The new À la carte menu at the Terrace Restaurant, Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi

One can not think well,sleep well,love well if one has not dined well.

Intercontinental Hotel Nairobi recently reviewed the à la carte menu of their Terrace Restaurant, and I had the opportunity to sample out the dishes in the new menu.

I love good food. Good food lifts my spirits.

Located right inside the city center, the Intercontinental hotel debunks major myths surrounding hotels that are right in the heart of major cities.Once you set foot inside the gate and head straight to the spacious and tastefully furnished lobby,you forget the hubbub of the city as soothing,soft,jazzy ballads that linger in the Intercon air, serenades you as you make way to different corners of the hotel.

The Terrace Restaurant, is situated by the hotel’s pool to the left and the Indian restaurant to the right. This restaurant drips finesse and elegance. The warm smiles from the patrons only promises a pleasant experience in waiting.

The new menu.

After a brief introduction and a nice welcome by the sous chef who gave us a brief about the new menu, we dove straight into the business of the day. Food tasting.

Starters

Option 1. Five spiced-sesame Duck

If they hadn’t mentioned that the meat in the salad was duck meat, I would have easily assumed that I had eaten chicken. This was glazed with hoisin dressing. The salad had orange slices mixed with baby spinach and pieces of rocket and cherry tomatoes. I loved it. All the ingredients complemented each other very well.

Five spiced-sesame Duck.

Option 2: Smoked chicken and Mango Salad

I loved the idea of smoked chicken and mango salad. However after tasting it, the five spiced sesame duck still remained as my choice of Salad in the new menu.Simply because it was richer in flavor.

I recommend the smoked chicken and mango salad served with watercress and arugula to those who love don’t necessarily have a sweet tooth and really like the sour or acidic taste of mangoes especially when they will be off season.

Smoked chicken and Mango Salad.

Right after the Salads, came the garlic and butter toasted French bread served with Harissa blend and/or onion and raisin chutney. The combination of the bread and onion and raisin chutney was out of this world.No kidding.Harissa blend was spicy. How the two sauces beautifully paired with the bread uniquely was genius! Here again, my pick was the onion and raisin chutney.

Garlic and butter toasted French bread.

Onion and raisin chutney.

Mains.

1. Morendat beef fillet medallion and sirloin.

This meaty treat was served medium rare. The woody stair plate that it served in I could almost swear added a nice distant woody flavor to the of the meat.This was served with balsamic shallots,cherry tomatoes and grilled mushrooms. Every bite of the beef was followed by a burst of juicy beefy flavors that spread in the mouth leaving an undeniable urge to have another piece. when aged meat meets a skilled chef,the outcome is magical,to say the least…

2.Chicken Peri Peri

This easily must be the best chicken Peri Peri I have eaten in the recent past. It was moderately spicy and you could taste the marinade all the way to the bone. Lemon and garlic with the appetizing balsam herbal minty aroma of rosemary blended effortlessly with their house made Peri Peri sauce.

Chicken Peri Peri

3.Mini Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza

The pizza in the new menu is not your regular pizza. The inspiration behind it was naan bread hence its fluffy kiln-baked base. The topping was made up of bandini chicken tikka on their signature Pizza sauce sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.

Dessert.

1.Tangy Lemon Cheese cake.

Generally, I don’t like cheese cake but truth be told, the candied ginger and berry coulis with sweet orange segments gave me every reason to take a second and third bite.

2.Sesame and Amarula tart.

Let it be said that yours truly is a lover of cream liqueur but the sesame wafers between a rich Amarula mousse was my dessert of unfiltered preference. Pure bliss, no jokes.

3. Nanaimo bar.

I had never tasted this Canadian specialty until that day. I wasn’t disappointed. As a matter of fact I can easily get used to it. It was served with berry coulis and an orange sorbet.