Food review: Le Grenier à Pain

Toast au poulet (chicken and toast) at Le Grenier Au Pain. PHOTO| ABIGAIL ARUNGA

What you need to know:

  • The service is ok.
  • I’ve been there about three times, and on two of those occasions, the food took some time to come, though our waiter didn’t prepare us for the wait time – to the point that we were asking if they had forgotten about our order.

Le Grenier is a French Bakery located on 9 Riverside Drive in Nairobi. It is the first branch in Africa of this leading French Bakery, and intends to maintain its reputation as such. The décor is very sparse and minimalistic, with even muted tones throughout the restaurant and ambient lighting.

The bakery serves pastries, breads and a few meals as well – the menu is compact but appropriate and tasty – no one wants a huge menu that takes you 15 minutes to decide what to eat on. The croissants are tasty, and because I’m a bread lover, my weakness is always the bread basket, and trying not to eat it all before my food comes.

The service is ok. I’ve been there about three times, and on two of those occasions, the food took some time to come, though our waiter didn’t prepare us for the wait time – to the point that we were asking if they had forgotten about our order. One of those times was when they had just opened, and so I think they were still working out some kinks with smooth running of the place, so one of our drinks orders got mixed up. Aside from that, the service is good – clean and friendly. We reported our concerns to the supervisor, who was also very nice about it. I like that they out down the orders on tablets, so that there is little room for error.

And, I have really enjoyed eating whatever I’ve had there. Every single meal has been an exploration of flavours in my mouth. The breakfast and the toast au poulet, especially. Now, since it is French, don’t expect the portions to be particularly large. But they are evenly priced, so perhaps make a 3-course meal of it.