NAIROBI - Serious Carnivore AND Strict Vegetarian

[OnlyMe]

We will be in Nairobi for a two days in July and would appreciate advice on eating there. My DH is a serious carnivore while I am a strict vegetarian (lacto-ovo-vegetarian to be exact). I do not eat meat, fish or cheese but will eat mostly any cuisine. My DH is not too keen on pasta but in the right mood is quite keen on a good pizza.

Any advice?

[DianaBuja]

By all means, start out at the Carnivore Restaurant; yes, lots and lots of mainly game meat - very delicious - but also lots of non-meat side dishes.

As for veg. dishes, you might want to try out one of the Manaar restaurants, though the quality has gone down somewhat since they've expanded.

The Carnivore is located quite close to the Nairobi Zoo, where you can do mini-safari drive-throughs [seeing non-fenced game]; there is now a terrible drought in Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, and so you will certainly be seeing the countryside at its worst, unfortunately!

Back to the veg. dishes - just about any Indian restaurant will have veggie dishes and there are quite a few, other than the Manaar.

Also, be sure that you go out to Karen - now a suburb of Nairobi - and see Karen Blixen's [aka 'out of africa'] lovely house; there are quite a few nice restaurants in the vicinity that you can visit. I lived a number of years at the foot of the Ngong hills - just at the edge of the Blixen farm, but closer to the Ngong. A wonderful area.

Have fun!

DianaBuja

[Grub]

Call me a humorless bawster if need be, but "carnivore" isn't really an accurate description of a person's eating habits...

Carnivore = meat eater.

Herbivore = eater of things other than meat.

Omnivore = eater of all things.

Sharks and lions are carnivores. Cows and giraffes are herbivores. Humans and bears are omnivores.

These are biological terms, so a vegetarian is still an omnivore, mind you.

[Matthew Grant]

By all means, start out at the Carnivore Restaurant; yes, lots and lots of mainly game meat - very delicious - but also lots of non-meat side dishes.

As for veg. dishes, you might want to try out one of the Manaar restaurants, though the quality has gone down somewhat since they've expanded.  

The Carnivore is located quite close to the Nairobi Zoo, where you can do mini-safari drive-throughs [seeing non-fenced game]; there is now a terrible drought in Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, and so you will certainly be seeing the countryside at its worst, unfortunately!

Back to the veg. dishes - just about any Indian restaurant will have veggie dishes and there are quite a few, other than the Manaar.

Also, be sure that you go out to Karen - now a suburb of Nairobi - and see Karen Blixen's [aka 'out of africa'] lovely house; there are quite a few nice restaurants in the vicinity that you can visit. I lived a number of years at the foot of the Ngong hills - just at the edge of the Blixen farm, but closer to the Ngong.  A wonderful area.

Have fun!

DianaBuja 

←

I was at Carnivore a few weeks ago, it was my second visit and it really wasn't worth the bother. There were only 3 "exotic" meats on view, camel, crocodile and Ostrich meatballs. The rest of the meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken etc. was ordinary at best.

A better bet might be Handi, an Indian restaurant with an open kitchen. Plenty of veg and non-veg options in an air conditioned location. Lot's of tourists but some reasonable food. It has 2 or 3 outlets in London as well.

Edited February 23, 2006 by Matthew Grant (log)

[OnlyMe]

Call me a humorless bawster if need be, but "carnivore" isn't really an accurate description of a person's eating habits...

Carnivore = meat eater.

Herbivore = eater of things other than meat.

Omnivore = eater of all things.

Sharks and lions are carnivores. Cows and giraffes are herbivores. Humans and bears are omnivores.

These are biological terms, so a vegetarian is still an omnivore, mind you.

←

Grub, If you knew my DH you would know that 'Carnivore' is an accurate description!

Also, just to clarify: Omnivire = Eater of all things as you put it yourself - I am NOT an Omnivore as I do not eat meat. If you want to be technical I am a herbivore, Although the common description is Vegetarian!!!

[DianaBuja]

I was at Carnivore a few weeks ago, it was my second visit and it really wasn't worth the bother. There were only 3 "exotic" meats on view, camel, crocodile and Ostrich meatballs. The rest of the meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken etc. was ordinary at best.

A better bet might be Handi, an Indian restaurant with an open kitchen. Plenty of veg and non-veg options in an air conditioned location. Lot's of tourists but some reasonable food. It has 2 or 3 outlets in London as well.

←

Sorry to hear that; seems Carnivore may have gone the way of Manaar and others... Although, another possibility: due to very severe drought conditions now in Kenya game is, according to my friends/colleagues who are in Kenya, pretty stressed and scarce at this time and that may [in part] account for the poor game showing. Few things are less tasty that a very stressed / starved animal.

DianaBuja