Giraffe food point’s lingering chicken luwombo
Feb 25, 2010
WHY is this restaurant called Giraffe? We found out when we recently visited the new establishment to see what they had on offer. Anne Musoke has been plying traditional Ugandan food here, right across the road from Garden City, where the exotic Indian and Chinese restaurants are, for about two mont
By Ernest Bazanye
WHY is this restaurant called Giraffe? We found out when we recently visited the new establishment to see what they had on offer. Anne Musoke has been plying traditional Ugandan food here, right across the road from Garden City, where the exotic Indian and Chinese restaurants are, for about two months and she wanted us to tell you about it.
Before we ate, or had the name explained, the staff gave us a brief tour. On the premises, besides the lawn (which was empty on account of the heat — this schizophrenic weather of ours!) there is a gazebo area that is separate from the small room that was the restaurant proper.
The lawns and gazebo are probably better suited for beers in the evenings than lunch in the heat. They certainly serve well as able venues for functions and parties of the sort you can book Giraffe for, according to Anne.
There is more to come—a massage parlour and a boutique are also included in the complex— but we were there for the food. The prices are very nice. sh10,000 will get you well-fed.
If you fancy spaghetti or chips, that can be arranged, but Anne’s specialty is traditional Ugandan food. Where others offer a buffet, though, she has a different arrangement. You pick what you want off the menu: rice, matooke, kalo, balugu etc and a heavilyladen plate shall be brought to you by a pretty waitress.
As guests and not regular customers, we had the best on offer—plates piled with food, and luwombo of chicken and groundnuts, and the kind attention of the supervisor Hellen, and later the boss herself, but we noticed that the gentlemen to the left and to the right of us seemed to have a rapport with the waitresses—probably regulars who found reason to come here often.
When she joined us, she told us that giraffes always eat the freshest leaves and will not touch a leaf that sprouted more than a night before, and so when she opened her dream business, she sees to it that she offers only the freshest food: nothing stays overnight. Hence the name.
WHY is this restaurant called Giraffe? We found out when we recently visited the new establishment to see what they had on offer. Anne Musoke has been plying traditional Ugandan food here, right across the road from Garden City, where the exotic Indian and Chinese restaurants are, for about two months and she wanted us to tell you about it.
Before we ate, or had the name explained, the staff gave us a brief tour. On the premises, besides the lawn (which was empty on account of the heat — this schizophrenic weather of ours!) there is a gazebo area that is separate from the small room that was the restaurant proper.
The lawns and gazebo are probably better suited for beers in the evenings than lunch in the heat. They certainly serve well as able venues for functions and parties of the sort you can book Giraffe for, according to Anne.
There is more to come—a massage parlour and a boutique are also included in the complex— but we were there for the food. The prices are very nice. sh10,000 will get you well-fed.
If you fancy spaghetti or chips, that can be arranged, but Anne’s specialty is traditional Ugandan food. Where others offer a buffet, though, she has a different arrangement. You pick what you want off the menu: rice, matooke, kalo, balugu etc and a heavilyladen plate shall be brought to you by a pretty waitress.
As guests and not regular customers, we had the best on offer—plates piled with food, and luwombo of chicken and groundnuts, and the kind attention of the supervisor Hellen, and later the boss herself, but we noticed that the gentlemen to the left and to the right of us seemed to have a rapport with the waitresses—probably regulars who found reason to come here often.
When she joined us, she told us that giraffes always eat the freshest leaves and will not touch a leaf that sprouted more than a night before, and so when she opened her dream business, she sees to it that she offers only the freshest food: nothing stays overnight. Hence the name.