For all lovers of food of food and fine tastes, there is a newcomer in town and they are going for the crown in the most exquisite and divine way possible! The INTI is a new restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya that centres on the finest Nikkei cuisine. If you are like us, the first question to pop up in your mind would be, “What in the world do you mean by Nikkei?”
Well, according to INTI’s webpage on The Food Library, “Nikkei cuisine was born in 1889 when Japanese farmers moved to Peru to work in sugar cane fields. Lacking many of their traditional ingredients, they began using Japanese cooking techniques with Peruvian ingredients they could find locally. This gave birth to an inspiring and unique cuisine known as Nikkei.” With this in mind, you can only imagine the excitement we had to have the ‘Nikkei Experience’ first hand. We were not disappointed!
Located on the 20thfloor of the One Africa building in Westlands, the INTI is well situated in the heart of Nairobi with a breath-taking view of the city and its environs. The restaurant is round therefore one is able to see a different part of Nairobi depending on where you are seat. Every seat has a different view, and if you manage to be there in the early hours of the evening, you will experience a glorious sunset.
The exclusive media tasting was held on Wednesday, January 8, 2020 from noon. We arrived at around 12:30pm and walked in as the Peruvian head chef gave an intro about the restaurant. To be quite frank, we heard little of the introduction because we were floored by the interior décor that met our eyes. The bamboo branches dangling from the ceiling presented a woody, almost rustic feel while the velour seats provided a feeling of warmth and luxury. They were super comfortable too. The whole room is filled with floral artistry somewhat of Japanese decent and the huge translucent windows give just the perfect amount of an ultra-modern urban touch. For a moment we forgot that we were still in Nairobi.
Shortly after the Chef’s remarks, came the starters. Tuna, fish and vegetarian were the available choices. Talk about inclusivity. To be more accurate, the starter menu consisted of the Peruvian Ceviche, the Ceviche Nikkei, the Ceviche Al Veg and the Caribbean Mango Ceviche. We decided to buck the trend and try the two latter vegetarian starters and saying they were divine would be an understatement. The starters were so rich in flavour you would be tempted to have them for the main course and dessert. We were in public, so we had to pace ourselves.
For the second and final round of starters, they had sushi. Now, sea food is sometimes not desirable for some people, but guess what? They had beef and vegetarian options for this! We would have never imagined having beef sushi. The menu consisted of the Acevichada Maki roll, the Alo Pobre roll, the Philadelphia roll and the Truffle roll, which is the vegetarian option. This time we went the beef route, having the Acevichada Maki roll and at this point the flavours were tap dancing on our tongues. Glorious! By the time the main course arrived, we were convinced that there was no way it would beat the starters. To our fortunate surprise, we were wrong.
The main course consisted of shrimp and boiled fish, or as it appears on the menu, the Sakayanaki and the Arroz Con Marisco, respectively. The food was creamy, had just the right mix with octopus which was a first for us, and the textures were absolutely divine. At this point our minds are convinced we are in an urban restaurant in Asia in our dreams. Mind you, the best part of the dream was yet to take place.
Somebody say dessert! From the plating to the flavours, we were literally in dessert heaven. We don’t even know everything that was in them, all we know is that we enjoyed them. The menu had the Tres Leches Al Pisco, a refreshing tangerines sorbet infused with Baileys, the Cheesecake Sour, which is a cheesecake with lime flavour, the Mango Martini, which shockingly has mango and oreos and no alcohol and last but not least, the Indulge in Temptation, which to be honest is just one of those things you just enjoy, no questions asked. In this area, we particularly enjoyed the Mango Martini because of how defined the plating is and how divine the flavours were. At this point we did not think it was possible to up their game, but INTI proved us wrong.
Just when we thought life couldn’t get any better; they impressed us further with a special type of dessert; a plate of 24 karat gold chocolate balls, butter peanuts, passion fruit and pistachio biscuits, served with pisco cream. The INKA Gold! This is the definition of luxury, royalty and exquisite flavours. Our minds were blown. At this point we were amazed at the things writing for the Stylenerds journal had done for us. We were eating gold. Surely, is there anything better?
Now, during the whole event, we had a chance to sample various drinks, all alcoholic of course. The menu consisted of the Pisco Sour, which is one of their Peruvian classic cocktails, the Chicha Sour, which is a Pisco Sour infusion, the Hibiscus, a Chilcano infusion, and the Pisco Granadilla which is one of their signature cocktails, which says something. The drinks were strong in flavour and alcohol content so when we say we were in heaven, we were in literal heaven.
The evening was spent making merry and making friends. At around 4:30pm, like the responsible adults we are, we decided to head back to work. Besides it was just a Wednesday so we weren’t thinking of making any new plans after the beautiful feast we just had. Lets just say there was no plan that we could make to match our afternoon.
Our final thoughts? INTI has come to set standards in interior décor and cuisine and they are doing it with ease and finesse. We definitely cannot wait to go back.
— Written by Tony Ngige
