Nairobi

I got off the bus at the round-about near Westlands—lucky for me, my fellow passenger Lillian, and witness to the accident, got off with me and was so kind to wait around with me until I was properly situated. Rachel met me a few minutes later with her mom’s car—an older, yet exquisitely maintained, Volvo sedan. She was also with her three year old son and nine year old daughter. Her son said nothing to me, her daughter spoke like an adult and was a lot of fun to talk to.

We went to Carnivore, along with a few other Hubert Fellows from Nairobi. I think the first time I had heard about this restaurant was on the Canadian show “Travel Travel” back when we used to only get one Canadian channel up in Montgomery Center.  And it had stuck in my head since then. I almost went there four years ago when I was on my way through Nairobi to go to Kampala but decided against it. I’m glad I waited because I don’t think it would be as much fun without friends to share the experience.

It’s huge; an entire campus onto itself. There’s the restaurant and a nightclub and even more that I didn’t get to explore. The restaurant is a flat fee—about $30 for all you can. If they included drinks, it would have been even better but still, great time. Basically, it’s sort of a five course meal. They bring you appetizers, soup, a salad (one small plate for all to share, but, eh, it’s called Carnivore for a reason), meat and then dessert. The apps and the soup, were the best part from a pure culinary perspective, they would have been good anywhere. The meat is spectacular because of what you’re eating and not really how it is prepared. Although the chicken sausages were really, really good.

A few years ago, Kenya passed a law which essentially removed some of the wild game from the menu: if you want zebra, gazelle, etc, you’ve got to go to the South African version of Carnivore. Still, I had enough meat to last me a while: chicken, pork, beef – pedestrian. But I ate a cow nut—not verbatim how it’s listed on the menu. I won’t go out of my way to eat it again. I also tasted crocodile, ostrich and camel—none which were terribly delicious or anything I’m going to seek out on a regular basis. But the experience is great. You have a flag in the middle of the table and the servers have the meat on skewers and just keep circulating throughout the restaurant to the tables with the flag up until you are completely stuffed with meat.

Next day, I met up with Brian (friend from med school and Nairobian—mnairobi) and moved to his family’s house for a few nights. Here I was treated to traditional Kenyan hospitality. I was welcomed into the family, served more food than I could ever eat and made to feel so comfortable. Brian also took me around the Central Business District (CBD) and showed me all sorts of sights including the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC) where we sweet talked the woman selling tickets with Swahili to give me a resident rate! And what a view from up on the top of the second tallest building in Nairobi. We saw Mt. Kenya and the Nairobi National Park and we also were looking into the national stadium when Kenya scored the winning goal over Angola to keep hope alive in the qualifiers for the African Cup.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at Church and then had a leisurely afternoon lunch at the local restaurant. We then went on a  big walk of their neighborhood and I got a chance to see Nairobi. And then for dinner, I can’t forget the meals—I was treated to some traditional Kamba dishes cooked to perfection, and, naturally, in gigantic portions. So many thanks to Brian, Faith, Dolly and Mama na Baba Kilonzo.