Meso is a fine dining Japanese restaurant located in the Westgate Mall, Westlands. Reservations are not needed but if you’re going as a group-that would be recommended. Prices are on the higher side as well so plan accordingly. For starters we had popcorn shrimp tempura and pork gyoza. The shrimp was so good! It comes with a chilli mayo which I believe is the best condiment for that dish because I couldn’t stop eating it - or maybe it was my hunger lol, either way - a great choice.

Let me first talk about the service - I love that the hostess who greeted me at the door was so nice and gave me different options to choose from to sit despite having reserved a table for my party of two already. The place is really beautiful, gives off all the right vibes, especially at night, by the pool, they have a great band who played well and once seated we were tended to by the nicest waiter named Museti.

This is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants because they have the best Ramen. I only eat two things when I’m here - The Pork Ramen and the pork dumplings. A hot bowl of ramen is so perfect for the cold seasons and even the warmer seasons too. They have a variety of different Ramen like veggie, chicken, spicy chicken, tofu etc. Same with the dumplings - fish, pork, chicken or tofu.

3Dee restaurant is a restaurant that focuses on Kenyan food exclusively. It’s been around for quite a while but I only started visiting it more frequently in the last three years or so. Located at the 3Dee Apartment complex in Kilimani, the restaurant takes on the same name and is nicely tucked away in a corner of the complex. It looks like your typical restaurant with very little fuss in the decor and aesthetics.

I visited Cultiva quite a while back, over a weekend and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the food. The service though… not quite. But let me speak on the food first. We were there for brunch but apparently brunch is only served till 11? Isn’t the whole point of brunch is that it’s a meal served from late morning to late afternoon? Most places doing brunch in Nairobi refuse to actually do proper brunch hours and I don’t get why.

Talking about another cloud kitchen turned dine-in restaurant today! Siam Thai Kitchen is one of 7 brands under the Ando Foods umbrella and I love that their family just keeps getting bigger and bigger! (Still waiting on that dessert brand👀) As the name suggests, Siam is a Thai restaurant serving up nothing but good authentic Thai cuisine and coming from the Ando brand, I really expect nothing less. They opened quite a while back but I didn’t get to try anything from there until a few weeks ago.