Seafood With All Kinds of Flavours

Sitting by the poolside while eating some barbecued lobster tail is how I would imagine my biography to start. But I was not writing one on this Friday night at the Maghreb restaurant inside the Nairobi Serena Hotel.

It was a seafood night and the chefs had lined up the biggest selection of seafood I have ever had to try. My options were not limited to just lobster tail; it was a buffet with seafood options I have never even heard off until that night.

There was sashimi, a Japanese delicacy that is fresh raw fish sliced into thin pieces and often eaten with soy sauce. I decided to try the raw salmon, which the chef advised I dip in freshly prepared ginger soy. I kept dipping and dipping.

There was also sushi which had a nice ring to it but the kingfish roulade was the winner in the salad bar. The taste was familiar, perfectly salted and something that looked like I could afford to cook at home.

They also had oysters and prawns.

For the main course, I ate the seafood paella, which is basically rice fired with different types of seafood like the prawns and calamari. This was an absolute delight, better than the boring plain white rice that we are used to.

I decided to take it with the masala prawns then added tilapia baked in masala sauce.

At a corner, they had buttered naan, spinach with cottage cheese and daal for those who do not want to dive into this seafood extravaganza.

In the spirit of trying everything, I ended up indulging in more than I should have. But you watches portions if the food is delicious!

But I had to save space for food from the barbecue grill section which had from chicken skewers, prawns, lobster and kingfish. I tried everything and everything tasted as good as it looked.

Executive Chef John Getanda advises that this kind of food goes really well with sweet white wine.

“It depends with what your taste is but we have a great selection of wines that would accompany your meal,” he says.

One would think that was it for the buffet, but there was a stir fry section which had sautéed vegetables, pasta and more seafood like snapper and calamari.

The promise of a mouthwatering dessert by Chef Getanda is the reason why I skipped the stir fry section right to the sweet corner.

There was a live pancake flambé, a very dramatic technique that excited my eyes and stomach.

I picked a sauce for my pre-made crepes and watched as it was prepared. I must say the dinner was romantic.