New Nairobi’s Westland’s Cafe Sets Pace

Gastrodenome

24 June 2011

Nairobi — Anyone who has worked at the southern end of the long Nairobi’s Westlands road will agree with me that there is a dire shortage of eateries in the area.

The section of the road closer to the former Casino complex is now all tall office blocks, a new one popping up every two months or so yet, up to a few months ago, there wasn’t a single establishment to pop in for lunch for the hundreds of office workers there.

That is, of course, if one was brave enough to walk across the Museum Hill which is currently under heavy construction.

Vogue Café is a welcome addition to the scene. Situated at the ground floor of Nivinia Towers, it has the perfect combination of a café, restaurant and a coffee house.

Nivinia Towers itself has a welcoming façade (unlike the other concrete monstrosities in the area) in the form of wide-open gates that allow visitors to glance in, spot the cafe from the outside and feel welcome to enter.

Cross over the ample parking space to sit either outside on a narrow strip of a raised area overlooking the parking or on a cold day, sit inside and stay warm.

Like all the trendy new cafes, Vogue has also used orange and coffee colours as its theme, reflected on the walls, uniforms and menus. It is a fairly large café with large windows that allow in lots of light. Booth-like seating makes the café very comfortable to sit at, unfortunately, the floor tiles give it a rather clinical look.

However, it is the friendly waiting staff that grab your attention as you enter.

They are very amenable to different requests and are quite efficient.

Having said that, they seemed to have some consistency issues a few weeks ago. A ‘triple cappuccino’ was once served in a very large cup as three times the volume of one, and on the next visit, it was served in small cup with three shots of espresso!

The second time the waitress insisted that that is the way they serve a triple cappuccino. So they need to decide their mode of serving, 3 times the volume or 3 times the strength of the coffee?

I also suffered a similar fate of inconsistency when I ordered a Cinnamon Coffee.

The first time it was served like a latte with a touch of cinnamon and was delicious, the second time it was served as very strong black coffee with cinnamon, with no room to add the milk that I asked for (to be able to drink it)!

If in doubt, ask the management or the supervisor who is stationed behind the counter, in most cases they will serve you whatever you want, the way you want it.

In order to serve the business community of the area, Vogue Café is open from 7am to 8 pm so you can pop in for breakfast before tackling that first morning meeting, or come in early to avoid being caught in traffic and start off with the morning meal at Vogue.

Tuck into Fried or Scrambled Eggs with Toast priced very reasonably at Sh120, or Spanish Omelette with toast at just Sh180.

Many times, I have been caught in ridiculous rush hour traffic in the evenings.I go through a debilitating dilemma: sit it out in the office, but not be able to concentrate because of hunger or get into the road chaos and hope to make it home before my sugar levels drop to dizzying depths!

Now that I know there is Vogue Café within the vicinity, I can take refuge there during such trying times.If it is a quick lunch you are after, or even a take away while you slog behind your desk during lunch-hour, try their toasted sandwiches, which start from Sh220.

There is choice of cheese and tomato, grilled vegetables, club sandwich or paprika chicken with grilled onions, among others.

The sandwiches are well-toasted and come with a generous serving of chips or salad. The homemade burgers are equally great – my favourite being grilled chicken with shallots, but there is also grilled vegetables, plain beef and a lot more.

Many professionals around this area are health-conscious people so maybe a light chicken and noodle soup and/or a salad?

For salads, they offer warm chicken strips on iceberg lettuce, mozzarella and tomato with balsamic vinaigrette, grilled vegetables with ginger and soy sauce or tuna and avocado with cocktail sauce.

For those looking for a heartier meal, there are stir-fried dishes of chicken or beef, grilled paprika chicken, oriental style curries, poached fish fillet, pastas (vegeterian options here), and whole lot more.Vogue Café has certainly set the pace in this area.

AllAfrica – All the Time