Nairobi Restaurant Week 2016 (Part 2)

On Thursday, I featured part 1 of my NRW series. Today, I'll talk more about two of the restaurants I visited, OhCha Noodle Bar and Zen Garden. I predict I'll be starving once I'm done! I'm definitely looking forward to reviewing more restaurants in and around Nairobi. 

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OhCha Noodle Bar

I've actually never been here before, but I've been meaning to go so when my fellow foodie and blogger friend Darshani of https://cupcakestocurry.wordpress.com/ suggested a few options for lunch, I picked this one. I knew that the one at Westgate would be busy, so lazy me decided to go to the one at Village Market. 

OhCha's NRW 2016 menu

For starters, I decided to go for the Vegetable Spring Roll. The spring rolls themselves were good, but I especially liked the sauce they came with! Not quite sure what it was, but it was some sort of sweet and spicy concoction. 

Vegetable Spring Roll (and apologies for the wonky picture; I blame my hunger)

For the main meal, I ordered the Chicken Cashew Nuts. Now, keep in mind that I'm not usually a fan of nuts in food, so I was being a little adventurous here, and it paid off. I loved the chicken! The flavours blended together really well- there was enough savoury and spicy to delight me. The chicken itself had great flavour, which I know sometimes can be a hit or miss for restaurants. I would definitely return for it. Another exciting thing that happened was that I had enough left over to take home- and I may or may not have finished these leftovers as soon as I got home... 

Chicken Cashew Nuts

If you're confused by what the food was served in, don't be! Since we were at a food court, the food came in ready-to-take-away boxes. The design on the boxes was pretty cool, but I'm not going to lie, I had a really hard time closing the box and finally had to ask for help! 

For dessert, there were no options to choose from, so we got the Coconut Panna Cotta that was part of the menu. It was really refreshing, and I see why it was selected as the dessert of choice! It wasn't too sweet, so we were able to finish the whole thing. 

Coconut Panna Cotta

Overall, I enjoyed my OhCha experience and I do plan to return, especially so to actually try their noodle bar. I can't say much for the ambiance since we were in a food court, but the service was pretty good. One of my favourite things about this meal, apart from the chicken, was how well the different courses blended together. 

Bonus: I really liked the bags they gave us to put our take away in! 

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(Bamboo at) Zen Garden 

Now, since Zen Garden is one of my favourites (two of my favourites?), there was no way I could skip doing this during NRW! I love having friends who love food too, and two of them accompanied me for dinner. Zen Garden's Pan-Asian side, Bamboo, did the NRW 2016 menu, but the continental side, Jade, did not. 

Pic courtesy of Zen Garden 

For starters, I went with the first starter platter, which consisted of Crispy Pork & Ginger Spring Rolls, the Spicy California Maki Roll, and the Five Spice Snapper Dumpling, and my friends went for the vegetarian platter. Surprisingly, when I read the menu, the dumplings sounded then least appealing, but they turned out to be my favourite appetiser on the plate! The sauces were great too, and I ended up hanging onto them to add to my main meal. I loved the combination of the starters, especially so the spring rolls and the dumplings. 

Zen Starter Platter (Vegetarian)

Zen Starter Platter

For the main meal, I ordered the Sesame & Spring Onion Chicken, and my friends got the Zen Manchurian and the Tofu in Black Bean & Spicy Soy (both vegetarian). Can I just say that my chicken was AMAZING?! Again, here's something I really hope they add to their regular menu! The flavours of sesame and spring onion blended together seamlessly, and I just loved the whole thing (and finished it too)! My friends enjoyed their meals as well, and after having tried a bite of the tofu, I agreed. If I was to order vegetarian, I would've gotten that. 

Sesame & Spring Onion Chicken

Zen Manchurian

Tofu in Black Bean & Spicy Soy

For their dessert we all got the Freshly Baked Mango Tart with a Salted Caramel Macaroon & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. To be absolutely honest, out of all the desserts I've had at Zen Garden, this one was my least favourite (their passion fruit cheesecake, however? I live to eat it). Maybe this is because it was hard to live up to such an amazing second course! However, I absolutely LOVED their presentation. 

Freshly Baked Mango Tart with a Salted Caramel Macaroon & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

The service here was amazing, as usual; it's like the waiter knew right when to come over, and that's always a good thing. The ambiance at this restaurant is one of my favourites in Nairobi, I doubt there's anyone around who doesn't know that! 

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The Verdict on NRW 2016

There are some who felt that the prices were a little steep, and a regular meal at these restaurants may have been cheaper, but I loved the opportunity to try dishes that weren't on their regular menus! I do wish that the price included at least one drink though, it may have been a more attractive offering to many. 

Favourite starter: Zen Garden followed VERY closely by OhCha

Favourite main meal: Zen Garden

Favourite dessert: About Thyme, definitely! I could live on this....

Favourite combination: OhCha

Favourite presentation: Zen Garden for starters and dessert, About Thyme for main meal, OhCha for takeaway

Did you all get to try out any restaurants for NRW 2016? I'd love to hear about them! 

Nairobi Restaurant Week 2016 (Part 1)

If you know anything about me at all by now, it should be this- I'm a huge food and wine lover. Combine that with a love of writing, and I resolved to make sure I write more about food and wine this year!

Nairobi Restaurant Week ran from the 28th of January to the 7th of February, with some restaurants extending until the 12th. Around 50 of the city's finest restaurants designed special 3 course menus for KSH. 1500 or 2500, and 2 course lunch menus were also available, for KSH. 1000 or 1800. This was the first Nairobi Restaurant Week I was actually in the country for, so I was really excited to attend!

I managed to attend 3 restaurants this time, and hopefully next year, with a little bit of planning, I'll be able to try more! I managed to do About Thyme, OhCha Noodle Bar and Zen Garden.

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About Thyme 

I started off NRW 2016 by heading to About Thyme for a lovely lunch with my mum. We both decided to do two courses, and share a starter and a dessert. A good thing too, since we were both so full by the end of it! 

For starters, we had the Golden Sweetcorn Fritters with Avocado Salsa. 

Golden Sweetcorn Fritters with Avocado Salsa

I really enjoyed these, especially with the avocado and lemon (or was it lime? I confess to being horribly ignorant about the differences). I've only ever had salsa that definitely had hints of red and came in a bowl, so this was a cool change. I definitely wouldn't mind trying these again- maybe they could add them to their regular menu? Hint hint? The only thing I think would've made them a little better would be a little chilli on the side- and I definitely used the sauce they gave! 

For the main meal, my mum ordered the Tamarind and Chilli Tilapia, and I had the Morendat New York Farm Strip Steak on a Mushroom Puff Tartlet. 

Tamarind and Chilli Tilapia

Morendat New York Farm Strip Steak on a Mushroom Puff Tartlet

My mum says that the fish was excellent, and the bite I stole definitely confirmed this. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't as interested in the kale as she was, so I can't comment on this! While my steak was good, I felt that it definitely couldn't measure up to About Thyme's famous pepper steak (seriously, it's so good), so part of my meal was spent fondly thinking about the latter. However, I loved the mushroom sauce, and the combination with the tartlet! The veggies were done well, and I actually finished them.

NB: I know this might make some of you stop reading, but I feel like I must warn you- I order my steak well done. Like, almost burnt. No chance of anything bleeding on my plate!

For dessert, Mum and I went for the dessert trio, which consisted of a chocolate pot, banoffee tartlet and granadilla/lime cheesecake. Oh. My. Goodness. I'd've happily come back to do NRW at About Thyme and had this for all three courses (and I expressed as much to the owner). This trio was DIVINE!

Dessert Trio

Aside from the food, the service was warm and friendly as usual, and I noticed Deborah (the owner) going around and checking on everyone, including us. I'd never sat in the garden before, and I think it was a pleasant location for lunch. Bonus points for the fact that I didn't get eaten alive by mosquitoes as I usually do! 

If they had to add anything from their NRW 2016 menu to their regular one, I would strongly suggest the dessert!! 

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Keep an eye out for my next post, in which I talk all about OhCha and Zen!