Dressed up for a business meeting with two foreign visitors and thought of a venue that might suit the taste of some European strangers in town. According to some friends New Ruaha International might be the best choice. Went with a bit of skepticism as this place used to be a notorious night club attached to a dodgy hotel but recently the hotel got a proper face lift trying to win the market of tourists and business people. The restaurant parking somehow still looks like a construction area but after a peak through the windows I could witness a well equipped, clean and nice kitchen. The dining area looked really impressive with Iringa standards. The interior is somehow simplistic and modest but designed with a sense of taste. Not a spot could be noticed on the paint job and colors were well chosen. Table cloths and curtains were as well clean and tasteful. The eight tables were nicely set and gave a welcoming feeling. As usual a tv could be found in a central role but at least showing some international news channel without sound. The waiter showed us to a table and gave as the school folder menus, On the table there was a bouquet of tasteless plastic flowers. The chairs were cushioned both on the seat and back part but although the restaurant has been operating for quite some time the plastic cover still partly remained on the seat and completely on the back part.
Menu had tree starters; Soup of the day, Prawns cocktail and House salad ranging from 2000-3500. We all decided to go for the prawn cocktail but as it was not available we decided to go straightly for the main course instead.
Six fish/sea food dishes, five Indian dishes (3 chicken, 1 beef and 1 prawn dish), 4 dishes labeled as an healthy option, additionally a variety of steaks, burgers and Italian dishes could be found. Most dishes were in the price category 6000-8000.
customer 1: Tilapia Fish – A whole fried tilapia fish from Mzanza, accompanied with lemon sauce and vegetables (8000)
Customer 2: Chicken Korma – Boneless chicken with a tomato/onion based sauce with cashew nuts and Indian spices (6500)
Customer 3: Asked about the Pasta of the day and was told it was macaroni, when asked for further explanation it was macaroni and spaghetti, it all sounded a bit confusing but the unopened packets of pasta was shown and apparently it was a matter of plain pasta but somehow I have a feeling that there was some communication problems and waiter was unable to communicate what this dish was all about. However it sounded as a rather dull dish so grilled pork chops was ordered instead (7500)
Main dishes came with the option of chips, rice or mashed potato.
Drinks: No red wine which was somehow disappointing but the beers were served sweating cold, white wine?
Food arrived in only 30 min and was dished up nicely. The Indian option was nicely spiced and the chicken was tender and all bones were removed.
The pork chops was decent amount of meat and even a meat lover as myself had nothing to complain about. The mashed potatoes was tasty and there was a suspicion that there might actually be some real butter and not the common blue band involved.
Deserts got forgotten after the delicious meal but the option of cream caramel and fruit salad was available at a price of 3000
the two bills showed 22000 for food and 6000 for drinks giving a total of 28000. For Iringa standards a very expensive meal but still I would like to consider it good value for the money.
Atmosphere: ****
Service: ***
Food: ****
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Friday, 3 October 2008
Sajus Home Restaurant
The vicinity of this restaurant, colloquially known as “Sajus” next to the famous nightclub “Twisters” makes the place a common venue for casual Friday-night diners. On a warm September evening we went to judge if the place is really worthy of praise.
We arrived at this old, colonial-style building around seven o’clock, and were sincerely impressed by the building per se. The 6-meter high ceiling, wooden roof, grandiose entrance, and the lovebirds’ balcony upstairs would offer a great setting for the restaurant if the rest of the décor followed suit. However, the stained walls with colors ranging from gray at the top, to white, beige, and finally to pink bathroom tiles at the bottom reveal a lack of constant care of the place. The restaurant attempts to stand out by having real tablecloths, yet those too were stained beyond bleach.
The motley décor was spiced up with voluptuous velvet and lace curtains probably originating from a Russian brothel, with Christmas paper-wrapped flowerpots, with a presidential calendar from 2006, with poster promoting the 2000 Cotonou Agreement between EU and APC, and with a general feeling of disorder and randomness. Hence the name “home restaurant”, we concluded.
The many sinks of the dining hall were apparently not working, as there was a bucket of water and a scoop for washing. The furniture constituted mostly of the ubiquitous plastic garden chairs, though there were some wooden chairs and padded benches. The restaurant is evidently aimed at political crème de la crème, as a TV, which occupies a central place in the restaurant, is permanently switched on and is set to a channel dedicated to politics and parliament meetings. The TV is usually very loud, to a point where the sound is distorted to mere noise.
So, overall, in Iringan standards of interior decoration, we are talking about a nice and decent place.
As we arrived, a waitress wearing a standard whitish waiters’ shirt and a blue ill-fitting apron arrived directly at our table and brought us the menu. The menu that was in English was a once laminated green A4, now colored by food stains and affected by inc-floatings. The menu however offered a good, mouth-watering overview of Indian cuisine, consisting of around 30 starters, 15 main dishes, 7 vegetarian dishes; in addition, there were about 20 foods labeled “Chinese”, such as a variety of pizzas.
Although the waiter’s English was slightly off, she was ready to recommend us the house specialties. My friend was recommended chicken curry (3.800/=), which she gladly accepted. On the menu’s more adventurous “Chinese” side I chose Hong Kong chicken (3.500/=), which was, however, unavailable at the moment. My second attempt went right: chicken tikka (4.000/=) was indeed available for orders. We ordered our food with naan bread (they insisted on calling it chapatti) and rice. As a proper choice for Indian cuisine, our choice of beverage was Ndovu beer (1.300/= per bottle).
Our beers arrived right away, slightly chilled but not quite cold. The barista’s choice of glassware was interesting as always: whereas they could have chosen to serve our beer in a stein or a pint glass, they served it in a short Grant’s tumbler glass meant for serving whisky.
While downing our rapidly warming beers from the whisky glasses, we took another look at the clientèle of the restaurant. We were the only people dining this fine evening, though we were accompanied by two town drunks, chattering at the “bar counter”. The lack of other diners may have positively affected the speed of service and the ease of getting the waiter’s attention. Not once did we find any difficulty getting service, and our orders arrived in 50 minutes, which we consider to be somewhat fast.
My friend’s chicken curry came with thick, flavorsome gravy, with just the right amount of spiciness. She claimed that she was able to easily discern the zing of ginger, the zest of garlic, and the overarching mild warmth of curry. As an interesting detail, chicken bones were apparently crushed into shards and mixed in. My friend noted that without the alarmingly growing pile of bone shards on her napkin, this food would have made it to her top five culinary experiences in Iringa.
Chicken tikka was more or less the same as the chicken curry, yet without the bones. No qualitative or quantitative difference was to be found between the two dishes.
Chicken tikka was not served on skewers as usual, but it came with a gravy that very much resembled the chicken curry gravy.
The naan bread that was delivered with our portions was partly dryish, and some of the pieces were exactly of the right texture and had the authentic stone or tandoori oven-obtained taste. However, some pieces of the bread were too thick to pass as naan bread, and resembled naan dough rather than naan bread.
The final cost of the meals, 13.000/= including four beers, makes a really good deal for the money. Indeed, unlike most other fine restaurants in Iringa, all the dishes on Sajus’ menu are reasonably priced. If it were for the food only, we could warmly recommend the place as offering good value for one’s money. (The chicken bone shards in the gravy inevitably subtract one star off the food score.)
Atmosphere: ***
Service: ****
Food: ****
We arrived at this old, colonial-style building around seven o’clock, and were sincerely impressed by the building per se. The 6-meter high ceiling, wooden roof, grandiose entrance, and the lovebirds’ balcony upstairs would offer a great setting for the restaurant if the rest of the décor followed suit. However, the stained walls with colors ranging from gray at the top, to white, beige, and finally to pink bathroom tiles at the bottom reveal a lack of constant care of the place. The restaurant attempts to stand out by having real tablecloths, yet those too were stained beyond bleach.
The motley décor was spiced up with voluptuous velvet and lace curtains probably originating from a Russian brothel, with Christmas paper-wrapped flowerpots, with a presidential calendar from 2006, with poster promoting the 2000 Cotonou Agreement between EU and APC, and with a general feeling of disorder and randomness. Hence the name “home restaurant”, we concluded.
The many sinks of the dining hall were apparently not working, as there was a bucket of water and a scoop for washing. The furniture constituted mostly of the ubiquitous plastic garden chairs, though there were some wooden chairs and padded benches. The restaurant is evidently aimed at political crème de la crème, as a TV, which occupies a central place in the restaurant, is permanently switched on and is set to a channel dedicated to politics and parliament meetings. The TV is usually very loud, to a point where the sound is distorted to mere noise.
So, overall, in Iringan standards of interior decoration, we are talking about a nice and decent place.
As we arrived, a waitress wearing a standard whitish waiters’ shirt and a blue ill-fitting apron arrived directly at our table and brought us the menu. The menu that was in English was a once laminated green A4, now colored by food stains and affected by inc-floatings. The menu however offered a good, mouth-watering overview of Indian cuisine, consisting of around 30 starters, 15 main dishes, 7 vegetarian dishes; in addition, there were about 20 foods labeled “Chinese”, such as a variety of pizzas.
Although the waiter’s English was slightly off, she was ready to recommend us the house specialties. My friend was recommended chicken curry (3.800/=), which she gladly accepted. On the menu’s more adventurous “Chinese” side I chose Hong Kong chicken (3.500/=), which was, however, unavailable at the moment. My second attempt went right: chicken tikka (4.000/=) was indeed available for orders. We ordered our food with naan bread (they insisted on calling it chapatti) and rice. As a proper choice for Indian cuisine, our choice of beverage was Ndovu beer (1.300/= per bottle).
Our beers arrived right away, slightly chilled but not quite cold. The barista’s choice of glassware was interesting as always: whereas they could have chosen to serve our beer in a stein or a pint glass, they served it in a short Grant’s tumbler glass meant for serving whisky.
While downing our rapidly warming beers from the whisky glasses, we took another look at the clientèle of the restaurant. We were the only people dining this fine evening, though we were accompanied by two town drunks, chattering at the “bar counter”. The lack of other diners may have positively affected the speed of service and the ease of getting the waiter’s attention. Not once did we find any difficulty getting service, and our orders arrived in 50 minutes, which we consider to be somewhat fast.
My friend’s chicken curry came with thick, flavorsome gravy, with just the right amount of spiciness. She claimed that she was able to easily discern the zing of ginger, the zest of garlic, and the overarching mild warmth of curry. As an interesting detail, chicken bones were apparently crushed into shards and mixed in. My friend noted that without the alarmingly growing pile of bone shards on her napkin, this food would have made it to her top five culinary experiences in Iringa.
Chicken tikka was more or less the same as the chicken curry, yet without the bones. No qualitative or quantitative difference was to be found between the two dishes.
Chicken tikka was not served on skewers as usual, but it came with a gravy that very much resembled the chicken curry gravy.
The naan bread that was delivered with our portions was partly dryish, and some of the pieces were exactly of the right texture and had the authentic stone or tandoori oven-obtained taste. However, some pieces of the bread were too thick to pass as naan bread, and resembled naan dough rather than naan bread.
The final cost of the meals, 13.000/= including four beers, makes a really good deal for the money. Indeed, unlike most other fine restaurants in Iringa, all the dishes on Sajus’ menu are reasonably priced. If it were for the food only, we could warmly recommend the place as offering good value for one’s money. (The chicken bone shards in the gravy inevitably subtract one star off the food score.)
Atmosphere: ***
Service: ****
Food: ****
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Wilolesi Hilltop Hotel
During her first year in restaurant business, Wilolesi Hilltop Hotel has seen at least three changes of management and staff. One chilly Saturday evening we set to find out whether the changes are for better or for worse.
About a twenty-minute walk from Iringa's main road up the hill, the view from the hotel down the Iringa valley is magnificent. The hotel has invested heavily in building and décor: the restaurant has a number of small, well-furnished thatched-roof huts, which can accommodate six to eight people each; there is a large thatched-roof lounge; there is a restaurant hall for around 20 people; and there is the traditional hotel bar. All these are newly built and look stunningly modern African.
We arrived at Hilltop Hotel around twilight time, and were given tables at the main restaurant hall. The view was as stunning as always, yet there was only one other person in the dining hall—which is not extraordinary at this restaurant. Aside from the pale fluorescent energy-saving bulbs, the dining hall is tastefully decorated, and the table setting is always properly prepared. The professionally prepared tables, with light brown tinted tablecloths that stand in harmony with the room decoration, give a hint of luxury to the place.
Enthusiasm and effort of the staff has never been a problem, and this time was no exception. This time the waiter seemed somewhat familiar with waiting at tables. However, when we got the menu, we found to our disappointment that since our previous visit the menu had shrunk to some three different starters and ten or so main dishes. We first ordered the house shrimp cocktails (4500/--), but hence the kitchen was out of shrimp, we had to settle for vegetable soups (2000/--). For the main course my fellow ordered Beef Carbonado (6500/--) with cooked rice, and I went for Pepper Steak with potato chips (6000/--).
Having dined in this particular restaurant a couple of times, we had reserved plenty of time for the dinner, but this time the hastiness of the service surprised us pleasantly: in fifteen minutes from ordering, as the sun set under the horizon and lights of Iringa began to appear one by one, we already got our soups. And what a pleasant surprise it was! The soup was thick and tasty potage with small cubed vegetables and a hint of ginger and garlic. The texture of the soup was smooth and the home-baked bread that accompanied the soup was at the same time crisp and smooth: simply delicious. We thanked our luck that the restaurant had been out of shrimp.
However, albeit the soup set our mouths watering, the waitress had forgotten to ask us what we would like to drink. When my colleague asked for water, the waiter asked "for washing your hands or drinking?" …And down the drain went the prima facie impression of professionalism. The selection of beverages was the usual soft drinks and water. Sometimes, when the restaurant has wine, there might even be a choice (between “red” and “white”.) Granted, a decent wine cellar or sommelier would be a bit too much to hope for. "Wine glasses" in this restaurant are an interesting feature as they stand; sometimes wine is offered from snifter glasses (meant for cognac), sometimes from flute glasses (meant for champagne), and sometimes people in the table have differently shaped glasses. But in the end, when one cannot select a wine to complement the taste of the entrée, or when the wine is either too warm (a common problem white wines) or too cold (a common problem with red wines) water is much better choice anyway. We settled for water (500/--) and a soft drink (1000/--).
The logistical and architectural choices at Hilltop’s three restaurant areas are interesting. As the food is cooked in a separate kitchen next to the small huts, the waiters who serve customers at the main dining hall have to climb up a steep slope and have to balance with plates and trays to open the door. Of course, when waiters and waitresses come and go, the door is always left open, which, at least in June-August, makes the customers shiver in cold.
We finally got our beverages, and after the wonderful start we were impatiently waiting for the entrées, yet getting them took some 45 minutes, starting from the orders. When the main courses arrived, we found out that “beef carbonado” meant two pieces of beef hammered thin and topped with thick gravy. The pepper steak had the same kind of two pieces of meat with different gravy. As always, one could already tell by looks that the potato wedges were left squidgy; one can rarely get in Iringa those golden colored chips that are crispy boiled, yet soft inside. The amount of rice on my friend’s plate was enough for three, and it was cooked just right so that it was neither too loose nor too sticky.
The scent of the pepper gravy was arousing: the aroma was warm and spicy. My colleague commended the carbonado steak in the same way. The gravy kept its promise: the mildly spicy flavor came with a warm, rich aftertaste. My friend praised the gravy on the carbonado, too. But the big letdown uncovered when we tried to cut the steak. The cut was flank or some other tough cut of beef, and very tough to chew. I actually had to spit out some of the meat as the tendons and fasciae chewed together to form a thick lump of unchewable mass. Our blunt butter knives were no tool for cutting the meat without shaking the table and scratching the plates. The wonderful gravy could not salvage the total failure with the meat; both of us had to leave some meat on our plates.
Strange enough, there were no desserts on the menu, so we skipped that part. Coffee was, unsurprisingly, the usual Africafé instant coffee. The bill was quite expensive in Iringan terms: 18.500/-- for a two-course dinner for two people. As we had paid and were leaving, the issue with underschooled staff arose again: the waiter ran after us, stopped us, and told that unfortunately he had charged us too little for the water. The problem is not the attitude of staff—quite the contrary; the staff seems very dedicated to their work. The problem seems to be a managerial one: staff can do exactly as much as they are trained to do.
All in all, the Wilolesi Hilltop Hotel restaurant has true potential to become the dining place of the town, but a number of minor issues keep on impeding the quality.
Atmosphere: *****
Service: ***
Food: ***
About a twenty-minute walk from Iringa's main road up the hill, the view from the hotel down the Iringa valley is magnificent. The hotel has invested heavily in building and décor: the restaurant has a number of small, well-furnished thatched-roof huts, which can accommodate six to eight people each; there is a large thatched-roof lounge; there is a restaurant hall for around 20 people; and there is the traditional hotel bar. All these are newly built and look stunningly modern African.
We arrived at Hilltop Hotel around twilight time, and were given tables at the main restaurant hall. The view was as stunning as always, yet there was only one other person in the dining hall—which is not extraordinary at this restaurant. Aside from the pale fluorescent energy-saving bulbs, the dining hall is tastefully decorated, and the table setting is always properly prepared. The professionally prepared tables, with light brown tinted tablecloths that stand in harmony with the room decoration, give a hint of luxury to the place.
Enthusiasm and effort of the staff has never been a problem, and this time was no exception. This time the waiter seemed somewhat familiar with waiting at tables. However, when we got the menu, we found to our disappointment that since our previous visit the menu had shrunk to some three different starters and ten or so main dishes. We first ordered the house shrimp cocktails (4500/--), but hence the kitchen was out of shrimp, we had to settle for vegetable soups (2000/--). For the main course my fellow ordered Beef Carbonado (6500/--) with cooked rice, and I went for Pepper Steak with potato chips (6000/--).
Having dined in this particular restaurant a couple of times, we had reserved plenty of time for the dinner, but this time the hastiness of the service surprised us pleasantly: in fifteen minutes from ordering, as the sun set under the horizon and lights of Iringa began to appear one by one, we already got our soups. And what a pleasant surprise it was! The soup was thick and tasty potage with small cubed vegetables and a hint of ginger and garlic. The texture of the soup was smooth and the home-baked bread that accompanied the soup was at the same time crisp and smooth: simply delicious. We thanked our luck that the restaurant had been out of shrimp.
However, albeit the soup set our mouths watering, the waitress had forgotten to ask us what we would like to drink. When my colleague asked for water, the waiter asked "for washing your hands or drinking?" …And down the drain went the prima facie impression of professionalism. The selection of beverages was the usual soft drinks and water. Sometimes, when the restaurant has wine, there might even be a choice (between “red” and “white”.) Granted, a decent wine cellar or sommelier would be a bit too much to hope for. "Wine glasses" in this restaurant are an interesting feature as they stand; sometimes wine is offered from snifter glasses (meant for cognac), sometimes from flute glasses (meant for champagne), and sometimes people in the table have differently shaped glasses. But in the end, when one cannot select a wine to complement the taste of the entrée, or when the wine is either too warm (a common problem white wines) or too cold (a common problem with red wines) water is much better choice anyway. We settled for water (500/--) and a soft drink (1000/--).
The logistical and architectural choices at Hilltop’s three restaurant areas are interesting. As the food is cooked in a separate kitchen next to the small huts, the waiters who serve customers at the main dining hall have to climb up a steep slope and have to balance with plates and trays to open the door. Of course, when waiters and waitresses come and go, the door is always left open, which, at least in June-August, makes the customers shiver in cold.
We finally got our beverages, and after the wonderful start we were impatiently waiting for the entrées, yet getting them took some 45 minutes, starting from the orders. When the main courses arrived, we found out that “beef carbonado” meant two pieces of beef hammered thin and topped with thick gravy. The pepper steak had the same kind of two pieces of meat with different gravy. As always, one could already tell by looks that the potato wedges were left squidgy; one can rarely get in Iringa those golden colored chips that are crispy boiled, yet soft inside. The amount of rice on my friend’s plate was enough for three, and it was cooked just right so that it was neither too loose nor too sticky.
The scent of the pepper gravy was arousing: the aroma was warm and spicy. My colleague commended the carbonado steak in the same way. The gravy kept its promise: the mildly spicy flavor came with a warm, rich aftertaste. My friend praised the gravy on the carbonado, too. But the big letdown uncovered when we tried to cut the steak. The cut was flank or some other tough cut of beef, and very tough to chew. I actually had to spit out some of the meat as the tendons and fasciae chewed together to form a thick lump of unchewable mass. Our blunt butter knives were no tool for cutting the meat without shaking the table and scratching the plates. The wonderful gravy could not salvage the total failure with the meat; both of us had to leave some meat on our plates.
Strange enough, there were no desserts on the menu, so we skipped that part. Coffee was, unsurprisingly, the usual Africafé instant coffee. The bill was quite expensive in Iringan terms: 18.500/-- for a two-course dinner for two people. As we had paid and were leaving, the issue with underschooled staff arose again: the waiter ran after us, stopped us, and told that unfortunately he had charged us too little for the water. The problem is not the attitude of staff—quite the contrary; the staff seems very dedicated to their work. The problem seems to be a managerial one: staff can do exactly as much as they are trained to do.
All in all, the Wilolesi Hilltop Hotel restaurant has true potential to become the dining place of the town, but a number of minor issues keep on impeding the quality.
Atmosphere: *****
Service: ***
Food: ***
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)