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.

A corner of Italy in the heart of Nairobi - Mediterraneo Italian Restaurant

Ahem! Mediterraneo is an Italian restaurant with two outlets currently open - one in Westgate and another in Junction. I find myself in the Junction outlet for dinner with a bunch of pretty senior & high-ranking guys (and gals) from the company I work with - which is to say I had to really rush the photos without having much luxury time to do proper arrangements or make sure there were no shadows, etc - sorry!

Anyways the decorations are nice and cozy. Definitely a very inviting and warm feel. Having never been to Italy I can't comment on how authentic it is, although the restaurant was opened by an Italian expatriate.


Bread basket with butter - nothing special about the bread or the butter, would have appreciated a bit more variety.


On to the appetizers! I thoroughly enjoyed the Prosciutto Di Parma e Melone Di Voi (Slices of honey-dew melon with Parma ham, 900 KSh)! The saltiness of the ham went very well with the sweetness-and-juiciness of the honey dew. I did initially wonder why I've never seen this dish in any of the Italian joints in Kay-El - but then I remembered that ham is non-halal. Pity ... =(.


Salmone Affumicato Norvegese (Norwegian smoked salmon, 950 KSh). Can't comment because I didn't try it ... which is unfortunate because I love salmon - raw, cooked, smoked, pan fried - anything!


One of our guests was vegetarian so the kitchen whipped up a grilled mixed vegetables platter.


Strangely I can't find this dish below on the menu. I do remember it was some kind of grilled fish fillet.


Me, I'm more of a meat guy so I have the Costata Alla Fiorentina (Classic Florentine T-bone thick and juicy, 1,150 KSh). Not sure if you know this, because I didn't until very recently, but the T-bone is actually a combination of a Strip Steak on one side, and the Tenderloin on the other. This particular steak was huge. Not sure the photo does it justice, because it was close to 1.5-inches thick. It turns out to be a pleasantly delicious slab of meat - nicely seasoned and not too salty, although the inner part of the meat was bordering on 'rare.' For a place that doesn't 'specialize' in steak, it's a great achievement.


If you don't fancy beef, or if you don't feel like a half a kilogram of meat, there's the Costolette D’Agnello Marinate Alla Griglia (Marinated lamb chops, delicately grilled, 900 KSh):


Mediterraneo was by some margin the best Italian restaurant I visited in Nairobi - definitely worth a visit. Prices are reasonable, too!

(At time of writing, 1000 KSh = rm 36.33)

Travel Series: On Safari in the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Nairobi, Kenya)

A few months ago I was in Nairobi for a week. Unfortunately that meant that I didn't have the time needed to take a trip to Kenya's most well known safari area - the Maasai Mara National Reserve - I had to settle for the Nairobi National Park instead. That's OK though, cos for this trip I've got a weekend to spare, and so away we go to the Maasai Mara!

The Park is about a 250km drive from Nairobi, and takes about 6 hours by van. Doing some mental maths that's barely above a 40km/h average - that's because the roads are brutal. Sort of feels like being on a speedboat going on high speed in choppy waters, if you've done that before. If you haven't, well, the roads were so bad that the bumps triggered involuntary grunting. Losing control of your vocal chords aren't fun cos you know ... vocal chords now, what's next? The bladder? Ha ha.


Anyways, since we signed up for the budget package, we find ourselves at a ... campsite, which is where we'll be staying the night.


To be honest it's actually a pleasant surprise, because the tour company had advertised this as "camping" - which it certainly isn't. There are beds, blankets, mosquito nets, an attached toilet and shower, electricity ... it's enough, really.


... oh and there's also hot water! Gotta hope it doesn't rain though, cos if it does, the rain puts out the fire and the water turns cold mighty quick!


Anyways, a 2day/1night itinerary only gives you two 2-3 hour game drives - these are in 4WD's or vans with the roof specially modified to be propped up so us tourists can stand up to ogle the animals.



On to the photographs of the animals then! Lots of different wildlife here ranging from Lions:



Wildebeest:


Zebras:


Various Birds:




Haha, OK, that's a remarkably sexist interpretation of 'bird.' :P ... anyway lets continue, with different kinds of deer/gazelles (sorry lah, I no wildlife expert, don't remember the names of any of these):




Elephants:



Giraffes:


Surprisingly, I actually saw less animals in total here in the Maasai than in the Nairobi National Park - many more lions, though. Unfortunately, thanks to the 6 hour trip we didn't have a full day to go deeper into the reserve. If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to come, definitely go for at least a 3day/2night. And if you're able to schedule your trip, definitely make it around August-September when the Great Wildebeest Migrations happen.

Oh, and to sign off the post: Malaysia represent, yo!


I went with Kairi Tours and Safaris. Average all-in prices are about 18-20,000 KSh (rm 660) for 2days/1night, or about 25-27,000 KSh (rm 910) for 3days/2nights.

http://www.kairi.co.ke/
info@kairi.co.ke

Thai Chi - Africanized Thai cuisine in The Sarova Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya.

So anyway I've suddenly realized that since the birth of Look See Eat, we've never blogged about any sort of Thai food. Possibly because even though Thailand is our neighbor, there aren't really that many Thai restaurants in KL. So naturally, in order to rectify the obvious lack of Thai food on the blog, there is no other choice than to travel to Nairobi in the heart of Kenya to get some Thai food going, in the Thai Chi restaurant in the Sarova Stanley!


The Thai Chi restaurant is actually pretty small. I don't have exact figures but it would probably only seat 50 diners at the most. It's also pretty popular, so much so that without a reservation you pretty much get turned away like we did - twice - even on a weeknight.


Decorations are ... well ... I don't actually know if they're authentic, but the restaurant does feel quite nice and cozy.


On to the food, though, and we start off with an appetizer of Poh Pai Jee (Thai vegetable rolls with carrot relish). I have to say that it was just mediocre - nothing different from any other spring roll / popiah.


The Tom Yum Gai was better. Fragrant and tasty, with just the right amount of sour-ness. Could have used a bit more on the spice/chili though.


We had two curry dishes. The first one being the Gang Kiew Wan (Fragrant green curry dressed vegetables with coconut cream and basil):


And the second was the Gai Gang Ped (Traditional Thai red curry with basil). Both curries smelled great and were very tasty. But both curries were also flat. Despite being marked on the menu as "moderate hot," neither curry had the slightest hint of any chili at all. Naturally this was a huge disappointment, as eating Thai food that isn't spicy is like eating a vegetarian burger. What's the point?


Rounding up the main course was Phad Thai (Wok tossed noodles with shrimp, tofu, spring onions, palm sugar and eggs with tamarind sauce, fresh bean sprouts and peanuts). The shrimp were actually very fresh, which was a pleasant surprise. The texture of the noodles were pretty good, but taste-wise again they were a little bland.


Dessert was just a simple deep-fried vanilla ice cream. Because I was eating with colleagues I had to control macho (ha ha), but I'm always amazed at how ice cream can be deep fried and not melt. Yes I could probably wikipedia to find out, but then the magic would be lost!


Well, while I don't doubt that the Thai Chi is probably one of the better Thai joints in Nairobi, the food has very obviously been adapted for non-Thai tastes. It's actually decently good, fragrant and tasty, just missing the 'kick' that Chili gives. If you ever do find yourself here, make sure you tell your waitress to up the chili level.

The Thai Chi is in the Sarova Stanley hotel in the middle of Nairobi's Central Business District. Dinner above for 3 persons plus some non-alcoholic beverages was about 6,500 Sh (RM 232.05).

Photo Spam: David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Nairobi, Kenya

More Photo Spam! This will be the last in my Nairobi/Kenya series of posts. David Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage takes in baby and young elephants who are orphaned from their parents (most probably because the parents died to poachers who were after their tusks for ivory). Left in the wild, these young elephants would have no chance to survive, so the Orphanage takes them in, feeds them and nurtures them, and then releases them to the wild once they're big enough to fend for themselves.

The elephants are fed once a day at 11am, and for a token sum of KES 500 (RM 19.45), visitors get to come in and watch. It's actually a pretty fun visit, being able to see these young, playful elephants drinking milk and splashing around in a mud pool. The keepers will also give a short talk on the history of each of the elephants.












The Orphanage is right next to the Nairobi National Park, so if you're going there for safari do try to include a visit to the elephant orphanage - it'll definitely be worth your time.

Photo Spam: Safari trip at Nairobi National Park

If you're ever in Kenya for work, play, holiday, whatever, do make sure you keep at least two days free for Safari at the Masai Mara national park. Unfortunately I only had one day free, so I had to go to the infinitely less awesome nearby Nairobi National Park.

The park is right next to Nairobi, so you can actually see the city in the background! Click here for a bigger version of this picture ~


Anyway, on safari you go in these vans that have the roof cut off so you can stand up and have a 360degree view of the surroundings.


Random shot of the trails.


Dodo? No idea what bird this is, haha.


Buffalo! Yeah I know, 'never see buffalo before meh??' XD


Only saw these two lions the entire trip. And even finding them took almost an hour of stalking and searching.


Zebra ...


More zebras and a kind of animal whose name I don't remember ...






Giraffe. Didn't see many of these either, probably 5 or so.


I remember specifically asking the guide what this animal was ... but I can't remember what he told me :(


More Zebras!


Safari to Nairobi National Park, David Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage, and detour to Masai handicraft place cost me 11,000 Sh - roughly MYR 430. Was a tad bit expensive cos I went alone - going in a group brings down the per-pax cost considerably.