Try lunch in Kireka 'Mu biloole'

FOOD & PLACES

While I am in the outskirts of Kampala and my appetite shifts into riot gear for lunch, I look around with my nose sensors on full alert for sweet scents. I end up ‘Mu biloole' (literally, at the trucks), just next to the Police Post or behind the train stage.

There I stumble upon three bulbous caterers waiting to feed diners. On the food menu is steamed banana, cassava, maize bread (ugali) and potatoes. Pilau (spiced rice) and spaghetti have lately been added on the mini menu.

"For sauce, we have smoked fish in groundnut stew, chicken, beef, cow hoof (mulokony) and beans," announces an attendant standing ramrod stiff like a pole.

"What drink will you have?" she politely asks me.

 You will have to snake through a couple of nondescript features to get to 'Mu biloole'

After noting my order, she shoots away like a firefly and returns balancing the ‘three-course' meal of food, sauce and enva endirwa (vegetables) with a price tag of sh4000.

I am told to wash my hands on an improvised jerry can which serves as a tap. While there, expect no sophisticated cuisine names, knives or hand towels. Most diners prefer to touch their food.

Did I see a man weighing more than 120kg demolish two plates and crown them with a beer and hot pepper?  Besides him, you cannot miss to see diners swagger away while picking their teeth, even if they had either beans or vegetables.

But there is something interesting about the lorry drivers here. For salads, they munch Mulondo (known for its aphrodisiac properties) or chew fried coffee berries for sh500.

Hurry! Don't let that empty tummy rumble all through. Happy lunch!