No beef with Ranchers butchers shop

Feb 26, 2009

MANY an idle stroller ambling slowly through Garden City has entertained this simple idea: the idea that it might be kind of cool to sit here in the corridor and eat. Ranchers Butchers Shop & Grill beat you to it.

By Ernest Bazanye

MANY an idle stroller ambling slowly through Garden City has entertained this simple idea: the idea that it might be kind of cool to sit here in the corridor and eat. Ranchers Butchers Shop & Grill beat you to it.

The result is very cosy, very calm. Maybe it is the preponderance of homely brown shades that flow out of the interior and over the few tables laid out over the floor outside, but there was a soft, elegant almost Christmassy feel to the place when we were there last weekend. I liked it instantly.

Most of the tables were taken. By middle-aged men and women, mostly. The times I have been here have given me the impression that it is a businessman’s eatery.

A place for ex-yuppies (those who are not young and upcoming any more because they are older and already came up), though there are moments when tourists and expats take up quite a number of the seats.

It’s right across from Uchumi Supermarket and occasionally I have seen a mother lead her troop round to our Ranchers. Everybody loves kids, but not when they are tetchy and fidgety and restless.

Please use family planning or have well behaved kids. If neither appeals to you, please go to Tutti Frutti upstairs. No offence.

In the absence of brats, however, you may find yourself basking in the ambience. I was enjoying it immensely.

The low hubbub of gentle chit-chat, the occasional clinking of glasses and forks, the soft sunlight of a fading day. It was almost a poem.

We didn’t wait long before a waitress approached us. She was pleasant and helpful and quick, a flurry of efficiency in a smart brown uniform who took our orders with quite apparent pleasure.

We prepared to wait and had barely settled a dispute over whether there was an apostrophe missing in the name of the restaurant (I thought there was.

Ranchers Butcher’s Grill & Shop sounded more accurate. Or even better: Rancher’s Butcher’s Grill & Shop) when our meal came.

We had gone for the burger dishes. My date had a regular burger, but I went for the more exotic Masala Burger. I didn’t regret it.

It was so enjoyable that I conceded the apostrophe argument just because I wanted to focus my mouth.

My date thought her burger was a bit rare, though generous in size and though I found my own burger beyond reproach, as indicated, I had issues with the portion of chips that came along with it. Just a handful, it seemed.

However, the masala burger moved me deeply and I am keen on going back to see what else Ranchers (or Rancher’s) has to offer.

The premises are pleasant, the service is fast, the food is fine and even though the chips portions were slight, I shall unleash the pun that has been straining to be let loose since this review started and say I have no beef with Ranchers.

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