So Nairobi has unravelled a new 5 star hotel by the name Villa Rosa Kempinski. The hotel is located on Chiromo Road towards the up market Westlands area. Clearly, even from its name and the kind of lighting at the front porch this is not a hotel for persons with 2 dollars to their name. Whilst on the busy Waiyaki way, one can catch a glimpse of the fancy area. It is a palatial hotel- in every sense of the word.

Talking of star hotels reminds of me of one experience I had back in the day. Well this was in probably a two star or maybe three star hotel called Ole Sereni located on the busy Mombasa highway. I had the chance to dine there on one particular evening in the company of a close friend. Having been born and raised in Nyeri, I had not yet had the chance to eat in a hotel where food is served in two courses at the very least. So we get in, and we are offered some soup (I think it was mush room soup) and pieces of tiny bread (layman’s language). Then we were asked to order for the main meal. Poor village girl-all I knew was that I wanted chicken. I looked to “kuku choma” or “kuku fry” but the kind of prints on the menu made me feel like I am ordering in a Chinese restaurant. I finally settled on fried rice with chicken tepanyaki and teriyaki sauce-my consolation being that it had something to do with rice and chicken. When the food was served, my village mind argued out that I should pour the contents of the 3 plus plates onto the large plate on which they had been served. This would save me much time as I would have everything of the rice and stew with a single spoon scoop. My friend was quick to tell me that the big plate was a tray! Thank heavens he told me that before I could make a fool out of myself, and needless to say, the food ended up being too spicy for any non-Indian to enjoy!

A story is told of a lady who was taken out on a coffee date. Oblivious to the new environment, the girl acted knowledgeable and ended up inserting the sugar bag in tea thinking that its contents would dissolve in the tea as does a teabag! Hilarious!

It is always advisable to “watch and learn”. If you are taken out to these fancy hotels, let they who took you be in the lead. You can observe what they are doing and if it seems to make sense-then it’s probably the right thing to do.

Back to Kempinski, there was a discussion on radio that the hotel has a bottle of wine that sells for a cool 1 million Kenyan shillings! Imagine that!! Credible source say that a tot (for those who drink) sells for 20,000 Kenyan shillings. I tend to argue like the hustler I am- that’s a month’s rent going down in one gulp! Curiosity got me to Google how much it would wring off you to spend a night at the hotel. The results were: a whooping 30,000 Kenyan shillings for a normal suite and (brace for this) over 900,000 Kenyan shillings for the presidential suite. Those are two cars!!!!

Like I said Hotel Villa Rosa Kempinski needs more than 2 dollars to your name!

Article source: https://www.zakenya.com/Food-and-Beverage/119-The-star-hotels.html

Have you ever passed a pizza inn and thought, ‘if only I could afford it’? The truth is with the exorbitant prices for pizza, not many Kenyans can afford it. Think about it, a 2kg floor is less than sh140, add the meat prices and vegetables used and the mark up cannot exceed sh300 and that is for 4 pizzas! So why pay a thousand shillings for one pizza when you can make your own?

You don’t have an oven? Don’t worry about it, it’s not vital. You don’t have cheese? Who needs it? As Cynthia, a local entrepreneur and expert pizza maker would tell you, all you need is a source of dry heat. This is easily done by double heating. This is where one container is placed inside another. The first container has to be large enough to accommodate the second container. You would want to use a large cooking sufuria and a circular metal plate.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 2 cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of baking powder
• A pinch of salt

Toppings:

• Tomato sauce (make your own sauce)
• Spices of choice
• Vegetables of choice
• Meat (sausages and smokies make a good option)
• 2 egg whites (cheese, if you insist)

METHOD:

Start by preparing the pizza dough – this is similar to the way you would prepare chapati or mandazi dough. Set it aside for 30 minutes so that it rises.

As it raises put water in the large sufuria, just enough that it can boil for about 30 minutes without needing any additional water (look for a flat stone that you will place inside the sufuria and place your second container).

Separate the dough into 3-4 parts and roll it until it is half an inch in thickness.

Add about a third cup of your prepared tomato sauce to the crust.

Add the toppings of choice before carefully covering them with the egg whites.

Your pizza is now ready to be cooked, place it in the secondary container and cover it well.

Place the stone inside the large sufuria before placing the secondary container on top of it.

The lowest cooking time reported is 16 minutes. Check your pizza and if the egg white is cooked, your pizza is ready. Remove it and wait for it to cool down before eating.

Tips:

Of course, you may not make the perfect pizza at first. It took Cynthia three times to find a blend she could really enjoy. So, ensure that you try it out a couple of times and experiment with different toppings and spices. Who knows, you may just come up with your own very unique blend of pizza!

Article source: https://www.zakenya.com/Food-and-Beverage/34-How-to-cook-pizza-without-an-oven-without-yeast-and-without-cheese.html