This bar feels like a ‘local’ only that it is proper.
With every new bottle, Hendrick the bar tender, is on hand with fresh chilled glasses, yes, chilled glasses to maintain the temperature of the wine.
The most difficult decision you will have to make at the Hemingways Nairobi bar is whether you want to sit outside and soak in the dancing lights on Ngong Hills in Karen’s silent back yard, or sit inside staring deeply at the fireplace that seems to tell a story to all who dare look into the flames.
This bar feels like a ‘local’ only that it is proper. The cognac is served in a snifter (balloon glass), the whisky in a tumbler, the white wine comes chilled to perfection in an ice bath to keep it chilled glass after glass. With every new bottle, Hendrick the bar tender, is on hand with fresh chilled glasses, yes, chilled glasses to maintain the temperature of the wine.
The conversations happening in the first floor hideaway seem intimate and friendly as patrons while away the evening. Hendrick, always ready to refill your empty glass the moment you set it down.
His name, to me is rather uncommon, peaks my curiosity on whether its origin is Jimmy Hendrix or after the gin, I go ahead and ask to which he responds with a straight face “the drink is named after me.”
Hendrik serves up a flaming shooter which is a combination of two shooters — a Jagger bomb and a second one which I cannot name because my editor will remove it from my copy — topped with a grappa on fire, yes and actual flame.
It starts off with a kick courtesy of the grappa followed by a sweetness and finishes off with a menthol after-taste.
The quiet calm of Karen seems to blur time, which will find you still cozied up in the leather seats, sipping your drink for hours on end. If you love a good sunset, a sundowner on the first floor balcony offers the picturesque view of the sun sinking behind the hills.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
