Hooyos Kitchen & Poetry

February 26, 2025

Hooyos is a nice and spacious cafe along Dennis Pritt road. There’s lots of greenery both inside and on the outdoors, lots of seating space and I love the big windows which bring in so much natural light into the space. Being a Somali establishment, the menu boasts lots of Somali cuisine plus continental breakfast items and typical menu items you find in most menus. Of course it goes without saying that this place is halal.

Started with some goat soup (KSH400) which was surprisingly bland… I was expecting some flavourful bone soup but nada… I moved on to samosas (KSH750 for 3), these were overfried, the oil dripping from the samosa was too much. We’re not doing too well so far… I started getting worried.

For mains, we tried the chicken shawarma (KSH1250) and the chicken curry (KSH1550). The portion sizes were good for both dishes. I wasn’t expecting the shawarma to have so much sauce within it, plus it was quite cold. The fries were freshly hot but the shawarma was cold, even the chicken in it wasn’t as warm as you’d expect knowing it’s just been taken off the grill. I asked about that and they said that’s how they serve it… okay, I guess. The shawarma was tasty though! I’d have enjoyed it more if it was warmer but the flavours definitely came out

The chicken curry was nice and thick! So tasty and so filling as well. It was giving very much butter chicken. The service was good, the ambience was quite chill. I was there on a Sunday afternoon, it was weirdly empty for a Sunday, we were the only patrons for a good chunk of time. I think they get more people during the week as they hold various events. It seems to be a good place for afternoon into evening plans, a nice place to escape traffic if you need to, coffee dates, business meetings etc.