On Tuesday, Mica and I dined at Carnivore, a famous restaurant in Nairobi. A Kenyan friend, Susanne, who used to be a manager at the restaurant, joined us.
The restaurant’s big draw is, of course, the variety of meats it offers, all cooked on a huge open grill near the entrance to the restaurant. Susanne had told me that menu choices suitable for vegetarians would be available, but I have to admit that I was skeptical. On several occasions, meat-eating friends have told me that meat-free options would be available at a particular restaurant, and I’ve ended up with an iceberg lettuce salad and a baked potato. You can imagine how happy I was to receive a special menu for vegetarians (the server announced, “We take good care of yoooo!”). The menu (“For the herbivore and piscivore”) featured vegetarian crepes, kumbi bhayi, vegetable pizza, vegetable cutlets, vegetable lasagna, limuru vegetable pie (a “fountain of potato cake and spicy vegetables on vegetable creole sauce”), and aviyal. I chose the kumbi bhayi, mushrooms and green peas in a delicious white sauce served with rice.
In the meantime, the meat had already started arriving for Mica. The server first brought a big two-tiered lazy susan full of sauces (chili, garlic, barbeque, etc.) for the different kinds of meat as well as fresh salad. At the top of the tray sat a little flag with the Carnivore logo on it. As long as that flag flies, the servers stop by the table every couple minutes with huge slabs of meat on skewers. They sliced off pieces of it onto Mica’s superhot metal plate. Various servers brought beef, chicken, ostrich, crocodile, lamb, pork, chicken livers, gizzards. When you don’t want any more meat, you place the flag on its side to indicate that you’ve surrendered.
The restaurant’s big draw is, of course, the variety of meats it offers, all cooked on a huge open grill near the entrance to the restaurant. Susanne had told me that menu choices suitable for vegetarians would be available, but I have to admit that I was skeptical. On several occasions, meat-eating friends have told me that meat-free options would be available at a particular restaurant, and I’ve ended up with an iceberg lettuce salad and a baked potato. You can imagine how happy I was to receive a special menu for vegetarians (the server announced, “We take good care of yoooo!”). The menu (“For the herbivore and piscivore”) featured vegetarian crepes, kumbi bhayi, vegetable pizza, vegetable cutlets, vegetable lasagna, limuru vegetable pie (a “fountain of potato cake and spicy vegetables on vegetable creole sauce”), and aviyal. I chose the kumbi bhayi, mushrooms and green peas in a delicious white sauce served with rice.
In the meantime, the meat had already started arriving for Mica. The server first brought a big two-tiered lazy susan full of sauces (chili, garlic, barbeque, etc.) for the different kinds of meat as well as fresh salad. At the top of the tray sat a little flag with the Carnivore logo on it. As long as that flag flies, the servers stop by the table every couple minutes with huge slabs of meat on skewers. They sliced off pieces of it onto Mica’s superhot metal plate. Various servers brought beef, chicken, ostrich, crocodile, lamb, pork, chicken livers, gizzards. When you don’t want any more meat, you place the flag on its side to indicate that you’ve surrendered.
7 comments:
E, thanks for the story and the photo. Glad to hear you had a large menu of non-carnivore selections. What was Mica's review of the multi-meat buffet?
Mica's mom always worries that Mica doesn't get enough protein, but after Carnivore, she quits worrying for about a month. Mica also reports that the crocodile tastes fishy.
Re: Taste of crocodile.
At least it doesn't taste like chicken!
Love,
Aunt Janie
It sounds like a Brazilian steakhouse that they keep coming around with different types of protein until you change your marker on the table. Glad they had lots of choices for you!
Janie: I had expected it to taste like chicken, but apparently that's not the case.
Judi: The restaurant reminded me a lot of a Brazilian place I've been in to Chicago. That place, however, did not provide options for meat-free people like Carnivore did.
sounds like my kind of place, they would have to wheel me out of there!! You look great..I know its dumb, but I have to ask, are there elelphants, monkeys, or hugh snakes there? I think I have a distorted 1950s fictional vision of Africa, or do I? p.s.:never to young! (woops, fgt to spell ck)
I've seen monkeys here, but no elephants or snakes. You can see elephants at Akagera National Park. Carnivore was a great experience, but not something I need to repeat unless I start eating meat (unlikely!).
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