Eating out at some of the city’s finest restaurants: Then and now

Emerald Garden along United Nations Avenue, Gigiri. It’s an authentic Thai restaurant; an oriental complex, with an elegant reception, inside and outside seating, and all overlooked by a pagoda. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Kathy Eldon’s guide was published in 1981, so many of the places were still in operation. But not now! I counted 70 of the restaurants in Nairobi she mentions – excluding those in hotels. Only 12 of them are still open.
  • And those that have survived? Alan Bobbe’s Bistro is still here. But Alan Bobbe is not and, however good and pleasant the restaurant that keeps his name at the Andrews Apartments along Rhapta Road.
  • The other 11 are: the Carnivore, Dragon Pearl, Hong Kong Restaurant, Kentmere Club, Pizza Garden, Tamarind, Lavarini’s Italian Restaurant, Stavrose, Tin Tin, at the KICC; and the Three Bells.

The other day I came across my copy of Kathy Eldon’s Eating Out – her guide to 230 restaurants, cafés and snack bars in Kenya.

The ebullient but, sadly, now retired chef, Eamon Mullan – once of the Ibis Grill in the Norfolk and then at the Pango at the Fairview Hotel – wrote the foreword. 

“What could be more useful in this land of prime produce and varied cuisine,” he asked, “than a book commenting on the eating out habits of the people of Kenya?”         

Well, it was certainly useful to us when we came back to Kenya to stay in 1986.

Kathy Eldon’s guide was published in 1981, so many of the places were still in operation. But not now! I counted 70 of the restaurants in Nairobi she mentions – excluding those in hotels. Only 12 of them are still open and listed on the extensive Eat Out website for Nairobi.

The claim that 90 per cent of restaurants fail during their first year, made by an American Express advertisement back in 2003, may be a gross exaggeration. Nevertheless, the attrition rate is undoubtedly high.

So I was not surprised when I did the little bit of arithmetic prompted by Kathy Eldon’s book.

STILL STANDING

And those that have survived? Alan Bobbe’s Bistro is still here.

But Alan Bobbe is not and, however good and pleasant the restaurant that keeps his name at the Andrews Apartments along Rhapta Road, the delightful eccentricity and eagle-eyed supervision of Alan’s place, which was tucked away in the Caltex House along Koinange Street, could not possibly have been retained.

The other 11 are: the Carnivore, off Langata Road; Dragon Pearl in Bruce House, Standard Street; Hong Kong Restaurant in Kenya House, Koinange Street; Kentmere Club, just beyond Banana Hill and before Limuru; Lavarini’s Italian Restaurant in Moi Avenue; Pizza Garden, opposite the Jacaranda Hotel; Stavrose in Banda Street; Tamarind, the specialist fish restaurant, then in Harambee Avenue and recently moved to Karen Road; Tin Tin, at the KICC; and the Three Bells, then in Tom Mboya Street, now in Woodvale Grove.

There are now 1,218 restaurants for Nairobi listed in the Eat Out website. But it’s not just that there are far more than there were 33 years ago when Kathy Eldon’s guide appeared.

The variety of cuisines is what you might expect of such a cosmopolitan city: French and Italian; Chinese and Indian; Japanese and Thai; Ethiopian and Lebanese; Swahili and West African... But the quality has risen too: the Seven Seafood at the ABC Place, the Pango in the Fairview, the Mandhari in the Serena Hotel, or the Talisman in Karen – and a few others – could compete for the accolade Kathy Eldon gave to Alan Bobbe’s Bistro: “one of the finest restaurants in town”.

One of the newest that would be in that competition is the Emerald Garden along United Nations Avenue, Gigiri. It’s an authentic Thai restaurant; an oriental complex, with an elegant reception, inside and outside seating, and all overlooked by a pagoda.

EMERALD GARDEN

The first time I went there was for a short working lunch, so I had little time to study the menu or savour the food.

One good thing about Thai cuisine, though, is that there is a wide choice of snacks, such as spring rolls, chicken or beef satay, uncooked vegetables and a dip. But I saw enough of the menu and sensed enough of the ambience to decide that I must make a proper visit. And that I did – for a Saturday evening family dinner.

Another good thing about Thai cuisine – like Chinese and Indian – is that it makes enjoyable sense for each person in the group to choose a dish and share it round. The menu deserves a relaxed attention over a drink.

It was a chilly evening, so we started with soup. I went for the Tomyum gai, Thailand‘s famous spicy soup of chicken with mushrooms, galangal, kaffir, lemongrass and chilli. There were five of us, so we were able to create a tantalising mix of dishes; among them, a creamy red beef curry; massaman  curry with peanut sauce,  onions,  potatoes  and chicken; tofu in green curry; sweet and sour vegetables; and pineapple fried rice (served in a pineapple).

The sauces make the distinctive character of Thai food, whether they are coconut or peanut-based. Piquant, they often are. Deliciously so. And the food we had at the Emerald Garden was as piquantly delicious as any Thai food we have tasted anywhere – even in Bangkok.

We were too satisfied with our choices of main course that we had to forgo the deserts. But, with offerings such as mango sticky rice with coconut milk or sago pudding with taro and sweetcorn coconut topping wrap, next time I will reserve some space.

I reckon Kathy Eldon would very much enjoy eating out at the Emerald Garden.