Bao Box

January 18, 2024

I finally got to check out the newly redone Bao Box after what seems like very many years since I was last at the original Bao Box. It’s located on General Mathenge Drive in quite an expansive compound. The entrance is a nice little arch pathway covered in lights leading you into the reception area where you’re welcomed by the hostess and a nice neon sign blazing the words ‘welcome to the jungle’… okay theme!😄

There are intimate seating spaces inside in case you’d like a more private dining situation or if you have meetings that you’d rather have inside. Also looks like a nice place to work from as well. What I noticed immediately is the wall art & graffiti everywhere. Bao Box is designed to be a place you can eat, play & socialise and their outfitting described exactly that. Fun lighting everywhere, the neon signs with punny messaging, fun graffiti and beautiful murals… already that makes you feel like you’re in a place that looks like fun, I like that.

When you come out of the house to the main complex, you’re literally walking into said ‘jungle’. The compound is sectioned into levels, there’s a sign post with different signs showing where you can go depending on what you’re trying to get into, do you want to eat? Do you want to play mini golf? Do you want to head to the bathroom etc.? Good signage is necessary in a place like this so you don’t feel overwhelmed on what to do (though I still was a tad overwhelmed still🙈)

There are servers on each level and one of them explained the different sections to me and that allowed me to now choose better where I’d like to sit. There’s a section that feels very much like an amphitheater in its seating style and I found that so cool because it looked like little booths in a garden setting but also the booths were basically made of stone/cement so that’s not a place you can sit for long without getting uncomfortable. Very great for pictures though so watu wa IG eat good over here😊

Anyway after spending time oohing and aahing at everything, I eventually sat down at a corner somewhere and Lizzie, our server for the night came by with a bracelet/armband? She said it’s a device that will track all our orders and collate them into one bill and anything else we do here, like if we decide to play pool or do karaoke, it’s just added to said band… #womeninstem I stan. I like that they don’t force you to download the app they used to when they had just opened, you can actually choose to just have your number taken down and everything that’s scanned into the band is charged at the end of your visit to your number by Mpesa. Convenience is key especially if you want to keep customers coming back.

I was there on a Friday and it was quite busy but not super packed. There were lots of groups playing board games, the jengas and the Kenya at 50s, monopoly etc. Bao Box has a wide variety of board games and card games to choose from & I’m glad they stopped charging for use of these, because that didn’t make sense. What they do charge for is the bigger games like mini golf (KSH500/ pp), use of the karaoke room, table tennis and darts.

The menu is also very expansive which immediately had me worried but I figured since they revamped the menu, hopefully the food would be good too. I ordered the fish bites as a starter (KSH850/) with a side of spiced fries (KSH350/). The fish bites were a good portion and tasty, the fries though tasted like they had been refried, think they were frozen fries just tossed into the fryer - not good at all.

My friend had lamb chops with potato wedges (KSH2,200/). Her meal was exquisite. Those lamb chops were a very good size first of all, which is rare because lamb chops rarely have a lot of meat on them, I don’t know where they sourced these ones but they better keep that source. The flavour was top too! Seasoned well, very soft meat, so delicious! I’m getting hungry now thinking about them 🥹 They come served with a side of steamed and seasoned vegetables and those wedges were much fresher than the fries I had. Ended up eating her food with her because of how good it was - highly recommend those lamb chops 👌🏾

We played a nice long round of mini golf that was so much fun! I’ve never played mini golf before so this was a nice introduction to it, I’m clearly not good at it but cha muhimu ni nilijaribu 😅 The guides are very helpful so even for beginners like me you won’t feel so apprehensive. My friend was Tigress woods with the amount of hole in ones she was making especially in the last course that was super complicated!

Bao Box is a place you can spend hours in with all they have to offer, we would have gone on to have dessert after golf but turns out they close at 11pm, and we didn’t even notice how much time had passed oops. So we thanked lizzie for a her great service, paid and made our way to the club because the night was still young 😁

I love the concept of Bao Box because I love a good activity. Eating & drinking is great yes, but we can eat AND play?? Even better. Moving to this bigger location was a good idea, you can have so many people in here and it still won’t feel super full. It’s a great place for events like birthdays, team building, fun baby showers etc. It’s also a great place for a fun date night, not every day intimate candle lit dinners, sometimes also small small competition to see if he’s really the man for you or if she’s the woman for you 😅

I’d like to go back and try more of their food selections and also try some karaoke. All in all, I quite enjoyed myself here.