REstaurant review
text
susan wong
photo
courtesy
LEFT
Caramel’s stunning
‘outdoor’ lounge
BELOW
Vegetable Risotto
Nairobians are a melting pot
of tastemakers...
pleasing them is tough
SUSAN
eats
Caramel, ABC Towers
Can the newly launched
’Caramel’ act like the real
caramel and stick around?
Caramel is still the newest
restaurant and lounge in Nairobi,
Kenya. That is all. Thank you for
your time.
On second thought, there may
be a little bit more to say. Great
restaurants can fade fast, especially in Nairobi where consistency of
service, quality of ingredients and
execution seem to rarely harmonize. But as long as you’re new, the
hype will surely fill your reservation book for many weeks to come,
and the restaurant will continue to
be the talk of the town.
In Nairobi’s flourishing gastronomic scene though you can not
afford to execute a concept halfheartedly. Nairobians are a melting pot of tastemakers, outspoken
consumers and refined palates.
Pleasing them is tough. They know
they deserve the best and expect
the city’s culinary offerings to be
in par with other cosmopolitan
waterholes such as New York City,
London, Paris, Hong Kong, Toronto
and Johannesburg. Offer anything
less than great and they won’t stick
around for very long.
What Nairobians want from restaurants is changing, though, along
with our notions of luxury. And
dare I say it, Caramel Restaurant
& Lounge, excluding hotels, may
finally be the first to step