Welcome to Heaven

When I arrived at Heaven, a new (to me) restaurant in Kigali, the staff greeted me with an enthusiastic "Welcome to Heaven!" I just smiled, figuring that I couldn't come up with a heaven joke they'd never heard before.
The menu, a bit meat-heavy, featured items such as grilled filet of beef with cassava chimichurri, vegetables, and mashed potatoes; fish and chips; Thai-style tilapia with rice and seasonal vegetables; and beef or lamb burger on a homemade bun with Gouda, sauteed onions, and fries. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I opted for the "eggplant stack" with green curry sauce and seasonal vegetables and a starter of cauliflower soup. When the server brought my drink, he also brought a sample of avocado soup in a tiny glass--delicious and so spicy I drank half of my Fanta citron (like Sprite) to cool it down.
Like many restaurants in Kigali, Heaven consists of a large covered deck, so you're sitting outdoors in a beautiful space that has all the comforts of indoors. I chose a seat over toward the side of the deck, where I could see the other diners and gaze at an amazing view of Kigali's hilly suburbs. (Rwanda's descriptor of "land of a thousand hills" fits perfectly. Sometimes when walking up yet another steep incline, I think all of the thousand hills must be in Kigali.)
Although the dining area probably had 30 tables, only three or four were occupied. When heading toward my table, I noticed a muzungu (that's what white people are called here--a simple statement of fact) couple sitting with an African man. The muzungu guy looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place him.
The eggplant stack turned out to be a Lincoln log-type construction of lightly fried eggplant strips arranged interlocking one another in a square. It sat on a bed of green curry sauce, and was draped with thinly sliced vegetables. Everything was outstanding, and my very attentive server kept stopping by to make sure all was well. After one of my exclamations of culinary bliss, he asked, "Is it heavenly?"
The back of the menu explains that the restaurant, a "social enterprise," helps Rwanda develop its most important resource, people. It claims that Heaven sets the national standard for service and food quality. Rwandan craftspeople built everything in the restaurant, including the deck, chairs, tables, place mats. The food is locally sourced.
To Be Continued...in the next exciting installment you will learn the identity of the vaguely familiar muzungu, which may only be interesting to the public health people in the audience. Stay tuned...

Location:Kigali