Eating Local in Nairobi

          Eating ‘local’ in Nairobi is a great experience for the more adventurous traveller. Or the very poor one. There's some good food on offer at every level. And I have eaten at every level of 'local' in Nairobi.
       If you have some money available and you enjoy meat - including goat and crocodile - catch a cab to the Carnivore, gorge yourself on their dinner and then party there afterwards. It's a legendary Nairobi thing to do.
      Of course, you can always go for pasta at Trattoria or a burger at Steers if you really have to. And then, of course, the kitchen at the Serena is always excellent. But prices are high by greater Nairobi standards. Sure, I liked Trattoria and it was a favourite of mine when I was sonko(a boss) and doing well in Nairobi.  Later, I only got to drink cappuccino there as a special treat!
      And, as a businessman, I did get to eat at the Serena a few times with the East African Association. This, also when I was sonko. The rest of the time, my varying fortunes took me to some great, less costly places.
      Probably the best 'bistro' type meal is at the Art Cafe at Westgate. Most dishes are excellent and the pastry chef is brilliant. Service is slow but a pleasure when you just want to hang out. It's worth the money.
     There are a number of places in Nairobi that serve very substantial portions of food at very good prices. The kitchens are clean and you won’t suffer any effects from eating at them. They will offer you a better experience than the restaurant at the hotel.

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Somali and Ethiopian food is usually spicier than food from other of Kenya's border countries. Middle Eastern and Arabic influences are strongly in evidence.
     Get onto Kenyatta Avenue, heading downtown. As you get to the Stanley Hotel, on the corner of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street, look left (with the Stanley on your right). You will see a few turrets of the rather beautiful Jamia Mosque, behind the imposing façade of the Macmillan Library facing you. To the right, behind the mosque, you'll find the Al Yusra restaurant, a Somali establishment that serves a wide variety of Somali dishes. If you don't find it, you can always ask one of the Somalis hanging out at the mosque.
     Habesha is Ethiopian. The town branch of Habesha is very close to the Uhuru Highway but doesn’t suffer from noise or exhaust pollution. It serves the 'national food' of Ethiopia, which can only mean one thing: injera.
     Injera is a traditional Ethiopian staple made from fermented sorghum and is served with small portions of Ethiopian specialities. It costs around Ksh800 for a plate that will usually feed two people well. Enjoy eating with your hands.
     There is another Habesha on Argwings Khodek Road (near Yaya Centre) if you have time to relax after eating. It's a cool place to have a few drinks after a meal. But Ul Yusra is special because it is so authentically Somali. Even if you can't drink there.

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Swahili food comprised some of the best dishes I ate in Nairobi and, of course, Mombasa. Eating at “Coast Dishes”, located at 'Coast Bus', is a treat and a rare Nairobi experience. Alternatively “Malindi Dishes” is better, I think. But Erica disagrees.
      Both Coast and Malindi Dishes are as 'local' as can be – Swahili - but give one access to the 'real' Nairobi like few other places do.
     Both restaurants are strictly halal and serve Swahili dishes, mild yellow curries and tikka dishes. Food is served from clean kitchens. Plates piled high with pilau or pishori1 rice pass. They are topped with pieces of chicken or beef or goat or even vegan fare. The prices are very reasonable by Nairobi standards.
      To get there: If you are coming down Accra Road you will find Coast Dishes at the junction of River Road. Malindi Dishes is to your right, at the top of the first road on your right! Just ask. 
      I actually prefer Malindi Dishes for a few reasons: it is usually a little less cramped than Coast Dishes, there is music and there is a makeshift mosque out back. Malindi dishes also has a more decorative and pleasant eating environment. And the chapattis are flowing from the pan at the door.
       Around lunchtime, expect to share your table with people from anywhere. Choose from the menu or the buffet spread.
      Before eating you are brought a plastic basin over which you will wash as a waiter pours water steadily over your hands. Taarab music2 or perhaps more fundamentally Muslim sounds may be heard gently through the sound system. The place is full of Muslims in traditional dress and ordinary street wear. And at 1pm, many of them will rise from their tables to join the throng of worshippers for prayers.
      But, aside from Muslims, you will also find Christians and other members of Kenya’s populace in hungry attendance, all wanting a full meal for half the price of what they’re used to paying uptown. And the food is good.

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Kenya has a plain eating tradition that is only spiced up by Hindu or Swahili culinary influences. The rest is pretty plain. But there are a few really tasty dishes.
      Starting ‘uptown’ once again, one can eat at BJ’s Kitchen that is located near View Park Towers and the Alliance Francais off Loita Street. The restaurant serves traditional Kenyan food and more regular dishes like hamburgers and steak. Their tilapia is quite good and also the kienyeji, ndengu and chapatti.
       Heading downtown, on Kenyatta Avenue, Simmers is on your right, after the big blue I&M building on your left. Simmers does an excellent 'local' lunch. You will pay a little more to eat at Simmers than you might at strictly ‘downtown’ restaurants but it is probably worth it. They have a wide range of Kenyan dishes and accompaniments on offer during lunchtime and most are very good.
       Now you have to head a little more downtown to experience real Kenyan food.
The Highland Restaurant on ‘African Corner’ - where you get matatus to Westlands at most times of night and day - is a firm favourite of Nairobians. To get there, ask directions to the Nairobi Fire Station, stay on the opposite side of the road and heading out of town you will see Highland (in green) as you get to the corner. Between you and the restaurant you will also see a small but very busy matatu ‘stage’ in the little side street. Be careful that you don’t get run over by one of them when you cross the road to reach Highland. Also, don’t ask any of the matatu touts where the Highland is, because they will just try rushing you to “Westlands”.
       Highland serves all the dishes listed below, mostly at very reasonable prices. It can, however, can get uncomfortably full in the evenings as Nairobians meet, and wait for Nairobi’s interminable traffic jam to ease. In the evening, ask for any of the dishes I describe later. They are all quite good. Portions are substantial.
        If you are partial to something akin to an ‘English breakfast’, Highland serves a fairly close facsimile. However, you are not likely to find such a breakfast at many other local restaurants in town. Bacon is costly in Nairobi and not something that Nairobians ordinarily eat. The mandazi at Highland are cooked on-premises and are often still warm till around 10am. Mandazi na chai is worth having as a mid-morning snack at 45 bob.
       If the Highland is full, you might want to try the Roast House. This place is across Tom Mboya Street (the road that the Fire Station is on), across the traffic roundabout where all the matatus are, and over the road (passing the beginning of River Road on your right). Look for the Roast House sign, located quite high up on the opposite building. Be warned that the matatus on the traffic roundabout often park extremely close to each other and it can be like mastering a maze to the other side. But, never mind, you’ll survive it.
       Roast House was a favourite of mine for breakfast and in the mornings. They have a chef in the midst of the patrons who cooks eggs, omelettes and the like in situ. If you choose, you can stand there and have your egg dish cooked exactly as you like it! This is often necessary in Nairobi. Eggs are not a big thing.
       The local fare – for lunch and dinner - at Roast House is also quite good and priced similarly to Highland.  But the special feature of Roast House (actually the butcher next door) is the samoosas that appear on a choma stand outside from about 2pm. The samoosas are very fresh every day, and you are unlikely to suffer Nairobi stomach from eating them. They are not spicy but can help yourself to the kachumbari that is available, for free, in a stainless steel container on the table. The kachumbari is hot and one of the best I ever tasted in Nairobi. You are just welcome to help yourself to it and can even sit at the little table while you eat a samoosa. Street eating, Nairobi style!
       It is interesting that you seldom see Nairobians eating on the street at all and even when eating a samoosa will be inclined to hold it with a serviette ('tissue') and almost shyly peck at it on the sidewalk.
       The Kipepeo (Butterfly) Hotel on River Road serves a great Swahili chai tea and not a bad English breakfast by Nairobi standards for around Ksh400.

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Nairobians perhaps eat more kuku na 'chipo' (chicken and chips) than anything else during lunch hours and on any given day you will find the multitude of chicken places on Moi Avenue filled beyond capacity. Because there is a high turnover of chickens, the birds are always fresh. But you may find that the chicken lacks much flavour. It might have something to do with what and how they are fed. I don’t know, but the chicken is healthy enough even if a little oily from being deep fried after roasting. I never suffered any stomach problems from Nairobi take-away chicken.
       There is a ‘chain’ of chicken outlets that is particularly good and renowned for their chips (or chipo as they are called in Sheng). These places have a blue sign outside advertising Fish and Chips but I have never seen a single fish at any of the branches. They go by the name of ‘Sonford’ on Moi Avenue, ‘Altona’ opposite the Hilton, or 'Nevada' on Tom Mboya. For kuku, chipo and a soda you will generally pay around Ksh200.  Sit with the Kenyans and rip a chicken to shreds.
       After Sonford, my favourite chicken outlet was the Red Robin, also on Moi Avenue but opposite the park, heading towards the verdant side of town (you’ll notice the difference between one side and the other immediately). Find Sonford, behind Nation Media House. Red Robin is on the same side as Sonford, but a little way out.
       There's another Red Robin towards the area called Bus Station but you're not likely to go that end of town. Don't get confused. Dot and I each erupted in our own particular way, thinking each was at the other branch.

       “I'm outside! Where are you?” she screamed.
       “I'm outside! Where are you?” I screamed louder.

We repeated this three times and needless to say, we didn't go home together that night.
       She's conning me I thought. She's probably with another guy.
       The particular delight of both branches of Red Robin is the really good chilli sauce they offer with their chicken. The sauce is kept in a little bucket next to the chicken counter and you are welcome to help yourself. The idea is to pour the chilli sauce over your chicken and then wrap the chicken up in the plastic sheet it is served on. Shake the chicken around a bit inside and then go eat at one of the counters. Somehow, the chilli gets quickly infused into the chicken and it is really delicious. Most chilli sauce in Nairobi is highly synthetic but not so at Red Robin where, I would venture, it's made by a Swahili.

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Now, there is a Luo restaurant on Sheik Karume Road whose name I can’t remember. Heading down Accra Road and coming to River Road, take a right. Sheik Karume Road is on your right. Go up, and somewhere on your left, perhaps halfway up, is a restaurant with stairs leading up. It's the only restaurant on the left side, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. The place serves really good tilapia, spinach and ugali for around Ksh180 and it's a treat!

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At night, there are usually numerous choma stands to be found around town and feel free to eat any of the snacks from these. Note, however, that Kenyan beef is often quite tough, from the long distances the Maasai herders take them to find grazing. But if you are resident in an apartment and choose to cook, the meat found at the supermarkets, while expensive, is probably more what you are used to in terms of tenderness and texture.
       Often it’s fine to eat kebabs and sausages from the choma stands but I cannot vouch for the quality of meat in the samoosas, other than at Roast House. I once ate a samoosa from a sidewalk choma stand and suffered so much I could not leave the house for two days! The samoosas at clubs might all be in the same order, so be careful.
       They are not always easy to find, but during the day and early evening you will often find ‘trailers’ downtown that carry fresh whole fruits that will be cut up, almost to order, for you to enjoy a fruit salad on the sidewalk. On Duruma Road (one street below River Road) there is usually a trailer or two round lunchtime and they sell fresh cut fruit salad for around Ksh60, served in a clean plastic bowl with spoon. Just walk a bit on Duruma Road between 12pm and 1pm and you will usually find one. 
      Finally, if you are spending a late night at Madhouse, you can enjoy an ‘omelette’ Nairobi style and tea or coffee on the sidewalk for 60 bob. Ask for dhania (coriander leaves) to go with your omelet and pili-pili if they have it. When they cook the omelette with bread together, or pamoja, it is particularly good. Their tea is better than their coffee. 
This reminds me: if you like to eat fried eggs in the morning, they will be available at diners and restaurants, but you will have to specify how you want them cooked. Most often you will get a rough omelette or an egg that looks like it was boiled before it was fried. And the colour of the yolk is often not much different from the white; to do with the what they're fed, evidently. Ova probably don't thrive on left-over maize meal.
But Kenya is not big on fried eggs. It's often best just to ask for the egg to be cooked pamoja (together) with mandazi. This way of cooking eggs is usually understood and is essentially French toast, Kenya style. You can say,

Pika mayai na mandazi pamoja”.

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Glossary of Kenyan Foods and Dishes

I suppose it would be customary to give the English term first, followed by the Swahili but because some of the dishes and side orders need just a little explanation, I have given the Swahili terms first. I suppose, if you are looking at a menu, in most instances you will get an English version anyway, but if you are ordering from more ‘local’ restaurant, the dish will probably appear in vernacular only.

Main dishes

Githeri Main dish made with beans and maize (corn)
Maharagwe Main dish made from beans
Matoke Main dish made from stewed green bananas and potato
Ndengu Main dish made from green lentils
Pilau Main dish of pilau rice usually mixed with a small portion of meat

Snacks and accompaniments

Chapatti Indian fried flat ‘bread’
Mshikaki A kebab
Samoosa Indian meat-filled pastry snack
Smokie Brand name for small smoked sausages, often sold on the street

Rice

Mchele Plain rice
Pilau Dish made from pishori rice
Pishori Basmati rice

Cooking styles

Choma Flame grilled
Fry Used instead of the term ‘fried’
Boil Used instead of the term ‘boiled’

Meats & fish

Kuku Chicken
Ngombe Beef
Matumbo Stomach (entrails) of a cow
Mbuzi Goat

Tilapia Fresh water fish from Lake Victoria
Perch Fresh water fish from Lake Victoria
Red snapper Salt water fish from Mombasa

Side Orders

Kienyeji Side order made from mashed peas and corn
Sukuma Leaf of a wild plant, chopped and served like spinach
Ugali Maize meal (the staple that accompanies most meals in Africa)
Mboga (vegetable) Usually refers to cabbage, sukuma or spinach
Pili-pili Chilli peppers
Mchuzi/soupo Sauce
Kachumbari Finely chopped tomato and onion, sometimes with chilli

Beverages & Basics

Chai Tea
Kahawa Coffee
Maji Water
Maziwa Milk
Sukari Sugar
Chumvi Salt
Masala Indian spices (in Tea or with chips)

Vegetables

Kitunguu Onion
Nyanya Tomato
Kiazi/Waluu Potato
Mchicha Spinach

At Breakfast

Mayai Egg
Mkate Bread (sometimes also called 'toast')
Mandazi Fried bread snack eaten at breakfast or as a snack
Mahamri A Swahili mandazi (usually slightly spicy)
Uji Thin porridge made from sorghum, served with lemon juice

Crockery & cutlery

Kikombe Cup
Kioo Glass
Kisu Knife
Uma Fork
Sahani Plate
Kisahani Saucer
Sufuria Saucepan

Jiko Usually refers to coal- or wood-burning stove
Meko Usually refers to a gas stove

Comments, Compliments & Commands

Ni tamu Is ‘sweet’/tasty
Ni tosha Is sufficient
Nime shiba I am satisfied / have had enough

Patie … Give me … (Considered impolite in Mombasa)
Leta3 Bring …

Pika Cook
Tupike We cook
Kula Eat
Chakula Food


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1. Basmati.
2. The music of ‘Coast’.
3. Tafadhali means ‘please’ but is seldom used, perhaps because it has three syllables! In Nairobi it’s usually used in the sense of “PuhLeeeeze, I ask you!”