The Arbor

by Stephanie
kenyanglutton.wordpress.com
(Nairobi)

©theArbor

It’s been a long Wednesday and I’m glad to get out of the house. I get to The Arbor on James Gichuru and find a cozy spot in the beautiful garden. A very attentive waiter tells me about the day’s specials, and I order a glass of wine (buy one get one free because it’s Wednesday) while I wait for M. to arrive.

It’s Nairobi Burger Week (more buy one get one free, yay) and we both go for a burger. I order the Asian Twist Burger, M. The Arbor Burger.

The food arrives quickly. My burger comes with crispy sweet potato fries and an Asian-inspired coleslaw. The burger itself is really good. The patty tastes of ginger, lemongrass and chilli and is grilled perfectly medium. Spicy mayo and grilled onions compliment the burger’s flavours, as does the sweet and salty bacon. The burger is served with a fried egg on top, which may sound a little odd but works well. It makes it more difficult to eat though, and I’m sure I’m dribbling egg yolk all over myself. And M looks like he’s enjoying his burger. When I ask him what’s good, he says something along the lines of ‘cheesy, bacon, meat, awesome!’

It’s dark by now and fairy lights illuminate the garden. We aren’t ready to go home yet and, after having another beer, we decide to go for dessert. We order the coconut and lemongrass panna cotta.

And unfortunately, we are both disappointed. It looks grey and is very gelatinous and lacks any kind of flavour. No coconut, no lemongrass. M. says ‘it’s like we are eating whale blubber’.

So we swallow our whale blubber and order another beer to wash it down before leaving the garden at 10, just in time for closing.

Because of the specials going on, our bill is very reasonable.

I’ll definitely be back soon to try out more of the menu; it looks delicious. I would try to avoid the place on a rainy day though as there is only outdoor seating.

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