Delicious burgers, outstanding service at Urban Gourmet
The burgers, as always, were delicious. I had the French Connection burger, which has caramelised onions and blue cheese, so if you’re into a salty burger, this is the one for you. PHOTO| ABIGAIL ARUNGA
What you need to know:
- The burgers, as always, were delicious. I had the French Connection burger, which has caramelised onions and blue cheese, so if you’re into a salty burger, this is the one for you.
- I prefer my burgers medium rare, and UG knows that medium rare does not mean pink through and through, and nor does well done mean nyamachoma. It’s a refreshing change.
Urban Gourmet at Westgate has a special offer for Buy One Burger Get One Free on Mondays – which was excellent for me and about 20 of my friends to celebrate a birthday. That way, we could have a great burger, and still manage to save, because as we all know, this economy, and indeed this year, has been almost no one’s friend, unless you work in or around the NYS and hair salons.
So we called to make a reservation for 20 people, and arrived amidst general birthday melee. Now, if you have been to Urban Gourmet before, you know that the décor feels very Texan cum bar cum fun-time-ranchy (I know, I know, that isn’t a thing), with a signpost directing you to the bars and the burgers, large wall murals telling you what to eat before and after your meal, and funky menus on an urban-weathered style clipboard to boot. The service was swift and managed the pressure of our table, which took up the entire right wing of the establishment. They were prompt, friendly, and efficient, which can be very hard, as you know – just take a look at how most restaurants flounder during restaurant week, or with large tables. At Urban Gourmet, they handled us.
The signage at Urban Gourmet. PHOTO| ABIGAIL ARUNGA
DELICIOUS BURGERS
The burgers, as always, were delicious. I had the French Connection burger, which has caramelised onions and blue cheese, so if you’re into a salty burger, this is the one for you. I prefer my burgers medium rare, and UG knows that medium rare does not mean pink through and through, and nor does well done mean nyamachoma. It’s a refreshing change.
At some point, two tables complained about the amount of noise we were making. I don’t understand Kenyans who do this, and maybe you, dear reader, can explain it to me. I took offense at this for obvious reasons. 1, there is no sign that says keep the noise level below a certain number of decibels. 2, UG is also a bar. How exactly did they think it was going to be a quiet night out? And 3: if you are in a public area that is not a club with rules and regulations, or a place where these rules and regulations have been stated, then I don’t understand the fuss. 4, if UG had a problem with noise, when we made the reservations, wouldn’t they have told us that they only take groups of 10 and less? And 5, when UG is packed to the brim, which it tends to be quite often, the noise is not controllable.
I don’t understand the logic of going to a public space looking for privacy, outside of your sitting room. Those comments slightly marred what was otherwise a great night out.
