The Dish: A taste of Somalia in Nairobi

The design is the first thing you notice when you walk into Kilimanjaro Restaurant along Kimathi Street, Nairobi. It looks modern and appealing with huge windows that let in a lot of natural light. The Arab-themed lighting is soft and inviting. The balcony opening up to Kimathi Street is also a welcome addition for those who prefer eating in open spaces.

 It takes approximately a minute for one of the waiters in red and black to approach a table and give you the menu or take your order. Drinks waiting time is on average five minutes, and food orders take an average of 10 minutes. 

I ordered a cappuccino to sip while I waited for my chicken biryani-listed under Somali delicacies on the menu. The coffee was good. I also liked the latte art as it added life to my cup.

Huge portions 

The chicken biryani came in a huge platter, and the portion was too big for one person. I had almost half of it wrapped for takeaway as I wanted to leave room for dessert. Whatever the dish lacked in plating creativity, it made up for in taste.

I decided to have a fruit salad with honey, nuts and yoghurt to finish off my meal. The fruits were well picked, sweet and fresh. I, however, expected a variety of nuts like almonds and macadamia on my plate but ended up getting a lot of peanuts only, which I am not very fond of.

Somali delicacies

Kilimanjaro offers a variety of signature Somali dishes for breakfast and lunch or dinner.

They also serve Kilimanjaro camel, a pizza topped with onions, egg, tomatoes, dhania, and tiny pieces of camel meat.

There are three options for the breakfast combo: sugar (karanga) made of minced camel meat fried with onions, isbeeso, goat stew made with potatoes, onions and tomatoes, and berr, which means goat liver. 

These three delicacies are served with chapati, anjero mayai (with eggs) or anjero Somali (no eggs). Anjero is a traditional sourdough pancake made with white corn flour, sorghum flour and self-rising flour. You can also enjoy a cup of camel tea or milk with your meals.

For lunch or dinner, they have six options; aleso (boiled goat meat), kostato (boiled camel meat), arosto (fried goat meat), deilo al forno (fried young goat meat), busteki (camel steak) and dibeshi which is grilled tilapia served in a tomato-based sauce. All these are served with a side of your liking.

Other delicacies

The menu at Kilimanjaro is big, with over 200 single listed items that they all serve. It has a mix of the traditional, the modern and the continental.

There are various Indian curries and flatbreads, pizzas, soups, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, pasta and hot meals. Ahmed notes a favourite among many is the sizzling chicken fajita, boneless pan-fried chicken served on a sizzler topped with bell peppers, green peppers and carrots.

“All our meats are marinated overnight in our in-house prepared marinade,” Ahmed Hassan, the manager, is eager to note.

In case you have a vegetarian friend, they will also find something to munch on.

There is a signature grilled vegetable sandwich, vegetable burger, veggies pizza, salads and an assortment of healthy meals on the menu.

The restaurant also serves a variety of non-alcoholic beverages ranging from coffee, tea, fresh fruit juices, detox drinks, syrups, milkshakes, smoothies, mocktails, nojitos (non-alcoholic mojito) and sundaes.

There is also a cakes and pastries section on the menu, with 16 different varieties for those who cannot finish their meal without a dessert.

With prices ranging from Sh120 to Sh 900, it is fair to say Kilimanjaro offers affordable prices to a considerable number of people.