When the weekend arrives I welcome the opportunity to meet with friends and sample East African cuisine. In many ways this experience can easily be paralleled to dining in the UK, yet at the same time they sit worlds apart… probably because they are worlds apart!
See this as a step-by-step guide to eating out in Kenya; this information could be extremely valuable as you may end up in a Kenyan restaurant when you least expect it.
Time. Like most things in Africa, eating must be given the upmost respect concerning time. Hence, if you plan to eat out in Kisumu, I would recommend ordering roughly two days in advance to avoid any unnecessary waiting. Otherwise you could be waiting a while! The indefinite continued progress of existence aka time; isn’t a huge issue to most here as proceedings tend to happen eventually. Be smart – order early.
Cold. When you order a drink, always, always remember to ask for it to be delivered ‘cold’ (that’s baridi in Kiswahili). Otherwise you will end up with the inevitable look warm, I’d-rather-dehydrate, bottle of Coca-Cola or beer. And who would want that?! But seriously, why is there even the option of taking these drinks warm. I will never know.
Tap Water. Do not even go there if you value life in any shape or form.
The Bill. If I could make up a proverb, it would probably be: “A wise man always cross-references the bill with the menu.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been ‘done in’. It’s almost like a game and your role is to catch-out the restaurant. When you do, everyone laughs (like the end of an episode of Thunderbirds), then you pay the actual price. Easy.
Enjoy your meal. Love you Kenya.
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