THE DISH: Breakfast besties

My absolute favourite meal of the day is breakfast. Anyone who knows me at all knows that brunch is the quickest way to my heart – anything that combines a number of my favourite foods, like eggs, sausages, fruit, juice, coffee, and, alcohol if you're into a morning mimosa, gets my immediate vote. And so, I've left my house this week twice to try different breakfast menus – first, at one of my favourite joints that I am trying to make become my local, the Nyama Mama at Capital Centre – and another one that I will write about later this week.

My sister in law, who I was having breakfast with, is on a keto diet – which I could never do – that dictates that she cannot eat carbs.

The reason I can't do this diet is that I cannot live without my mother's chapatis – but even more so, fries. It's a low carb (when I say low carb, I mean literally two spoonfuls of rice) diet, packed with protein and fibre, and regular meal intervals.

I know, it sounds healthy, but I am not at that stage of my food journey where I am willing to do this! Anyway, so naturally she was concerned about whether or not they would be able to cater to her needs, but luckily, there is a good range of things on the menu that can be changed or substituted to cater to dietary needs.

I, on the other hand, was starving, and decided to go completely all out with my breakfast, which I of course did not finish.

When we walked in, it was 11:30, so they had already finished serving breakfast, but our hostess graciously indulged us and allowed us to have breakfast at that late hour, possibly because it wasn't too busy.

I hear over the weekend sometimes they have to close the entry doors because the place is so packed!

ENERGY FOR THE DAY

First, I decided to have a juice instead of a coffee, even though I was quite sleepy, I needed energy for the day. I love how they serve the juice using little cute glass bottles.

Then I decided that as I waited for breakfast, I would have their beef samosas that come with a delectable pineapple chutney – all four of them, to myself.

This was the beginning of the downward spiral, because once again, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. My sister couldn't help me with the samosas because of her diet, and so, here I was. After the samosas, the breakfast came – chicken strips on a bed of tasty sukuma wiki (yes, for breakfast – just because I am not doing the keto diet doesn't mean I am not eating healthy!), sautéed mushrooms and a half of a herb roasted tomato. I had decided I needed a side of kachumbari (see how much pressure I was feeling to be healthy?) and of course, at the end of the two hours we were there for, I had to pack it all away.

Did I mention that I had also ordered brown chapatis? The lesson here I, don't go to Nyama Mama when you're feeling hungry, because there are way too many attractive things on the menu.

They still have a bit of a challenge figuring out service, with sometimes forgotten orders or waiters who forget or don't understand what is on the menu, but generally, they're getting much better since the last time I was there.

I had to walk off my weight after that meal, so me and my takeaway bag went to Naivas. I can't actually remember the last time I was in a Naivas supermarket, and the last time I was at Capital Centre, this place was an Uchumi, so you can imagine my great surprise as to the cleanliness and spaciousness of this new outfit. Naivas is looking really good.

I almost bought more vegetables to add to my takeaway kachumbari, and then realised I was teetering on the edge of gluttony...

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