Nairobi is a better food city than most visitors expect. The capital sits between Kenya’s coastal, highland and lakeside traditions, with a large Indian community, a fashionable café culture and some of the best coffee and tea in the world grown within an hour or two of the centre. This guide explains the dishes to look for, the experiences worth planning around and how to eat safely and well.
Start with the staples
Almost every Kenyan meal revolves around ugali, a firm maize porridge eaten with the right hand, rolled into a ball and used to scoop up stew, fish or greens. Its usual partner is sukuma wiki, collard greens cooked with onions and tomatoes, whose Swahili name means push the week because it stretches a budget. Other classics include githeri, a stew of maize and beans, mukimo, a mash of potato, greens and maize that comes from the Kikuyu highlands, and chapati, a layered flatbread served with beans or curry. Samosas and mandazi, lightly spiced fried doughnuts, are everywhere as snacks.
Nyama choma is the national pastime
Nyama choma simply means grilled meat, and it is the way Kenyans celebrate a weekend: a plate of slow-roasted goat or beef carved at the table, with a tomato and onion salad called kachumbari and a pile of ugali, shared among friends with a cold drink. Many local grills in Nairobi let you choose the cut from a butcher’s counter and have it grilled on the spot. Mutura, a street sausage, is the adventurous option. If you want to try all of this in one sitting with a guide, a local food tour is the easiest way in.
The Carnivore
No food guide to Nairobi is complete without the Carnivore, the Lang’ata restaurant that has been serving all-you-can-eat meat since 1980. Waiters carry long skewers of roasted meat from a huge charcoal pit and carve it onto your plate until you lay down the flag on your table. It began as a game-meat restaurant and now serves mainly beef, pork, lamb and chicken, with specialities such as crocodile and ostrich meatballs. Order a dawa, the honey, lime and vodka cocktail that is the house signature, and arrange a transfer so you do not need to drive afterwards. It is lively, loud and good fun, and an easy match with an afternoon at Bomas of Kenya.
Coffee and tea
Kenya is famous for both. Kenyan coffee is prized for bright acidity and fruit flavours, and the highlands around Nairobi have been growing it for more than a century. A coffee farm and factory tour lets you pick cherries, see the beans processed and taste the result. Tea is the national drink, usually served as chai, brewed with milk and sugar and sometimes ginger. At Kiambethu Tea Farm in Limuru, where Kenya’s first commercial tea was grown, you can walk through the bushes and finish with a farmhouse lunch. Good coffee shops are also easy to find in Westlands, Karen and Gigiri, and many serve single-origin Kenyan beans.
Fine dining and hotel restaurants
Nairobi’s hotels have strong restaurants that welcome non-guests. The Lord Delamere Terrace at Fairmont The Norfolk is a classic spot for breakfast or a sundowner, Sankara’s rooftop bar and steakhouse are popular in Westlands, and Tribe Hotel’s Jiko restaurant is known for African-inspired cooking. Hemingways in Karen serves brunch as well as lunch and dinner, and Villa Rosa Kempinski has an all-day international café. The Westlands and Gigiri districts have the greatest concentration of independent restaurants, including Ethiopian, Indian, Lebanese and Japanese kitchens.
Drinks beyond coffee and tea
Tusker is the best-known Kenyan lager and is served almost everywhere, and local craft breweries and cocktail bars have grown in Westlands and Karen. Fresh juices, especially passion fruit, are excellent, and the dawa cocktail of vodka, honey and lime is a Nairobi signature. Ask for drinks without ice if you are unsure about the water.
Eating well and safely
The easiest rule is to choose busy places where the food is freshly cooked, and to drink bottled or filtered water. Fresh tropical fruit is a highlight, especially passion fruit, mango and pineapple. If you are vegetarian, you will find that Kenyan cooking has plenty of bean, maize and vegetable dishes, and Indian restaurants are another reliable option. Tell restaurants and tour operators about allergies in advance, since cross-contamination is not always understood.
On safari
Lodges and camps generally provide full-board meals, and many will adapt to dietary needs if told ahead of time. Day tours from Nairobi often include a picnic or lodge lunch, so check what is covered. Carry water, snacks and cash or a card for drinks, and be prepared for an early breakfast on the road.