Monday, August 6, 2012

Amaika

A pick by the Kenyans, this restaurant had an amazing ethnic ambiance and gorgeous decor, while at the same time offered a variety of food from every corner of the country. Some chose to make the full “journey” (to be referred simply as journey from now on. It’s an acceptable change). Others decided to order a la carte and share. Although I fall in the second category, I will clearly talk about both (unless you are a completely oblivious reader, by now it should have dawned on you that I love talking about food whether it’s on my plate or someone else’s).

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Really cool lamp!

After a very tiring journey that day, coffee was my first order. Kenyan style, great. Hadn’t actually tried it before. With a Tusker on the side, life was as beautiful as it could possibly be. But just to make sure we were fully comfortable, four clay furnace-type things filled with glowing embers (I know I should have taken a picture, but I didn’t) were brought to all four sides of the table to keep us warm. 

As the journey for some began, others stared drooling at their food and picked at their appetizers. And some appetizers those were: fried white flying ants. No joke! You could see the tentacles and the wings. Crunchy, awful aftertaste and generally disgusting.

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Not my best picture, but you can almost see that those are ants the size of a sunflower seed. 
Then, we ordered moratina. Fermented honey wine that tasted just like mead (although I’ve like never tried mead in my conscious life, I’m pretty sure this is what it’s supposed to taste like). To check my spelling I just came across a blog claiming moratina is Kikuyu. That has yet to be confirmed. Was confirmed. My cabby cracked up when I told him that I moratina and kinda liked it. Apparently, it's a very traditional drink made on certain occasions like weddings: families sit with moratina when negotiating dowry.

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The little bottle on the side is filled with moratina. Very cool. The candle is just for composition. And to make a dinner of 11 romantic. 

The journey proceeded with fermented millet porridge. Not a standing ovation, but overall positive feedback from those that tried it. And then they just started bringing different pots of cooked meat and side dishes and the journey guys, and girl, were wolfing down through various types of deliciousness, while we were still waiting for our food. Now I’m not going to focus on their food, but on ours. They got the same stuff, cooked in different ways and a lot more of it. But that’s just details.

Oh before I continue, we actually did order an appetizer, but that was served somewhere mid way through the journey. Anyway, chicken gizzards. Yet again I learn a new word in English. And yet again I am amazing at how close Kenyan cuisine is to Bulgarian. To save the trouble of some of my readers: pileshki vodenichki po selski. Hadn’t had those in a very long time.

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My plate Smile
Starting @ 12:00 o’clock – Quail in a somewhat creamy sauce. Didn’t remember what was in it. A little boney with softer bones than a chicken. A little heavy. Not to be used for engorgement.

@ 3 o’clock – matoke – banana cooked in tomato sauce. I honestly found this a little strange. Couldn’t quite reconcile the sweet/banana and sour/tomato mixture. Needless to say that it got eaten.

@4-5 o’clock – brown ugali, a lot stickier than regular ugali. To read more about ugali, check previous food post. This one I think is better than regular white ugali.

@ 6 o’clock and crossing over to 7 and 8 – rabbit. Not sure what style, a little between grilled or barbequed I’d say. Truly fantastic. Again everyone surprised I’ve tried it before. But you have to understand, there is nothing a Bulgarian appreciates more than a versatile animal: it can serve as both a pet and a meal. What’s better than that? (The answer is pork, but that a little unrelated)

@ 9 o’clock – chicken biriani. Again not sure exactly what was in the sauce, but it was too delicious to bother my small brain with so many unimportant details.

Filling up the rest of my clock – chapati.

In comparison to the journey: their quail was on skewers as was their rabbit. They also got fish and beef and all types of side dishes.

After this meal, there was no way we were doing dessert. And we didn’t.

A cheers to global friendship with five continents represented at our table closed the night of the glass perspective and the weekend of simba choma. 

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