Eating out: Delicious, affordable food on a road trip

Chicken Roulade with Chips and garden salad, and a fruit salad

Photo credit: Madame Connoisseuse | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • If you’re looking for quality food in Nanyuki in a spot that’s easily accessible from the road, the prices here would put several similar restaurants in Nairobi to shame.


Leaving Naromoru, a friend and I approach Nanyuki tired, hungry and cautious of how much we have left on Mpesa. We alight from the matatu at the Nanyuki airstrip stage, cross the road and walk into One Stop Nanyuki. Once at the restaurant, a slim jovial lady with grey dreadlocks shows us to a table out on a green garden. The tables are set more than the recommended 1.5m distance apart which is great. Everyone who’s visited Nanyuki always waxes on about how you can see Mt Kenya from anywhere around town, but it is unfortunately cloudy today.

Have you ever sat at a restaurant and secretly prayed that the menu isn’t pricey because then you would have to make up some flimsy excuse to disappear? Something akin to “naenda hivi ninacome?”

The main course section had everything from quiche, grilled tilapia with ugali and spinach, and fillet steak to a blue burger, ranging in price from Sh500 to Sh1,000. They had 12 different types of pizzas averagely priced at Sh900, homemade pastas, sandwiches, Indian dishes, starters, a kid’s menu with dishes such as chicken nuggets and chips, mac n cheese, hot dog and chips and the works, all ranging from Sh300 to Sh400. I was tempted to get the chicken ceasar salad with grilled chicken, lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, bacon, parmesan and a dressing for Sh700.

However, the chicken roulade sounded too good to pass up. It was chicken breast stuffed with bacon and cheese topped with a mushroom sauce, accompanied by mashed potatoes or chips, with steamed vegetables or a garden salad. Who in their right mind wouldn’t order that?

The golden brown chicken was breaded, generously stuffed with parmesan cheese and bacon, a pleasant surprise when you cut through. It had a crunchy exterior with very juicy stuffing, and for the price we paid, it almost seemed a sin that it was also delicious. My friend ordered the steamed vegetables, but I’d recommend you get the garden salad, a delightful mix of fresh beetroot, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and avocado.

For dessert, because at this point we had decided to spend the last of our money, we got fruit which came with a small side bowl of yoghurt. Everything tasted fresh, like it had been picked from the garden that very morning. I like that the manager came around to our table to check in, and soon we were all chatting away like old friends.

If you’re looking for quality food in Nanyuki in a spot that’s easily accessible from the road, the prices here would put several similar restaurants in Nairobi to shame.