Black chicken and Peking duck dishes: How Anjili has carved a niche

When Covid-19 hit, she decided to set up her own cloud kitchen in Runda, building her own space to specialise in oriental cuisine, which she felt no one else in the city does.

“I started the Duck House in July 2023,” says Anjili.

She started by doing home deliveries, as at the time, the only model of dining was indoors and not at restaurants, and it worked for her.

“But afterwards, I never opened a physical restaurant. I initially started with the Peking duck (a famous Chinese delicacy known for its incredibly crispy skin and tender meat. It is traditionally prepared over days with a complex process of drying, glazing, and roasting, making it a culinary art form and a symbol of Chinese cuisine.) Then I kept seeing people asking if I had anything else on the menu,” Anjili adds with a smile.

“I get my Peking duck from Farmers Choice,” she says.

As head chef, she develops recipes that she then teaches to her sous chef. “That is how our menu became so extensive,” she says.

Her passion for cooking naturally drew her to the rich, aromatic world of Oriental cuisine, particularly Chinese dishes.

Why did she pick Oriental cuisine?

I thought there was a lack of authentic Peking duck in the market. Most restaurants here tend to deep fry the duck, which is a quicker way of doing it,” she adds.

She says that there are four steps to preparing the Peking duck, and it will take at least 24 hours before it can be served. Peking duck is traditionally carved into thin slices (ensuring each piece has skin) and served with Mandarin pancakes, hoisin sauce, sliced scallions, and cucumber.

Apart from the Peking duck, Anjili says hers is one of the few restaurants that does black chicken, which in the culinary world is called the Lamborghini of chickens. Black chickens, like the Indonesian Ayam Cemani, are all-black birds prized for their striking look, but are rare and fragile.

Apart from Peking duck and black chicken, she also serves Szechuan chilli chicken, various noodle/rice options, dumplings, and beef/pork/prawn dishes. Others include chilli-grilled beef with veg noodles, crispy chilli hibey, and other seasonal specials.

“It took time; it has taken me three years to grow my menu to where it is now. It wasn’t easy, so here I am.”

When she needs ingredients that are not available in the local market, she goes to Chinatown market.

Is there demand for the black chicken and Peking duck?

She says demand has grown by word of mouth. “We started with maybe one or two requests on a weekend with maybe 10 orders, and we now sometimes have over 120, other times more.”

When she started, she just offered the Peking duck as she was targeting the duck lovers, but her clientele has grown from the expatriates to locals who love good Asian food, with deliveries from Karen to Runda and all the way to Athi River.

Ms Anjili aims to be a Michelin Star Chef. “This will be my ultimate goal if I can achieve it. I’m trying to provide exceptional food. Michelin chefs are awarded for ingredient quality, flavour harmony, technique mastery, chef’s personality, and consistency. Personally, I know I have a passion for food, and I put all my heart into it,” she says.

On challenges, she says that she has been bashed online for not serving Halal food and also being an Asian woman who brews muratina, which sometimes she serves with an appetiser. (Muratina is a traditional Kenyan brew central to Kikuyu culture, made from sausage tree fruit, honey, and sugarcane juice.)

She brews the muratina herself, which started as a hobby but has taken off well.

“I wanted to try something different, and at first it was only for family and friends. Over Christmas, friends who enjoyed it spoke about it, intriguing clients to try it for their festive season,” she says.

So far, she has done three chef tables where she sells tickets and only discloses the location 24 hours prior. This is to avoid overselling the tickets.

She relies on her three full-time employees to get the work done. On a good day, she says she can earn up to Sh250,000, although sometimes she goes a week or two without any orders. “Weekends are my busiest days,” she says.

On plans to expand, she confesses that it would take a lot; she would only do it if she knew she could maintain the quality.

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