270° Rooftop
The rooftop culture in Nairobi is really growing and I’m here for all of it, I love a good rooftop hang. The 270° rooftop is a restaurant located on the 18th floor of the Escada building along Lantana road. Being on the 18th floor already is quite high up so you can imagine the views you’ll see up there.
The restaurant has both an indoor and outdoor section, so if you’d like a bit more privacy or more quiet you can choose to sit inside or if you want the full 270 degree experience - step out onto the rooftop and pick a spot to enjoy basking in the Nairobi sun.
My first thoughts about the place - it’s vibey, love the various seating arrangements, you can chill at the bar or if you’re a bigger group you can sit on the comfy couch or if it’s a small group, there’s smaller pockets of seating space spread out across the restaurant.
My 2nd thoughts about the place - it’s small. As soon as we sat down… I realised the seating plan felt quite squeezed already yet the place wasn’t full. I imagined how a happy hour feels here with a full crowd and immediately the claustrophobia checked in! Anyways, that day wasn’t packed so I was calm.
The menu feels very Mexican themed with various Mexican dishes highlighted but it also caters to a continental demographic so you’ll still get your burgers, steaks, pasta etc. For starters we had wings (KSH1150), mushroom croquettes (KSH900), apple and burrata salad (KSH1350), and maple glazed carrots (KSH1150). Already you can tell this place is more on the high end price-wise judging by the price of those carrots…
The mushroom croquettes were amazing! Anything coated with fried potato is bound to taste delicious truly and this was no exception. Add the parsley garlic foam (the sauce) and you have a yummy winner I really loved this dish.
The apple burrata salad was an excellent palate cleanser, it was so refreshing! This was my first time trying burrata cheese so that was quite an experience and I found that the salad had too much cinnamon but I still enjoyed the flavours. If you don’t like cinnamon I wouldn’t recommend this one but hopefully if they see this they’ll work on reducing the amount of that spice, it really doesn’t need that much.
The wings were a nice healthy portion of fat wings! They said they’re meant to be mildly spiced… they really meant no spice at all lol, they were more on the sweet side and that kick of spice was missing. I liked the lemon-gochujang dip though, it was very yummy.
The chicken tostada had avocado so I did not even dare to try it lol, those who know, know…
Let’s talk about these maple carrots - when I read that it’s roasted carrots paired with charcoal hummus I was like how great can a normal and very Caucasian dish like this be surely? Y’all… this wasn’t even my starter and I really ate those carrots and swallowed that hummus, it was so good! (Sorry to my friend for finishing her dish) The carrots are clearly roasted in maple syrup and I loved the sprinkling of pomegranates which added a nice sweetness to the tartness of the hummus. Also pomegranates and maple syrup and hummus AND olive oil dressing in one dish?? I get why it costs a million now, do you guys know how much pomegranates cost??
The appetizers were clearly so good, so I was very excited for the mains. These included: chicken mole (KSH1850), braised short ribs (KSH2300), sirloin steak (KSH2500) butternut squash paella (KSH1150) and a lamb burger (KSH1850).
The chicken mole was surprisingly tasty especially because it was chicken breast - it tasted like kuku choma, very nice and moist. I had the braised short ribs, the ribs were super soft, falling off the bone easily and they were very flavourful and filling, the leftovers made for a yummy lunch the next day. I didn’t like the mash potatoes though, they were very lumpy and tasted quite dry.
That beef sirloin steak was perfect, zero notes! The butternut paella was such a vibrant and inviting dish. The portion was perfect and it tasted as vibrant as it looked. The lamb burger was surprisingly not good I usually like lamb but something about this burger wasn’t doing it for me… the lamb taste was quite overpowering, I couldn’t taste anything else and thus missed out on whatever flavour profile they were going for.
The service here was great, we were celebrating a birthday so they kindly arranged a nice little birthday dessert which was also quite yum! It makes for a great place for happy hour (and knowing how Raphta road gets during rush hour) this is a perfect place to dip into and watch the sunset over a drink or two whether it’s solo or with company.
It would work for a date spot but only con is that you may not have as much privacy unless y’all talk in super hushed tones lol, otherwise we’re all on that date with you. It’s also great for friend hangouts, lunch/dinner, just drinks… the vibe fits almost anything. They also have a breakfast menu if you want to try do brunch or a breakfast date there.
Ratings
Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Service: ⭐️️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ambience: ⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️
