Onami Grill and Sushi Bar - Westgate Mall, Nairobi, Kenya

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya! Starting off with a pure foodie post ~ from an expat area mall called Westgate - where we'll explore Onami Grill and Sushi Bar!


Love the decorations in the restaurant. Especially the 'central' area that has a vase ... that looks suspiciously Chinese. From the Ming dynasty era, or something. But let's not nitpick :)


We're each served with a mini salad to start off. And of course, green tea - I don't really drink anything else with Japanese food.


Appetizers - Assorted Tempura. 3 big prawns, sweet potato, green beans and others. Quite above average!


Salmon sashimi slices are huge! Thick and meaty, and very fresh, too.


Red Snapper sashimi comes as an appetizer.


Since it's lunch I go for a grilled chicken thigh with spanish paprika sauce. It's got a nice taste, but ... doesn't at all fit the overall Japanese food 'taste.'


Prawn noodles - unfortunately no idea how it tasted, but it looked pretty good!


Overall, was a pretty nice place. A bit on the pricey side perhaps - 9,000KES for four people (roughly MYR360).

Photo Spam: Mauritius Diary (Post #2, Day 4)

Continuing my previous series for my Mauritius trip! Starting off with the Sunday market in Quatre Bornes. Not unlike Petaling Street, but 90% of the things sold here are clothes and food.


Speaking of food, I go for 'special briyani' from one of the dozens of stalls selling ... briyani.


It's a huge mound of savory rice (not as 'strong-tasting' as indian briyani), with a big potato and chicken drumstick buried somewhere inside. Delicious, and at 80Rs or so, not too pricey either.


Can't say the same about the Curry Chicken with Rice I had at the Food Court at Ebene Way. Lots and lots of rice, but the curry wasn't spicy at all and tasted closer to tomato sauce chicken than curry.


Not sure how accurate it is, but this pizza chain advertises itself as Mauritius' best pizza.


I try the Cheesy Double Salami. The pizza itself is pretty good, but pricey as heck. 179Rs for a personal pizza (19cm diameter).


Finishing off the post with something cultural. Colleague in the office's son just took his first Holy Communion - and these 'gifts packs' were passed out to everyone in the office (and I assume everyone at the church, too). Commemorative gifts! I don't even remember when I took my first communion.


Won't have any more updates til next week; weekdays are pretty much work only, with the weekends for exploring. Also I'll be in Kenya the whole of next week. Still undecided if I should lug along my camera ... hmmm.

Photo Spam: Mauritius Diary (Post #1, Day 2)

Photo Spam time! Just some random shots about my working trip to Mauritius! It's only my second day here so I haven't actually gone to any touristy-type places, but anyway we start off with a fountain. In the Dubai airport. And you thought KLIA was cool :)


There's another big manmade pond/garden there too:


So anyway I'm staying at a small residential township area named Quatre Bornes, in a rented apartment. Office is in Ebene City, about 10 minutes' drive away. The 'commercial' area of Quatre Bornes is quite quiet, if I'm honest.


Lots of cars, though.


And since this is supposed to be a food blog, here's some Kebab shop named Shabaan Snacks.


Chicken, Shredded cabbage, some kind of vegetable, and 3 sauces in a Baguette. Doesn't look like much but tasted great - 75Rs I think.


Random musing: I've seen Proton Waja's, Wira's and Perodua Kelisa's, all the way here in the African continent! Don't know whether to have the 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit, or to feel bad for the sorry sods who bought Protons over Hondas or Toyotas. Oh, random wall.


Saw lots of sugar cane fields on the road from the airport.


Distant mountains ...


Don't know what building this was, but it looked nice. Couldn't get a good angle cos the security guard chased me away after this shot :(


Same buildings.


Some important building. Houses one of the government ministries if I'm not mistaken.


Things here are expensive! Food is okay, but groceries and household goods are pricey. I bought a smallish tube of Johnson's & Johnson's facial wash/scrub for 270Rs T_T (usd1 = 29.9Rs, myr1 = 9.69Rs)


Day 2 thoughts: I thought the entire continent of Africa was supposed to be dry, hot, and humid, but it's been pretty damn cold these 2 days. Like Genting Highlands cold, brrr. Read Wikipedia if you want actual facts about Mauritius.

Boathouse - Taman Tun Dr Ismail

Short story time! The darling and I were hunting for a place named Las Carretas the other day. We found it on the opposite side of the highway, but after half an hour of fruitless wandering we couldn't figure out how to get there, so we said f it and decided to go to Boathouse over in TTDI instead (on Gim Siang's recommendation), where we happily bumped into a bunch of old high school mates who I hadn't met in ages!

OK fine, you had to be there.

Anyway on to the food! Boathouse apparently has been around for quite a while. Initial impressions are great. The restaurant has a nice cozy feel, and can be quite romantic. Service is nice, with friendly waitresses. Lots of interesting touches too, like the bar which doubles up as an aquarium. Drink your beer and look at fish at the same time!


Kind of goes downhill from there, though. The Onion Soup is basically Tomato Broth with some onion stirred in. And with a slice of cheese. I'm all for fusion and experimentation in food, but when I order Onion Soup I expect it to be mainly about the onion, and not about the Tomato.


Fried Calamari was pretty decent - however the serving portion is mostly just all salad and not much squid.


Spaghetti Carbonara with beef bacon and sturgeon roe - disappointing. We've read some other food bloggers describing it as 'creamy,' but we'd think a more apt description would be 'watery.' And a bit lacking in taste & flavour.


Finally, we also have the Sausages and Mash. The dish comes with 3 long sausages - chorizo, beef, and ... lamb, I think. Or chicken. Can't remember, ha ha. Sausages were 'ok' - definitely much better than your Ramly brand supermarket sausages, but still quite lacking if compared with deli places like Jarrod & Rawlins. The dish is served with non-pork bacon and ham - possibly turkey, chicken or beef. Which doesn't really matter cos bacon and ham must be pork, or else it is just not nice.


The deco, service and ambience mean that this is a great place to come hang out, chug a few beers and munch on some tidbits, but if you're looking for a serious food journey you'd be best spending your money elsewhere. Dinner wasn't cheap - the soup, starter + 2 mains cost us about MYR90-ish after tax and service charge.