), or order from the main menu. That’s a much cheaper option, and we decided to go for it.
I had the chicken katsu and while I liked the tender fried chicken, the sauce itself was too thick and tasted too vinegary and ketchupy. The chicken was definitely better without it. It came with a salad, too vinegary for me to eat. The portion was a good size.
Unfortunately our conversation was too interesting for me to even remember to ask my colleagues what they thought of their food (one had sushi, the other steamed dumpling looking spring rolls and fish), though they made approving noises. The consensus was that we’d go back.
It’s a bit disconcerting being attended by so many bowing Kenyans, but you can’t help but applaud their spirit.
Misono
Lenana Rd.
Nairobi
(254) 20 – 3868959

The Ya Ya center is an unbelievably modern luxury shopping mall, featuring all sorts of western and Kenyan stores selling all imaginable kinds of products. If you want a brand-new camera, a safari outfit, a carved bedroom set or a violin, this is the place to get it. Expect to pay around the same than you would at home (though it could be more, specially now that the dollar is so weak).
It also features several restaurants. Saffron is its Indian offering. We went there for lunch today, and I was pretty impressed. The food was quite good, the service was excellent and the company, of course, was great. The restaurant itself is open to the mall, so it doesn’t have much on the way of atmosphere, but it’s nice enough.
The menu features many dishes that are familiar to western Indian food aficionados. There is chicken korma, tikka massala and tandoori. There is rice and naan. There are plenty of vegetarian offers. They have lassies (Ks100 – $1.50) – though my sweet lassi was too sour and not sweet enough – and massala tea (Ks 90 – $1.35). In other words, if you are in the mood for Indian food, chances are you can find something here to fit your mood.
I was about to play it totally safe and order the chicken korma, my favorite, but decided to go for the Kashmiri lamb curry (Ks 450 – $6.75) instead. It was quite good, sweet and with balanced flavors. I’d been concerned about the tenderness of the meat, but it was cut in very small portions and it wasn’t at all tough. The portion was quite generous (as were all), specially when eaten with rice (Ks 170 – $2.55). I did ask for the curry to be “medium” spice, but it was pretty mild. If you like a little fierness, go for hot.
One of my colleagues had chicken naji and another had the fish naji (Ks 550 – $8.25 each). I didn’t try the fish, but the chicken was moist and while the curry was a little too tame for my taste, it was very pleasant, with sweet, soft flavors. My colleague really liked it.
The naan (Ks 60 – $1) was fine, your typical naan, as was the pappadum (Ks 40 – $.60). The sweet and sour sauce had a nice punch.
In all the lunch was very pleasant, we spent quite a lot of time over it, and I’d definitely go back. Lunch for three, including drinks and tax, came out to Ks 2560, $38. It seems expensive, but Nairobi is quite an expensive city.
Saffron
Yaya Center
Argwings Kodhek Road
Nairobi
387-7236

A couple of weeks ago, I got together with my usual dinner group and we went to Phnom Penh II. For dessert we headed to Adagia, on the recommendation of a friend of Parker’s. I’d been there before with Mike, but I couldn’t remember at all how the desserts were.
Well, I’m here to tell you that their chocolate bread pudding is out of this world. Rich and yet light, very chocolaty and sultry in texture. I think three of us got it and we all enjoyed it.
We weren’t as fond of the spiced semolina cake. It was still good, but I think it may have been better had it not been spiced. The tea creme brulee was a little bit disconcerting, a new flavor. I’m not sure that one that I’d go back for, but it did enjoy it. I’m not one for fruit desserts, but the port poached pears were delicious.
Service was impecable, we went late and they didn’t kick us out 🙂 In all, a great place to go for dessert (and get that bread pudding).

Last Friday, we took our friend Paz to dinner at La Note. I’d been there once before with my friend Regina, and while my burger hadn’t been that good – Regina’s dish had been wonderful. We’d won a $25 gift certificate at the Girls Inc.’s Women of Taste event a few months ago, and I figured I’d use it and give La Note another try. My experience, once again, was mixed. Mike had a great dish, while I had a merely OK one. Paz was too polite to complain about her chicken sandwich, but she didn’t seem to enjoy it too much.
Once again, we started the meal with the Crotin de Fromage de Chevre Cuits aux Noix, “oven baked, nut crusted goat cheese served with french country toasts, roasted garlic & provençales tomatoes.” As in my other visit, the combination was excellent and I think we all enjoyed it.
Mike had a large pastry pocket filled with a variety of seafood including scallops, shrimp, salmon fillet and crabs. He thought it was excellent. I had chicken with prunes (I think), and while the outside of the chicken was tasty, the inside was pretty insipid and the breast was terribly dry – so much that I could not eat it.
For dessert I had a flourless chocolate cake with berry coulis and vanilla ice cream. It was very rich and very good – though I don’t particularly like the coulis (I have to remember to ask them to skip it next time). I’d order it again.
I hear that La Note has a very good brunch, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Last night we went to downtown Palo Alto to relax at Watercourse Way. We left our home a bit late, and it took us a while to get there, so we found ourselves with half an hour for dinner. Taxi’s Hamburgers looked like the sort of place we could get a quick bite.
Mike got a bacon cheeseburger, and he liked it well enough. He found it juicy, though not as juicy as burgers from Nation’s. He’d have it again.
I had their pulled pork platter, which included a pulled pork sandwich (in a hamburger ban), some veggies and your choice of fries or onion rings. The onion rings were a bit dry, but tasty enough. They’d been better with some ranch dressing, of course. I wasn’t thrilled with the pulled pork. It came with a side of a very generic bbq sauce. The pork itself was dry and tasteless.
The food came reasonably quickly.
The place itself tries to look like an old fashioned diner, with a lot of white tiles. You order at the counter, and a waiter brings your food and takes away your plates. They have self-serving soda machines and a potato bar. The food is a bit on the expensive side, it was a bit over $20 for what we had (including two sodas).
I’d probably go again if I was in a hurry, but I’d order a burger.
403 University Ave
Palo Alto, CA
(650) 322-8294
More restaurant reviews at http://www.marga.org/food/rest/