Safari254

This post was meant to be up before Nairobi Restaurant Week ended but it just so happened that the blog was experiencing a few issues and was therefore inaccessible. Nevertheless, enjoy the review.

 

Nairobi Restaurant week is back, this year it is running from January 26th up to the 5th of January. If I am not wrong, this is its 4th year. If you’re interested in partaking what the restaurants have on offer then you can pick a place to go to here

Before I get to my review can we please discuss how EatOut can improve the Restaurant week page. The process of searching a restaurant’s menu is unnecessarily tedious. I would rather scroll endlessly on a single page than have to open a new tab every time I’m searching for a menu. EatOut should also look into categorising the restaurants according to cuisine. That way if I am looking for a specific item I do not have to click on the menus of 70+ restaurants just to find out what they have to offer.

This year the offerings are as follows

2 courses lunch- Kshs 950

3 courses dinner – Kshs 1950 + cocktail*

5 courses dinner – Kshs 3950

*offer only available in some restaurants.

Most restaurants offer the first 2 options, while a few offer the 3rd option only.

I picked Marula Mercantile mainly because it is on the other end of town (for me) and it’s not a place I would ordinarily pick on a normal day. But my main reason was the menu – their meat dishes looked appealing.

 

I’d heard of of people being turned away during NRW for failing to make a reservation, so I duly made a call and booked a table for lunch. Turns out I didn’t need to, there were plenty of seats available when I got there. There is no indoor seating at Marula Mercantile and the outdoor seating available is not all weather proof.

 

The restaurant has got ample outdoor space. Adjacent to the seating area is a lawn that doubles up as a play area for kids. The space is also suitable for those with pets.

 

 It did not take long before the menu was brought to us.

 

 

I already had in mind what I wanted so I went ahead and ordered the starter and main dish. On asking how long it would take, the waitress said 20 minutes but the starter would take a shorter time.

The decor is simple and rustic.  It suits the surroundings.

 

While waiting for the food we decided to order some drinks. I settled for good old water while my friend chose the limeade from the homemade section in the drinks menu.

 

Contrary to what the waitress had told us, our starters came after 20 minutes.

 

Mixed salad with house vinaigrette

 

The salad was fresh and the vinaigrette was amazing. My only qualm was that it could have been on a larger plate.

The meat lover in me chose the meatball starter.

Beef and pork meatballs with marinara sauce and shaved cheese

The meatballs were delicious with just the right amount of seasoning.

No sooner had we been served that the heavens opened up. The rain was over in less than 5 minutes but just to be safe we decided to sit in the sheltered area next to the bar.

 

 

The downside  is that we ended up seated next to a smoking table. There was no clear designation so it was difficult to know that we had moved to a smoking zone.

I was quite hungry so I quickly polished off my plate of meatballs and then came the long wait for the main dishes. Moments like these are where the free wi-fi comes in handy.

After a bit of a wait, the main dishes finally arrived.

The chicken Parmesan was done just right. The chicken breast was exquisitely tender

 

Chicken parmesan with spaghetti tossed in pesto sauce

.

 

 

 

Grilled snapper with fries,coleslaw and tartar sauce

 

Despite the slow service, I was  enjoying my first visit to Marula Mercantile until the flies showed up. It is really hard to enjoy a meal if you have to keep swatting flies away. I hope the management find a solution to this problem.

You can spot the flies resting on the donuts on display in the dessert section. They were covered in cling film soon after I had photographed them.

I couldn’t finish my main but I always have room for dessert . If you’re interested in dessert you have to walk up to their dessert counter to find out what’s on offer. None of their offerings tickled my fancy so I ended up skipping dessert.

 

 

That’s it for my review. Now if only they can do something about the flies, I would definitely up my rating.