This is the story of cuisine explorer, Pablo, an adventurous man who travelled the world in search of the finest cuisines and flavors from different world cultures. His voyage took him to the deserts of Arabia, tropical Indonesia and exotic Africa, where he sampled the best dishes ever made. It is in Nairobi, Kenya where he finally settled after falling in love with the perfect weather, the scenic nature and the charming people. Here, he brought with him the flavors he had discovered and started an eatery with a blend of cuisines from the various places he visited.
“Join us as we explore a fresh new menu at Pablo’s. Elevating the classics with signature dishes from around the world.” The afternoon of February 25 had us share in the experience of Pablo’s travels at Four Points by Sheraton’s new restaurant, Pablo’s, so named after the curious cuisine explorer. Arriving at the hotel’s location in Hurlingham, Nairobi, a delectable Sangria was waiting, perfectly chilled to cool us down during the sunny afternoon. This, along with an assortment of snacks to munch on before the official menu tasting began. From salmon sandwiches, Cheese wraps with Indian vegetables, curry and buttered bread sticks; it was a teasing sample of what was to come. The official program began with a brief address from Four Points by Sheraton’s General Manager, who shared the intriguing story of Pablo’s travels and how he inspired their new restaurant.
“The world is a big place. One lifetime may not be enough to taste everything.” And we took this as a grand opportunity to have a taste of something beyond the Kenyan borders. The start of our cuisine journey began with a random selection of the menu we would get to taste. From an assortment of three different menus, I picked menu two – composed of a vegan symphony as the starter, Sumatra fried rice as the main course and a Lavington Lamington for desert.
The vegan symphony was a salad dish with avocado, bell peppers, red onions, celery, a medley of Zucchini, beetroot with steamed quinoa and vinaigrette. The salad was fresh and perfectly balanced with a slightly acidic taste and was a great meal to kick off the cuisine exploits of Pablo.
For the main course, we called on the Sumatras of Indonesia with a fiery dish of Sumatra fried rice composed of spicy prawns, chicken skewers, Kejap manis and a fried egg- a sunny side up. The dish gave an especially strong impression of Indonesia’s love of zesty flavors and brought our senses to life. Armed with a glass of wine, one couldn’t help but take a sip to ease the heat. The chef was there for a first-hand account of our reviews after every course and he offered options of a mild version of the rice for those with milder palates.
To end the cuisine journey, dessert was a decadent layered cake with coconut berries -soft, moist and utterly delicious. A fantastic way to end the enjoyable tasting.
In the footsteps of Pablo we followed, and got to re-experience his culinary journey that brought him to places far, wide and enchantingly delectable.
-Written by Mary Njehia
