Hope youve all had a good week. First and foremost, THANKYOU for supporting this blog! For trying out my recipes and for giving me your feedback. You guys syke me up even as I build this dream of mine, I know that is worthwhile.
So this past week, we witnessed the first ever Nairobi Restaurant week. #NRW
Most of Nairobi's hottest restaurants participated. Each restaurant had a special prix menu specifically for #NRW. The menu was either 1250 or 1750 Ksh and not a cent more. This included tax. For most, this was an opportunity to dine at the best restaurants in the city at a good price and like most I took advantage of this amazing deal.
I chose Le Palanka because I had read some good reviews about it online. I was a bit hesitant though because a few people complained about the slow service although everyone had something good to say about the food, so I opted to risk it. "I mean it can't be that bad!"
I was tired and hungry that evening and as much as I would want to say that I went with "zero expectations!" part of me hoped that a good and fast waiter/waitress would attend to us.
Once we got there, I must say that I was taken by how beautiful the outside deco was. The rocks and flowers perfectly complimented by mini-artificial waterfalls. The front wall had graffiti and there were little mini-bomas on the left side perfect for private meetings or small groups of people.
When we walked in, we didn't find anyone at the restaurant entrance but we could see some people who looked like waiters chattering away in the corner. Once they noticed that we were waiting, one of them rushed over. I could have chosen to sit anywhere because I could see plenty of sitting space but I didn't want to risk sitting on any reserved tables.
The waiter immediately directed us to the inner dinning room and even presented us with the option of sitting outside on the comfy sofas with an amazing scenery. Since it was chilly, we chose to sit inside instead.
We mentioned that we had come for the #NRW whereby the waiter brought us the special #NRW menu and waited upon us as we decided between the two starters, two main courses and two desserts. He was quite helpful and answered every question we had concerning the menu.
I chose to have: -
- Chicken Ballotine-spicy warm-filled chicken served with a special salad dressing as a starter.
- Beef Skewer (Kenya) tender grilled marinated beef fillet skewer with a special palanka dressing as the main course.
- The Banana Eclair-a delicate banana eclair dessert served with a fruit sauce.
- Palanka pockets -savory samosas filled with creamy cheese and fresh herbs with chefs garden salad served individually at the table as the starter.
- Braised chicken-wonderful african grilled chicken, marinated and spicy, served with a special rougail sauce as the main course
- The chocolate mint slice-chocolate hot cake with vanilla icecream and mint sauce.
- Fruit punch -cocktail juice with strawberries, mangoes, pineapple and grenadine
- Hot house crush-orange, pineapple and lime juice with grenadine.
The Chicken Ballotine was really dry, cold and hard. I was wrestling with it on my plate. It was served with a garden salad that consisted of lettuce, shredded carrots, tomatoes and a special dressing. The starter also came with chopped avocado that was seasoned with soy sauce. It was a bit too salty for my taste but still a good combo. I wasn't as impressed by my meal. On the other hand the palanka pockets were perfectly seasoned. The perfect combo of herbs, cheese and beef meat. I was glad that the pastry pocket wasn't oily or overcooked as is the case for most samosas. It went straight into my good books. The portion was alright, two per person and also came with the same salad as the chicken.
After that, our waiter cleared the table and shortly after, brought the main dishes-approx 5min.
The beef skewers were good and I opted for the special palanka mash to accompany them, which is basically a mixture of mashed potatoes and mashed butternut squash. It came with a few onion rings that were garnished and cooked in herbs-probably on a pan and not the usual deep fried ones. Now I disliked the fact that the meal had no sauce and on top of that, it was served with the same salad we had taken with the starter. I found that rather surprising, seeing that you cant serve a meal with mashed potatoes with no sauce. How now! When I asked the waiter for a sauce, he claimed that the tomato puree sauce placed in a dish in the middle of the table was the accompaniment for my meal. I dont think it was well thought out and I believe this meal would have gone well with a nice thick sauce, i.e mushroom or even a gravy. Serving the same salad again also was such a good idea since one of the very first things I learnt in my culinary studies was to never serve the same accompaniment in a first and second plate.
The chicken was good. It was grilled and served with the same onion rings and salad. We had it with rice instead and we were given the same "tomato puree sauce" to accompany it.
The portions were good and filling but the meal was pretty average and abit dry.
The skewers were juicy but lacked in salt which was better than an overly salty meal *silver lining*
After we had our main dishes, the waiter cleared our table and we then began waiting for our dessert. We didnt expect it immediately though since we were a bit full and we carried on with our conversation. It was about 20 or 25 minutes into our chat that we noticed that our waiter seemed to have forgotten about us by the look of surprise on his face. I must say he looked overwhelmed since the restaurant had already filled up at this point.
He came by our table twice saying that he was handling it and we continued chatting away.
After about 10 minutes, he brought them out.
The banana eclair was a first for me-it was basically a banana coated in flour and fried served with chocolate sauce and vanilla icecream. It looked and tasted good yet it took me by surprise because the menu had said it would be served with a fruit sauce and not a chocolate sauce.
The chocolate mint slice was similar to the banana eclair and was also served with chocolate sauce instead of a mint sauce as stated on the menu. All in all it was moist and the mint in the cake was well balanced with the chocolate.
All in all the presentation for all our meals was exceptionally good. I must say that they were quite some handsome plates. I believe some meals like the chicken ballotine were lacking in taste and the main dishes were good but slightly dry.
Overall the restaurant was beautiful, clean, gorgeously decorated and the ambience was perfect. The #NRW menu was reasonable and set at1250 Ksh. The waiting staff were better than we expected and were on their toes the whole night though there is still room for improvement.
And that my friends was The Le Palanka experience..
Would I still visit again? Sure!!! I would like to see if things are different on a normal day.
It is a good restaurant and one of the few that offer african and french cuisine.
I recommend this place if you're looking for a nice, chilled evening out.
Check the #NRW highlights on the link below! I'll have you know that Nairobi Restaurant week has been extended to the 12th Feb-how awesome is that! You still have a chance to eat out at one of the best restaurants in town.
You can check out the link below for more info!
http://nairobirestaurantweek.com/
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