Nairobi Restaurant Week kicks off

FROM LEFT: Viva Global Marketing Executive Meera Karia, Liquid Africa CEO Tim Challen and Taste Awards General Manager Kunali Dodha during the launch of Nairobi Restaurant Week 2015 yesterday. [PHOTO: WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/ STANDARD]

NAIROBI: Imagine eating the kind of food you see in magazines with near-perfect presentation and the imagination of how good it must taste from just the look of it. The kind of food you can only dream about because eating it would dent your wallet.

That is the kind of food Nairobi residents will sample today and for the next eight days as the city celebrates some of the best culinary skills from top restaurants and top chefs in the annual Nairobi Restaurant Week (NRW).

The event, which kicked off Thursday, will see more than 50 restaurants run by some of the top chefs in the city participating in showing the culinary prowess and at a price friendly enough for anyone willing to treat their taste buds to something new.

The NRW, which was launched last year, has become an annual event for food lovers and restaurant owners to interact and celebrate good food.

“The restaurant week is held in different cities all over the world including New York, London, Amsterdam and Cape Town and when we launched it in Kenya last year, we wanted it to be part of the celebration of the country having turned 50,” explained Eat Out general manager Hiyabel Tewoldemedh the man behind the event.

Participating restaurants were meant to come up with a one-off limited menu specifically for the period of the event, with meals ranging between Sh1,500 and Sh2,000.

“For restaurants, it is not a chance to make money but open themselves up to new clients. The NRW offers the restaurants an incredible chance to market themselves and test culinary skills on both existing and new clients,” explained Hiyabel.

The Standard has learnt that each meal at any restaurant, whether for the price of Sh1,500 or Sh2,000 depending on the establishment, will be accompanied by a complimentary cocktail from the event’s main sponsor, Magnum Cream Liqueur.

WINE AND COCKTAILS

Apart from the incredible chance to market their brands, the participating restaurants will also receive training from twitter Africa, which has partnered with Eat Out.

“The partnership between Eat Out and twitter Africa will see the restaurants trained on how best to take advantage of the platform to put their brand out there,” Hiyabel explained.

Food lovers should also look forward to sampling different kinds of wine and cocktails. The wine list, Hiyabel explained, will offer a selection of the glass or bottle by Birds and Bees, Carlo Rossi, Casillero del Diablo and Frontera. The cocktail list on the other hand will offer a selection of innovative cocktails from Magnum Cream Liqueur and Cruz Vodka.

“You will be able to easily and perfectly pair your food menu with the wine guide,” she added.

The Eat Out manager pointed out that the main objective of the annual event, which is in its second year is to celebrate different cuisines that one can find in the city.

“The concept for this year’s event is the same as the one we had last year and it gives people a chance to sample what Nairobi has to offer from a menu created specifically for the event. We try to ensure there is a mix of restaurants from all cuisine types, formal and informal dining establishments,” said Hiyabel.

She explained that no specific criterion was used to pick out the restaurants that are participating.

“We opened registration for participation back in October last year and we actually have a majority of the restaurants that participated last year participating in this year’s event. We encourage participation from all establishments,” she added.

Some of the participating restaurants include 360 Degrees Artisan Pizza, 88 at Villa Rosa Kempinski, About Thyme, Adega, Anghiti Muthaiga, Anghiti Westlands, Artisan at Sankara Nairobi, Asmara, Bamboo at Zen to mention but a few.

Eat Out Kenya has partnered with Nairobi Restaurant Week and is organised by Taste Events Limited, which is a partnership between Eat Out and SHK Consulting. It has also partnered with taxi service provider Uber, which will offer each restaurant-goer Sh2,000 off two rides via the code NRW2015.