Legendary Thorn Tree Cafe - Sarova Stanley, Nairobi, Kenya

Today let's travel back in time a bit, back to Nairobi, Kenya - where we find ourselves in the Thorn Tree Cafe in the Sarova Stanley hotel. This was during the "Brazilian Gastronomic Week" (which incidentally, coincided with the Brazilian football team Palmeiras' Under-23 squad tour of Nairobi in late March.

The promotion flyer proudly says "Explore your taste buds with provoking Brazilian delicacies prepared by World renowned Chef Paulo," so explore we shall! Starting off with a decidedly un-Brazilian bun with butter ...


... followed by a Brazilian take on the cream of mushroom soup. This soup was pretty delicious! It wasn't 'creamy,' and smooth - if you can imagine blended/purée'd potatoes, then the soup had that kind of consistency. I had to say though that there was a very strong chicken taste (possibly the chef used chicken stock as a base), which sort of overpowered the mushrooms.


Main course is this chicken dish below. Unfortunately I've forgotten the name of the dish, but not the taste! The gravy is sort of like a kurma, but lighter, creamier, and with a hint of chili and citrus flavours.


Overall, pretty good - but having never tasted any Brazilian food before I don't know how authentic the dishes were.

Moving on to a couple of meals I had in room service - these are also cooked by the Thorn Tree Cafe. The lamb curry was very indian tasting - came with rice and naan bread. Flavorful and aromatic, if perhaps a bit lacking in the spiciness department. Africanized Indian cuisine?


Another indian dish - creamy tomato based chicken curry - served with rice. Tomato flavor was nice and subtle and didn't overpower the curry, but again same criticism that there wasn't enough "kick."


10" stone-baked pizza with chicken, pepperoni and anchovies. I love saltiness of anchovies on pizza. I could probably eat an entire cheese-and-anchovy pizza.


Prices are around 600-800 KSh for starters and 1000-1200 KSh for non-seafood mains. The Sarova Stanley hotel is located on the corner of Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street and is within walking distance of Nairobi's Central Business District.