Review Round-up and best burger in Uganda revealed.

So I’ve been very lax again and seeing as I’ve only one or two more meals in Uganda at Entebbe Backpackers, I’ll try and put all of my remaining reviews in to one last monster post. KFC have just opened their first branch in Uganda so it’s definitely time to move on.

New York Kitchen, Garden City, Kampala

I first went here on National Burger Day and I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve also returned a further two times, on each occasion ordering the same thing, a cheese and bacon burger. The bun was the usual slightly toasted, slightly sweet affair that holds up well. The cheese was fine and well melted over the patty. The bacon was a revelation, easily the best bacon I’ve had in Uganda. It was a slab of lean crisp back bacon. The patty was juicy, handmade and very tasty, cooked to medium perfection. 4 out of 5 for each visit and I’m happy to say the best burger I’ve had in Uganda. Such a shame that the location of this place is dire and it is always empty.

Multi-review, The Bistro, Kisimenti, Kamapala

My initial placement wasn’t going particularly well, so one Friday morning I found myself at the offices of ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter, to discuss a potential placement with them for the remainder of my time in Uganda. The meeting went well and since their offices were a lot closer to my flat I decided to walk home.

I wanted to do the walk to see how long it would take should I wish to get a bit more exercise in the future. I was also interested in grabbing some lunch at one of the nearby establishments in Kisimenti Square, a five minute diversion from my route. It was because of this that I found myself in the outdoor area of The Bistro just after 12 pm.

The establishment itself is pretty nice and it’s fairly new. Sadly the rest of the area leaves a lot to be desired. The square itself is home to many bars, restaurants, cafes, shops etc., but the actual square bit is actually a car park. Beyond the car park is a massive construction site where Knight Frank are building a large mall. Sadly nothing could be done to drown out the noise of the plant and construction machinery.

Stephen Fry checking out the construction site from the car park

Undeterred by the endless cacophony I ordered and Ultimate Burger and a Coke. The Ultimate Burger got its name from the fact that it was a beef and pork patty with homemade burger sauce. It came with fries and two home-made chilli relishes. Interestingly the chilli relishes both had serious kick to them. Obviously many peri-peri chillies had gone in to their construction and after dunking my chips in them a few times it was enough for me. The fries were also pretty good French fries, nicer than most I’ve had here.

What the mall will look like. They've got the traffic all wrong

On to the meat of the review, the patty was cooked to medium as I’d asked, well-seasoned and quite tasty seeing as it was a pig / cow combination. It wasn’t as juicy as New York Kitchen’s. The bun was the usual, slightly glazed, slightly seeded buns that a lot of places get their bread from. Nothing special, but holds together quite well. The sauce was OK as well, but again nothing standout about it. 3 out 5, would try a beef burger next time with a healthy dose of add-ons such as gorgonzola, bacon and the elusive jalapenos.

Terrace

Suitably full I walked the rest of the way home and pegged it at about 30 minutes taking my diversion in to account. I’ve made many more journeys like that over that last few weeks trying to diversify my eating habits and to get a few more reviews out. Despite there being a reasonable amount of choice available it has necessitated several repeat visits to diversify my menu choices. From now on there will be multiple food reviews most of the time.

Interior

The second time I went to the Bistro was after work one day. On Mondays to Fridays they have happy hours, so with a nice double G & T in hand I nibbled on some bread sticks with the homemade chilli relishes whilst waiting a reasonable amount of time for my order. The relishes were just as potent as before so I had to be careful with them.

Plain Bistro burger

As I mentioned earlier I was pretty clear on what I was going to order, and eventually the beef burger with bacon, gorgonzola and jalapenos arrived. Fries were slightly worse than the last time, but still perfectly edible. The beef patty in my opinion was juicier and tastier than the Ultimate burger’s beef and pork combo. Jalapenos were a bit lack-lustre, but added a reasonable amount of heat. The bacon was fine, nowhere near as good as New York Kitchen’s (reviews to follow), the gorgonzola however was amazing, stinky and strong, just how I like it. Overall I preferred this combination to the previous effort, but find it hard from separating it score-wise. 3 out of 5.

Various meals, The River Nile, and Explorers River Camp

It was NRE’s 17^th birthday and to celebrate they were offering free videos (normally $35) to anyone going rafting or tandem kayaking in August. I was originally planning to do the tandem kayaking for my birthday in early September, but couldn’t pass up the chance of a freebie. It was due to this that I had another really early Saturday morning start to get the free shuttle from Kampala at 7 am.

Dinner, Cayenne, Bukoto, Kampala

About a week before this meal I bumped in to a random muzungu in the old office, who was there for a cluster meeting. I ended up getting roped in to the meeting for no apparent reason, but afterwards we agreed to meet up sometime. That’s how I ended up in Cayenne with a bunch of other muzungu and local randoms.

Dinner, The Little Donkey, Kisugu, Kampala

Since not all of us could attend our last safari reunion we tried again. This time Kristin had been raving about this small Mexican establishment on the other side of town. I had also heard generally good things about the place so had high hopes. The venue isn’t the greatest, it’s just off set from the road with a small courtyard of three or four tables and a small inside seating section. I was late for a change so didn’t get much opportunity to appraise the menu, but went for my standard order.

Eventually my Carne Asado Burrito arrived with a small bowl of genuine jalapenos. The burrito included all the usual and the beef was very tasty and tender. All in all pretty good and slightly better than Javas beef burrito, I’d probably eat here again if it wasn’t such a faff to get too, but I struggle to rave about it. It was good and a nice change, but I’d have to say it was and average Mexican restaurant. That said I do love Mexican. 3 out of 5.

Dinner, Haandi, Nakasero, Kampala

The young couple that I travelled back from Jinja with at the weekend were meeting up with some friends for dinner during the weekend and invited me along. This review is going to be fairly short as I don’t have very good notes due to not knowing what I was eating at the time.

Either way Haandi is a small chain of Indian restaurants with branches in East Africa and two in London. Since it was a fairly large group of people we ordered a variety of different dishes and accompaniments washed down with Nile. It was all good grub and more like a British curry experience. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of curry that I had. 3.5 out of 5 would recommend and return. I’ll even try out one of the London ones when I’m back there.

Various meals, Explorers River Camp, Bujagali

A couple of weeks after my tumble from the boda it was time for the monthly Mountain Club of Uganda (MCU) / Kayak the Nile (KTN) beginners kayak session. Since I missed last month’s session due to my undiagnosed malaria, I was determined to give it a whirl despite my left wrist still giving me considerable grief. I had a lot of strength back and most of my movement didn’t cause too much pain. I shouldn’t have gone for it, but I can be a stubborn idiot at times.

Dinner, The Lawns, Kololo, Kampala

This week was already a bloody expensive one with three evenings out already. Friday night and it was time for something special, one of the premier restaurants in Kampala. The place had been ‘bigged’ up by several former hostel-ites in the past and so I had high expectations for this meal. For me the most important aspect about The Lawns was that it served a reasonable section of game meat, which I adore.

Dinner, Fuego, Kisugu, Kampala

Before Friday I was due to meet up with my safari buddies for a farewell meal with Jill before she went back to the US. Jill also brought her friend along who she’d been staying with in Kampala. We’d arranged to meet at cocktail bar and restaurant called Fuego in between Kabalagala and Muyenga. It’s just up the road from the Ethiopian Restaurant that was attacked by al-Shabbab (the group responsible for the recent atrocity in Nairobi) suicide bombers in 2010. They also targeted Kyadondo Rugby Club during the 2010 World Cup resulting in 74 deaths and 70 injured. Thankfully there have been no other acts of terrorism in Kampala since then.

Very pleasant surroundings at Fuego

Eventually we all arrived at Fuego’s except Ali who unfortunately couldn’t make it until much later. We sat in a nice area in the gardens of the establishment and whilst having a good chat over a drink moved on to the extensive food menu. It was quite large and had all the usual staples and pizza courtesy of a wood fired oven. The owner, who spent a bit of time chatting to us, is originally from Eritrea and so it also has a selection of Eritrean food.

A couple of massive njeras

Unsurprisingly Eritrean is very similar to Ethiopian, a cuisine I’d thoroughly enjoyed in my early days in Kampala. I went for a chicken curry, whose name sadly escapes me, which was served on another massive njera. It was delicious, wonderfully spiced with a reasonably amount of heat. The chicken was good and fell off the bone. I mopped it all up with the njera. 3.5 out of 5. Would return if it wasn’t such a faff to get to from where I live.

Dinner, Mish Mash, Kololo, Kampala

Pretty sure I’ve already mentioned this, but Wednesday nights at Mish Mash have the wonderful double bill of being open air cinema night and burger and a beer deal night. Having met up with my fellow diners from the previous evening we went in to the main outdoor area at the back of the building and ordered our various burgers and beers.

I've never seen it this busy thankfully

Dinner, Nanjing, Kololo, Kampala

One of my friends who was back in Kampala had a hankering for Chinese food, so we met up with another friend to go to Nanjing in swanky Kololo. It had reasonable reviews in various expat forums so thought it worth a look. I arrived late, but not as late as my fellow diners. I’d piled in to a bowl of g-nuts and was well through my first bottle of Nile before they arrived.

Garden at the front of the hotel / restaurant

Lunch, Mr Tasty, Lugogo, Kampala

I’ll keep this one brief. Shit. 1.5 out of 5, but at least this time I got the food I ordered (a Zee burger, one piece of fried chicken, fries and a bottle of Coke).

Longer version, I was down at Shoprite doing some shopping (duh!) and walked past the recently refurbished Mr Tasty, which keen readers will remember for its poor review in my first week in Uganda. Still hankering for a Zinger I decided to give the place another go. I went for a combo meal and got exactly that. The one piece hardly had any chicken on it, but what little there was, was half decent fried chicken. The fries were horrible. I didn’t eat them. The Zee burger was Mr Tasty’s version of a chicken fillet burger but without the fillet. It was passable and helped satisfy the craving despite being nowhere near as good as a Zinger.